David Egan

Fans of Louisiana blues and roots music have likely encountered compositions by singer/songwriter and keyboardist David Egan, whose material reached recordings by Joe Cocker, Marcia Ball, Etta James, Solomon Burke, Percy Sledge, Irma Thomas, Mavis Staples, John Mayall, and Little Buster & the Soul Brothers, among others. Raised in Shreveport, Louisiana—a city known for producing notable rock & roll acts—he pursued studies in jazz and composition at North Texas State University in Denton, Texas. After graduation he took a position in Memphis, yet his songwriting craft sharpened during a stint in Nashville spent escorting tourists past country music stars’ homes.

He returned to Shreveport to join the regional rock band A-Train, then headed back to Nashville for tours supporting country-Cajun vocalist Jo-El Sonnier. In 1990 Egan relocated once more to Louisiana, settling in Lafayette and becoming a member of the Cajun rock group Filé. During that era British rocker Joe Cocker cut Egan’s “Please No More” for the 1991 blockbuster album Night Calls. Etta James later recorded the same song for her Grammy-winning 2004 release, Let’s Roll.

Egan resumed touring Louisiana and Texas with Filé before departing the ensemble in 2003 upon issuing his debut solo album, Twenty Years of Trouble. Released on Rhonda Sue/Louisiana Red Hot Records, the set displayed his inventive songwriting approach, strong voice, and agile piano technique in a blues and soul-blues context, earning Offbeat magazine’s Best of the Beat award in the singer/songwriter category that year. In 2008 he followed with the independent release You Don’t Know Your Mind, another collection of distinctive piano blues and Americana originals.

Throughout a career largely spent backing other performers, Egan produced relatively few albums under his own name. As a keyboardist he appeared on sessions with A-Train, Filé, Jo-El Sonnier, the Cajun All-Stars, Lil’ Band o’ Gold, and blues and roots rockers Buddy Flett and C.C. Adcock. His songs ultimately set him apart, placing him alongside writers such as Doc Pomus, Allen Toussaint, Bobby Charles, Dan Penn, and Dr. John in the estimation of blues insiders. Irma Thomas delivered “Sing It One More Time Like That,” from an album shared with Tracey Nelson and Marcia Ball, at a televised White House concert, while John Mayall performed “Wake Up Call” on the PBS program Austin City Limits. A humorous college-era novelty, “When I Was a Dinosaur,” was recorded by former Lost in Space star Bill Mumy and the Arkansas folk-rock duo Trout Fishing in America. A self-titled solo album and a live recording appeared in 2013. On March 18, 2016, Egan died at age 61 in his Lafayette, Louisiana, home from complications of lung cancer.