Our upright wasn't much of a piano — it was a half-step flat the entire time we owned it — but that piano was everything to me. It was dark mahogany, almost black, with rouge crimps all over it. I took about eight piano lessons before my teacher gave up on me. I loved boogie-woogie and hillbilly music and gospel too much.

Allen Toussaint

Allen Toussaint is an American musician, songwriter/composer, record producer, and influential figure in New Orleans R&B. Many of Toussaint's songs have become familiar through versions by other musicians, including "Working in the Coal Mine", "Ride Your Pony", "Fortune Teller", "Play Something Sweet", "Southern Nights", "Everything I Do Gonna Be Funky", "I'll Take a Melody", "Get Out of My Life, Woman" and "Mother-in-Law".

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