A New Orleans R&B Christmas with Huey ”Piano” Smith

New Orleans venerates its R&B royalty from the early days of
rock 'n' roll, and many of them stayed active until they died,
including Dr. John, Allen Toussaint, Eddie Bo, Snooks Eaglin and
Earl King. Huey "Piano" Smith was not one of them; he lived the
last third of his life until his death earlier this year out of
the limelight.


Since Smith also recorded one of my favorite Christmas albums,
1962's Twas the Night Before Christmas, I invited journalist
John Wirt on the show to talk about Smith--his heyday, his
heartbreaks, his later years, and his Christmas album, which
comes with a story that I learned reading John's 2014
book, Huey "Piano" Smith and the Rockin' Pneumonia
Blues.