New Orleans-Based Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter Chris Vincent Delivers a Roots Music Masterpiece With "Good Crook"

New Orleans-Based Guitarist/Singer/Songwriter Chris Vincent Delivers a Roots Music Masterpiece With Good Crook Album, Due August 1 

Chris Vincent is a New Orleans-based singer, songwriter and slide guitarist who channels American roots music through a raw, deeply human lens. With a signature style that fuses the haunting pull of Delta blues, the improvisational swagger of hard bop jazz, and the grit of roots music, Vincent’s playing is unmistakable: weathered, visceral, rhythmic, lyrical and full of soul. It all comes to life on his beloved 1947 Gibson L7 guitar, affectionately named Gloria (known by many by name), and delivered solidly on his new album, Good Crook, coming August 1 on Chris Vincent Music.
Chris Vincent lives and writes in the French Quarter, where the endless sideshow outside his door spills into his songs. “It's a circus out there every day—joy, heartbreak, madness, music—it’s all part of it,” he says. The chaotic beauty and elegant decline that is New Orleans is etched into his sound so much so that it almost becomes another member of the band.
 
Good Crook arrives like a bolt from out of the blue. Recorded in just two sessions—one with legendary New Orleans jazz drummer Johnny Vidacovich, the other stripped down with just Vincent and the guitar—the album was tracked entirely live, in single takes. No overdubs, no polish, no autotune—just pure, human performance. It’s a bold, “AI-proof” approach that favors soul over perfection, and results in something deeply alive. "Hand-made music" is how Vincent often simply describes his work.
 
Good Crook was produced by Chris Vincent and features 12 songs, all written and arranged by Chris. Besides Vincent on guitar and vocals, the sessions feature his band known as The Raw Deals: Johnny Vidacovich on drums and Dean Zucchero on the bass guitar. The album was recorded at RhythmShack Studios in New Orleans, with Jake Eckert engineering.
 
A recovering alcoholic, Vincent doesn’t shy away from the darker corners of his past. His songs echo the grit of redemption and the hard-won beauty found on the other side of struggle. Good Crook is an album about falling apart and stitching what’s left back together —about love, survival, and telling the truth however difficult that may be.
 
Chris Vincent’s music isn’t crafted to fit a mold—it’s forged in a fire. In an age of digital polish, his work stands defiantly handmade and grounded in the raw reality of a life fully lived, warts and all. In this way, Vincent and Good Crook are one in the same—true American originals indeed.
In an age of digital perfection, Chris Vincent is living proof that honesty still hits hardest when served raw, played by hand, and armed with the truth.

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Chris Vincent Talks About The Songs on Good Crook
 
Good Crook -- Written after the close of a relationship that should have ended long before it actually did, “Good Crook” dives into the seasonality of love, with Johnny Vidacovich banging away for good measure.
 
Midnight After All -- One of two recuts from my Things Have Changed album (2024), “Midnight After All” is the story of a friend of a friend doubling down on a questionable relationship with both a marriage and a baby. 'Needles spin backward" indeed.
 
Come Clean -- I play the guitar in Open G tuning a-la Son House and, in a more modern iteration, Keith Richards. "Come Clean" is a song about coming to terms with pulling the truth out of a liar; a task often destined for failure. There are certain chords in Open G tuning that have become Rolling Stones calling cards, and rightfully so. This song borrows a few and spins them around in a sort of homage to who, in my opinion, is the greatest rhythm guitar player of them all. Thanks Keith.
 
Bloody Mary Monday Morning -- A good friend got a bartending job from Roland (the original owner) at Tipitina's years ago after a failed job interview and an afternoon drinking session. With no bartending experience, my friend Laura was reluctant to take the gig. Roland reassured her with the following, "Laura, it's Bloody Marys in the mornings and Greyhounds in the afternoon, plus beer.  You worry too much."  God Bless New Orleans.
 
Skinned Knees -- Written at the tail end of a brutal New Orleans summer, 'Skinned Knees" gets into dealing with failure and its aftermath on levels both big and small.
 
Screwdriver Keys -- A personal favorite on the album. Often, my approach to solo guitar mirrors a pitched drum feel similar to big band jazz guitar. This was the last song recorded during these sessions; the arrangement occurred in studio, and there are plenty of rhythmic twists along the way. This one is sort of a companion piece to “Half Block Cadillac.”
 
 Half Block Cadillac -- The second recut from Things Have Changed. Vidacovich is on fire out of the gate on “Half Block Cadillac,” a song ultimately about the acceptance of lives gone sideways and forward motion thereafter.
 
What Johnny Said -- The album, Good Crook, was recorded in two sessions: one day (actually, four hours) with Johnny Vidacovich on drums, and the next with just me and the guitar. "What Johnny Said" was written after hearing Johnny say "It's all a movie, man..." ten times during the session--his offhand way of coming to terms with the unscripted and unpredictable life of an artist. Being in the room with Johnny that day was something else entirely; it was like being in a room with Matisse in front of a palette of twenty shades of red, only to let a lifetime of experience choose the perfect shade. Vidacovich is a true master of his craft: a musician's musician. I'm proud to have written this one for him.
New Orleans, My Darling -- A jazz ballad for all those who love New Orleans:  a best friend, a cruel mistress, a temptress, and a redeemer--often on the same day.
 
Snakes -- A song for lovers, and certainly one I particularly enjoy playing live when a certain someone finds her way to the gig...."What you do to me baby...."
 
Cows -- Living in New Orleans is like living in a circus. One of the cast of characters, my neighbor Jody, is from Cajun country, and I often ask for translations of Cajun-speak.  When one of the songs off Things Have Changed got picked up for use as the title song in a film, Jody looked me in the eye and said, "Well, Chris, when the cows lie down, fish are bitin'." Translation: In Cajun country, go fishing when the cows sleep.  Everywhere else? "Strike when the iron is hot."
 
Catherine the Great -- Two days after writing this song, I looked in the mirror in the morning and realized that the “Catherine” in the song was, in many ways, me.  The song is about a life lived as a result of bad decisions, coupled with even worse timing. 99% of alcoholics/addicts truly do want to quit, but don't -- "You can lead a horse to water/you can whip it down the trail." Thankfully, with the help of many, I pulled up on the stick before hitting the side of the mountain.

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