Dale Storr - The Sound of New Orleans

Let the candles burn low and the room start to sway… because on Saturday 16th May, Barnoldswick Music & Arts Centre doesn't just host a gig—it summons the spirit of New Orleans as Dale Storr – The Sound of New Orleans rolls into town with a show dripping in rhythm, soul and storytelling straight from the Mississippi delta to the Pennine hills.

Described by Jazz Journal as the "piano man's piano man… a national treasure", and praised by Paul Jones as "a very, very fine piano player indeed", with Richard Hawley declaring "the best New Orleans player I've ever heard", Dale Storr stands as one of the UK's true torchbearers of that deep, rolling, barrelhouse piano tradition.

Born from a lifelong obsession sparked by his parents' record collection, Storr followed the sound all the way back to the source—immersing himself in the world of legends like Dr. John, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Allen Toussaint, Fats Domino and Huey 'Piano' Smith—artists who didn't just play piano… they summoned rhythm, spirit and swagger from the keys themselves. That lineage doesn't sit quietly in the background—it roars through every note he plays.

After cutting his teeth in Sheffield backing top UK and US blues artists, Storr became a sought-after pianist before answering the inevitable pull of New Orleans. Since 2008, his acclaimed Sounds of New Orleans show has taken him across the UK and Europe, where he doesn't just perform the music—he lives it, weaving together intoxicating piano mastery with the rich, risqué and often wild stories behind the Crescent City's most colourful characters.

A seven-time British Blues Awards finalist and winner of the 2015 Buxton Fringe Best Musical Performance, Storr delivers something far deeper than a concert—this is a revival meeting of groove, grit and gospel-drenched soul. As Jazz Journal puts it, "authentic barrelhouse pianism", while Blues in Britain boldly states that if there's anyone better in the UK, "they must be very, very special."

And live? That's where it catches fire…

Recent audiences have witnessed marathon sets powered by adrenaline, grease and pure New Orleans spirit—where Storr becomes both historian and hurricane. He doesn't guide you through the music… he pulls you into it, fingers rolling, stabbing and dancing across the keys as the ghosts of Bourbon Street rise up around the room. Expect the voodoo groove of Dr. John, the unstoppable bounce of Toussaint, the wild brilliance of James Booker… music that struts, shimmies and lifts you clean off your seat.

This is New Orleans—alive, sweating and swinging—right here in Barnoldswick.

Close your eyes and you're in a backstreet bar off Bourbon Street… open them, and you're witnessing one of the UK's finest piano players at full tilt.

One piano. One man. A whole city's soul.