Ben Sandmel is a New Orleans-based journalist, blues researcher/folklorist, and drummer. He has written for publications including Living Blues, Downbeat, The Atlantic and Rolling Stone. Sandmel’s book Ernie K-Doe: The R&B Emperor of New Orleans www.erniekdoebook.com. chronicles the singer renowned for the national chart-topping hit Mother-In-Law. Drawing on nearly 100 interviews, this biography encompasses music/cultural history and oral narrative, woven into a hero’s odyssey of early success, adversity, and eccentric late-life redemption, all unfolding on the streets of New Orleans. Sandmel also wrote Zydeco!, a collaboration with photographer Rick Olivier. In addition, Sandmel produced and played on Big Joe Duskin’s Cincinnati Stomp, Boogie Bill Webb’s Drinkin’ & Stinkin’, and the Hackberry Ramblers’ Grammy-nominated Deep Water.
