Luke Winslow-King had a bit of a rough start when he first left his hometown of Cadillac in northern Michigan to come to New Orleans eleven years ago — on his very first day in town he had his car and all of his belongings stolen. While his car was recovered two weeks later, all of his belongings had been pawned, forcing Winslow-King to start from scratch in a brand-new town:
I always tell people I was stuck in town just long enough to fall in love with the place. I ended up going to college at the University of New Orleans studying classical music and just kind of found my home there. In most towns, if you got everything you had stolen, you couldn’t wait to get out of there. But New Orleans is just such a charming place — with the beautiful music, colorful architecture, and characters that live there, and the great food, the weather, the tropical plants … everything just comes together to make a really charming place.
While attending school in New Orleans, Winslow-King surrounded himself with local musicians and began developing his own sound: a blend of his classical training and his love of New Orleans jazz and Mississippi Delta blues.
Luke Winslow-King: “You Don’t Know Better Than Me”
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Despite his affinity for New Orleans, Winslow-King still calls Michigan home. He and his band — vocalist and washboard player Esther Rose, bassist Cassidy Holden, and trumpet/piano/bass-drummer Ben Polcer — are excited to returning to their home state for four shows next week.