KGNU’s Joanne Cole hosts musician Jon Ridnell of New Family Dog. They talk about the band’s upcoming release, New Family Dog NOLA Sessions, recorded in New Orleans at Rhythm Shack Studios. Two singles are already available online, and the full album will be released on November 29th. Jon highlights the upcoming release show at Boulder’s Roots Music Project, and plays a few tracks with his band (Interview date: 10/22/2024)
Joanne Cole: I’m joined in the studio with my good friend Jon Riddell and Brittany and Miles. Brittany, you’re going to be on yellow if you want to chat. I was trying to play your new release and I’ll keep at it, but I’m not quite sure. But while I’ve got you here, tell us the name of your new release and what all’s going on.
Jon Ridnell: New Family Dog, NOLA Sessions.
Joanne Cole: Oh, that’s right. So this was recorded in New Orleans?
Jon Ridnell: Yeah, we did it last January in New Orleans. Rhythm Shack Studios with a bunch of NOLA characters.
Joanne Cole: I wish I could play it. I don’t know why I can’t. I will try to get some help. You guys are gonna play a song. So when is this gonna be out for the public and all that?
Jon Ridnell: The album comes out on November 29th.
Joanne Cole: Oh. So coming right out.
Jon Ridnell: There’s two singles out already. We have another single out coming out next week.
Joanne Cole: Do you have the single on your website, Jon?
Jon Ridnell: No, but it’s on YouTube and everything.
Joanne Cole: Okay. So you find something you wanna play here and then I’ll look for this one.
Jon Ridnell: I figure we’re going to do this tune down in New Orleans.
Joanne Cole: That’s appropriate.
Jon Ridnell: Sent it out to Dave Easley who played pedal steel on the track.
Joanne Cole: That was just fabulous. I think I figured out how to play the other songs. Yeah, that warms my heart because my husband and I spent some time down there and you just hit on every spot!
Jon Ridnell: Try to cover all the bases.
Joanne Cole: Yeah. And Jon you’re playing around a lot. I always see you on Facebook. Where are you playing?
Jon Ridnell: A bunch of stuff coming up. We’re doing the album release at the Roots Music Project On the 29th of November with Dave Watts and the Mile High Horns. Eric, the trumpeter from Kondo helped with all the charts and he’s on the album.
Joanne Cole: Oh, cool. I don’t know what that means, but that’s very cool.
Jon Ridnell: It was us three and then him, and then the rest of the people are from New Orleans
Joanne Cole: And they’re all coming up?
Jon Ridnell: No, not to the Boulder show. But we are doing The Howlin’ Wolf Den in New Orleans on December 27th. C.R. Groover, and Eddie Christmas.
Joanne Cole: So if anybody’s down in New Orleans for Christmas, they can get you.
Jon Ridnell: Yes.
Joanne Cole: Alright, so the name of the record again is?
Jon Ridnell: New Family Dog, NOLA Sessions.
Joanne Cole: That’s right. Our guest is Jon Ridnell, and Jon, you’ve got a website where people can find this stuff?
Jon Ridnell: Yes, newfamilydog.com, I think, is still up. Or Facebook. Facebook is really the way to find stuff. New Family Dog.
Joanne Cole: Thank you. Our guest is Jon Ridnell. And let me just see if I can play this real quick. And if not, we’ll just have you sing. Let’s see if this works.
All right, that was “Back to the Light” by Family Dog, featuring Brittany, who is in the studio with us today.
Jon Ridnell: Brittany Wagner, yes.
Joanne Cole: Brittany Wagner, thank you. Our guest is Jon Ridnell. The band is called New Family Dog. It consists of his son, Miles, and so many other people.
Jon Ridnell: This is kind of the core of the group.
Joanne Cole: The core. We have Miles, Brittany, and Jon. Jon, what else do you want to tell us about this new release?
Jon Ridnell: I’m really excited about it. I wasn’t sure, sometimes projects don’t come out as good as you expect, but this one came out better than I expected.
Joanne Cole: It sounds great.
Jon Ridnell: The New Orleans people, Mike Dillon’s on there, Dave Easley, Jason Mingledorf, C.R. Groover. Jeff Albert on trombone. And they’re all just great. They just did amazing.
Joanne Cole: It’s a fun town for music.
Jon Ridnell: It is.
Joanne Cole: To be sure. And the nicest people you’ll ever meet.
Jon Ridnell: It’s true. I’ve really fallen in love with the city. I’m going to be down there Christmas through Jazz Fest.
Joanne Cole: All right, we’re going to hear one more from New Family Dog here.What are we going to hear, Jon?
Jon Ridnell: We’re going to do “May the Day Never Come”. It’s a song written by me and Bones, Bonesy from the PI up in Nederland back in the day. It’s a saying that he used to say, “Get married in May, May the day never come.”
Joanne Cole: All right. That is New Family Dog right here, live on KGNU. And by the way, you are listening to KGNU, Boulder, Denver, and Fort Collins. My name is Joanne. It’s the Morning Sound Alternative. Thank you guys for coming in. Can I play “Don’t Ever Change”? Because I think I got it up.
Jon Ridnell: Yeah, this is a more New Orleans style type song.
Joanne Cole: We’ll go out with that one. Jon Ridnell, Brittany Wagner, and the lovely and talented Mr. Miles back there that I can barely see. Thank you so much for coming in. Jon, people can find you on Facebook. Are you playing anywhere before the release?
Jon Ridnell: I do all kinds of different stuff. What am I doing? I’m playing up in Blackhawk this weekend, JKQ BBQ. We’ll play a little solo gig. And then we do jazz every Sunday at Knotted Root Brewery in Nederland, five to seven. That’s always a really fun gig, a lot of people sitting in and stuff.
Joanne Cole: Cool.
Jon Ridnell: Yeah.
Joanne Cole: Thank you for coming down.
Jon Ridnell: Thanks so much, thanks for having me.
Joanne Cole: New Family Dog. And I’m going to play this off the computer. Thank you again. Keep your eyes open for that November 29th release.
Jon Ridnell: 29th, Roots music.
Joanne Cole: Roots Music. Be there, be square. Here we go. “Don’t Ever Change” by New Family Dog.
