The Deslondes

Hailing from New Orleans, Louisiana, the Deslondes channel blues through their signature down-home, rootsy twang as a crew of rugged yet melodic troubadours who discovered their collective voice after settling in the city. Their sound stays relaxed yet purposeful, weaving together strands of country, blues, rock & roll, and swamp pop beneath lyrics marked by genuine warmth. Early releases such as the 2015 debut The Deslondes and 2017’s Hurry Home reflect a moderately tight ensemble captured with naturalistic studio methods, whereas Ways & Means from 2022, recorded after a pause, and 2024’s Roll It Out expanded the instrumental palette and arrangements while retaining the group’s unhurried, dust-laden atmosphere.

The Deslondes trace their origins to a meeting between singer-guitarist Sam Doores and percussionist-vocalist Cameron Snyder during college years in the Pacific Northwest. Doores drew strong motivation from Woody Guthrie’s memoir Bound for Glory, prompting the pair to abandon their studies and travel extensively with their band the Broken Wing Routine, which secured a slot at Woodyfest, the annual Woody Guthrie Folk Festival in Okemah, Oklahoma. There they encountered kindred players including singer-guitarist Riley Downing and bassist Dan Cutler. After the Broken Wing Routine dissolved, Doores and Cutler relocated to New Orleans to start the country-leaning Tumbleweeds, while Snyder, then performing with the Longtime Goners, connected with fiddler and pedal steel player John James Tourville. Eventually Snyder, Tourville, and Downing converged in New Orleans and joined rehearsals with the Tumbleweeds inside an abandoned high school in the Lower Ninth Ward, vacant since Hurricane Katrina struck in 2005. The musicians took their new name from Deslondes Street in the neighborhood’s Holy Cross section and developed ties with fellow New Orleans act Hurray for the Riff Raff, with Doores and Cutler participating in both groups for a period. Steady local support and opening slots for Hurray for the Riff Raff led New West Records to sign the Deslondes, issuing their self-titled first album in June 2015. Following a tour in support of that release, the band delivered Hurry Home in summer 2017.

The second album earned favorable notices and prompted further roadwork, yet mounting fatigue with touring prompted John James Tourville and Dan Cutler to prioritize family time, leading the Deslondes to step back. During the break Sam Doores issued his solo effort Sam Doores in 2020, and Riley Downing followed with Start It Over in 2021. The COVID-19 pandemic hindered promotion of those projects, so Tourville contacted his bandmates to resume creating music. The five convened at a New Orleans club for writing and rehearsal, producing fourteen new songs that were tracked at Bomb Shelter Studio under producer-engineer Andrija Tokic; the resulting Ways & Means appeared on New West Records in July 2022. After Cameron Snyder departed, Howe Pearson, previously a touring drummer with Hurray for the Riff Raff, joined on percussion. Reuniting with Andrija Tokic, the band recorded their fourth album, Roll It Out, in Nashville and saw it released by New West in September 2024.