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Feed your groove!

The Beat HotelThe Beat Hotel
New Orleans Mardi Gras Swamp Funk
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The Beat Hotel

The Beat Hotel plays greasy New Orleans Swamp Funk with a full sound that’s easily accessible and loved by people of all ages.! The band captures the Crescent City’s unique musical hybrid of R&B, funk, soul and blues with a wonderful groove sensibility that is both creative and fresh. With the roots of its music deep in the bayou (The Neville Brothers, Dr. John, The Meters, Alan Toussaint, Lee Dorsey, Jon Cleary, Henry Butler, etc…), The Beat Hotel has well-crafted melodies, a kicking horn section, rich vocal harmonies and deep grooves which consistently energize Music Festivals and Club’s wherever they play.

The award winning DC Music Review team wrote this following about The Beat Hotel:

“Washington DC finally has a band that truly captures the wonderful sounds of New Orleans, and its name is The Beat Hotel. They’ve taken the heritage of New Orleans carnivals, parades and back street bars and turned it all into their own identifiable, body-rocking brand of rough and tumble party funk. They perform a high energy set rich in great songs, fabulous harmonies, creatively tight arrangements and a kicking horn section while remaining lovingly anchored in the New Orleans tradition.”

The band’s lead singer, Lauren Cattaneo is one of the city’s premier lead vocalists with a fierce touch that can bring out the juice in the funk. Andrew Ratliff, a veteran member of the DC music scene adds vocals & syncopated percussion. Lead guitarist Bruce Blaylock is the band’s musical director and a 12 year veteran of the New Orleans music scene.

Drummer Francis Thompson teaches percussion at the Duke Ellington School of Arts. Justine Miller from the multi-award winning band Chopteeth is on trumpet.

Bruce Swaim on tenor sax has won 2 Wammy Awards for Jazz Instrumentalist of the Year and has worked with Danny Gatton, Martha Reeves, The Four Tops and The Temptations among many others.

Other veteran musicians in the band include Doug Elliott on Trombone, Ariel Francis on guitar and vocals, and Mercedes Mill on vocals.

The band built a loyal following playing the mid-Atlantic region. So come on out and enjoy some real New Orleans swamp funk music with The Beat Hotel.

What Others Have to Say

  • “Washington DC finally has a band that truly captures the wonderful sounds of New Orleans, and its name is The Beat Hotel. They’ve taken the heritage of New Orleans carnivals, parades and back street bars and turned it all into their own identifiable, body-rocking brand of rough and tumble party funk. They perform a high energy set rich in great songs, fabulous harmonies, creatively tight arrangements and a kicking horn section while remaining lovingly anchored in New Orleans tradition.”

    DC Music Review
    The definitive source for all things music throughout the region.
  • “New Orleans music is steeped in a tradition that embraces the Cajun, Creole, Caribbean, West African and Mardi Gras Indian cultures that infuse its flavors. The Beat Hotel impeccably captures those musically fertile influences while still making the music their own. They know the polyrhythmic secret of creating interlocking patterns in which nobody plays the beat but everybody feels it”

    DC Music Review
    The definitive source for all things music throughout the region.
  • “The Beat Hotel performs a high energy set rich in great songs, fabulous harmonies, creatively tight arrangements and a kicking horn section while remaining lovingly anchored in New Orleans tradition. Make no mistake – this is party swamp music. The dance floor was packed…”

    DC Music Review
    The definitive source for all things music throughout the region.
  • “The Beat Hotel has taken the heritage of New Orleans carnivals, parades and back street bars and turned it all into their own identifiable, body-rocking brand of rough and tumble party funk.”

    DC Music Review
    The definitive source for all things music throughout the region.
  • “Washington DC finally has a band that truly captures the wonderful sounds of New Orleans, and its name is The Beat Hotel”

    DC Music Review
    The definitive source for all things music throughout the region.
  • “Their music gumbo will shift your soul and ears into bayou mode! Great stuff, I love their groove…you will too!”

    Cerphe
    Legendary DJ for WHFS, WJFK & Global Café on Eco Planet Radio
  • “Bruce Blaylock learned how to play the music of the New Orleans masters up close and personal during his years in the Crescent City by playing guitar with some of the city’s greats. He distilled the various techniques into a personal style, which he has honed to perfection with Beat Hotel.”

    Jay Mazza
    Former editor of “Beat Street” magazine, longtime music critic for the Louisiana Weekly
  • “The Beat Hotel brings a full band and full sound that will leave you and your friends feeling good all night.”

    Elliott Gross
    Longtime host of WPFW’s Don’t Forget The Blues
Watch a live performance and get a taste for the funk. Watch Now!

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© 2023 · The Beat Hotel · Design by Graphic Essentials · Photography by Mark Raker

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