Better Than Ezra: Good Enough for New Orleans

Good Enough for New Orleans

In the early nineties, if you were a college kid in Louisiana and you went to a bar, there was a very good chance you heard Better Than Ezra before you heard them on the radio. They were the band that owned every campus bar, every fraternity party, every late-night set at the Howlin' Wolf. They were a New Orleans band before they were anything else.

The group formed at LSU in 1988 — Kevin Griffin on vocals and guitar, Tom Drummond on bass, and a rotating cast of drummers and guitarists over the years. They cut their teeth in Baton Rouge, but New Orleans is where they planted their flag and built their following. By the early nineties, they were the biggest band in the city, selling out venues on word of mouth and a self-released album called Deluxe that became the stuff of local legend.

When Elektra Records signed them and re-released Deluxe nationally in 1995, the single "Good" went to number one on the Modern Rock charts and the album went multi-platinum. Suddenly the rest of the country knew what New Orleans had known for years — these guys could write a hook that would live in your head for weeks.

"Desperately Wanting" followed, then "King of New Orleans," a title that felt less like a song name and more like a statement of fact. Over nine studio albums and three decades, Better Than Ezra remained a New Orleans band — living here, recording here, playing here.

Kevin Griffin went on to become one of the most successful songwriters in pop music, writing hits for Taylor Swift, Sugarland, and others. But he never left New Orleans. The band never left New Orleans. In a music industry that demands you move to LA or Nashville or New York, Better Than Ezra stayed put and proved you could build a career from the city that made you.

They're still at it, still touring, still writing. And if you catch them at a club in New Orleans, you'll understand why they never needed to be anywhere else. Some bands belong to a city. Better Than Ezra belongs to this one.