Harry Connick Jr. - Smokey Mary

Everyone’s just wild about Harry. The singer-pianist’s breakthrough came in 1989 when his smooth jazz caused Tony Bennett to call him “the next Frank Sinatra.” His lean good looks quickly led to acting, most notably in Hope Floats with Sandra Bullock and lately in TV’s Will & Grace and Law & Order. Recently, Connick Jr. has devoted himself to his New Orleans birthplace, organizing post- Katrina benefits and recording tribute albums like Oh, My Nola.

Now the crooning heartthrob—co-founder of the Krewe of Orpheus, New Orleans’ first integrated, celebrity-filled Mardi Gras krewe—has released an album of joyous carnival music. Timed to coincide with Mardi Gras and Orpheus’ 20^th anniversary, Smokey Mary is filled with barrelhouse piano and good-time grooves. The title track celebrates Orpheus’ famed “boogie woogie choo choo train” parade float, while “Dang You Pretty” is a syncopated homage to local beauty. Reveling in hometown culture, the talented Connick Jr. has never sounded funkier.