Set against the backdrop of post-hurricane Katrina New Orleans, K-Ville is steeped in very specific sights, sounds and culture.  The show has promised as much authenticity in depicting the flavor and feel of the southern big easy.  Not the least of the key elements the show strives to keep faithful to the region is the music which is part and parcel of the New Orleans scene.

For K-Ville, songwriter/producer Adam Anders took a piece by New Orleans' own Dr. John and gave it just enough tweaking to create a more upbeat and hipper sound, representative of K-Ville's modern day police-driven, crime-fighting and law-enforcing setting, while staying true to the rhythm and blues of the city.


K-Ville's opening theme was originally Dr. John's take on the gospel tune, "Wade in the Water."  Dr. John's version, an instrumental theme layered with background vocal chants, is called "Wade: Hurricane Suite: Aftermath" which the artist and his band recorded in the wake of the devastation New Orleans suffered at the hands of the killer typhoon.

As the piece already describes K-Ville's premise of the New Orleans Police Department overwhelmed by the lingering remnants and consequences of the Katrina disaster, Adam Anders maintained the base track and simply gave it a slightly edgier and catchier spirit.

"On the creative side, there are two things I'm trying to do," Anders pointed out.  "One, I'm trying to set the right tone for the show [that] fits the visual that you see.  Two, if you're telling a story with the lyric, that's really difficult and has to be done right, because you have so little time."

Anders was able to accomplish his goal by rearranging "Wade: Hurricane Suite: Aftermath's" background vocal chants so the words ‘Comin' back' would be the very first to open the tune.  After doing his bit on the track, Anders sent the modified remix back to Dr. John for approval, who subsequently infused additional vocals to it.

"They put a little hip-hop thing on it and there it is," Dr. John said.  "I put some other stuff with that."

"There's a bit of a hip-hop, modern feel to it but with Dr. John on top, which is exactly what they wanted with the show:  You've got to have something about New Orleans, but yet it's got to be modern," Anders explained.  "It can't be New Orleans 1970s, you know?  It's difficult to do and not go too far, so it sounds like some Hollywood version.

"To me, there's the authentic New Orleans sound, and Dr. John, he's the staple, I've always been a fan of his,” Anders added.  “But there's another side to New Orleans, and that's the hip-hop community, the Cash Moneys and those guys, and we wanted to fuse those and represent the whole city, and not just one corner of it.”


-Rosario Santiago, BuddyTV Staff Columnist
Source: New Orleans Times-Picayune
(Image Courtesy of drjohn.org)