Robin Barnes drops debut album in time for Jazz Fest

The big picture: Barnes, aka the Songbird of New Orleans, has been performing since she was just 6 years old, and she's been working at it professionally since 2017.

• In that time, she's collaborated with just about everyone in town, stacked up awards from Gambit and New Orleans Magazine, gained an enviable social media following, and held down contemporary jazz gigs all over the city.
• That's a testament to how in New Orleans, there's enough opportunity that if a musician never wanted to make an album, they probably wouldn't have to, Barnes says.
• "That's fine for some people, but for me, I want to be a bigger part of the stewardship of New Orleans culture, the Louisiana culture," she says.

And that means something specific to Barnes, a ninth-generation New Orleanian who grew up in the 9th Ward.

• The women in Barnes' family have passed down their oral history from eldest daughter to eldest daughter.
• As Barnes considered developing her debut album, that tradition clicked into place.
• "This is not a vanity project," Barnes says. Instead, it's how she's choosing to pass down her family history to her own eldest daughter, Riley, 6.

Zoom in: Speaking with Axios New Orleans in January, when she was still in the throes of recording, Barnes had just captured Big Chief Monk Boudreaux's deep voice for the introduction to "Put Your Hands Up."

• Boudreaux's words hover over the vibrant, danceable track. "Let them know where you come from and who you are," he says. "Believe me, you are the one."
• "He's just in his living room sewing on his suit," she says, still emotional and shaken by the experience of recording with the iconic Mardi Gras Indian. "And he put into words what I'm trying to do on this album."

What's next: Barnes' debut album drops May 1.

• Then, she closes the Lagniappe Stage at Jazz Fest on May 3.