Multi–award-winning vocalist and songwriter Robin Barnes (known as “The Songbird of New Orleans”) is thrilled to announce the launch of her debut album, Louisiana Love, honoring her ninth-generation Louisiana heritage through the rhythms, languages and culture of the state. Known for bringing her soulful blend of jazz and funk to the stage, Barnes brings a new sound to the forefront with Louisiana Love, traveling through zydeco, Cajun and Creole French expression, New Orleans Jazz and funk, Mardi Gras Indian tradition, brass band joy and lullabies while inviting audiences into the living heartbeat of New Orleans. After a health scare forced Barnes to confront her own mortality, she began asking a question that generations before her had faced in different ways: what do we leave behind, and how do we pass it on? This album is her answer. 

Louisiana Love is available now on Spotify, Amazon Music, Apple Music, Tidal and more. The album features guest collaborations from Louisiana artists known around the globe including New Orleans greats Ivan Neville and The Soul Rebels, Mardi Gras Indians Bruce Sunpie Barnes (North Side Skull and Bones Big Chief), Monk Boudreaux (Golden Eagles Big Chief) and J’Wan Boudreaux (Golden Eagles), Zydeco legends Rockin’ Dopsie Jr., Dwayne Dopsie and Rusty Metoyer, Louisiana/Cajun French artists Louis Michot (singer/fiddler) and Jourdan Thibodeaux (singer/fiddler), Creole musician and fiddler Cedric Watson, American Jazz drummer Herlin Riley, Lafayette multimedia artist and musician Drake Leblanc and bounce artists Big Freedia and Ha Sizzle.

Barnes is part of a new generation of artists redefining contemporary Louisiana music, and Louisiana Love showcases her musical style at the intersection of preservation and innovation. 

“This album represents me, my history and the future of continuing my family legacy for many years to come,” said Barnes. “I feel a call of stewardship to not only preserve my family’s history through song, but also bridge the gap between New Orleans and Louisiana culture through music, history and love. I am proud to share Louisiana Love with the world, and feel honored to pass down this music to my daughters and future generations to keep our story alive.”

While performing at French Quarter Fest in early 2025, a local photographer and friend of Barnes noticed an abnormal leg muscle during her performance that – when compared to performance photos from years past – had increased in size. It wasn’t until a few months later when she began feeling pain that she visited doctors and was told a tumor had formed. Unsure if the tumor was cancerous, she immediately underwent surgery and faced months of recovery before being able to fully walk, perform and care for her daughters. This health scare forced Barnes to confront a question her family had quietly lived by for nine generations of women: how do we pass our culture on when those who carried it are no longer here? From that moment, Louisiana Love began to take shape. 

Barnes grew up in a family where stories, songs and values were passed down from eldest daughter to eldest daughter, often without being written or recorded. After Hurricane Katrina, and the loss of elders who carried that knowledge, she felt the weight of how fragile oral tradition can be; she began learning more about her family history and creating songs. When she discovered her tumor just a few years later, it pushed her to move quickly in preserving her music, which led to the creation of Louisiana Love. This album is her form of oral tradition, created through music, language, collaboration, and visual storytelling, so that her daughters will always have a living record of who they come from.

A multi-award-winning and Billboard Top 10 charting artist, Barnes blends jazz, funk, soul and second-line energy into a sound that is unmistakably New Orleans. Her EP Songbird Sessions debuted at #5 on Billboard’s Traditional Jazz Chart, and she has been voted #1 Best New Orleans Artist multiple times by Gambit magazine. Barnes has performed on major stages across the U.S. and internationally, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, Sundance Film Festival and London’s Royal Opera House, as well as performances throughout Europe, Asia and Australia. Whether igniting festival crowds or commanding intimate rooms, her performances channel the heartbeat of her hometown.

Barnes has shared the stage with legendary artists including Irma Thomas, Allen Toussaint, India.Arie, Anders Osborne, Aloe Blacc and GRAMMY-winning trumpeter Chris Botti, and has appeared as a featured performer on Daisy Jones & The Six, NCIS: New Orleans, and Bravo. Beyond the stage, Barnes founded Move Ya Brass, a New Orleans-based movement experience that fuses music, dance and community, along with the nonprofit Make Your Move Foundation, which expands access to culturally rooted wellness programming across Greater New Orleans.

Barnes opens and closes Louisiana Love with Big Chief Sunpie Barnes and the Northside Skull and Bone Gang, grounding the album in one of New Orleans’ most sacred Mardi Gras traditions. At daybreak, before the celebrations begin, the Skull and Bone Gang moves through the streets chanting and calling on the ancestors. Their role is to awaken the spirit of the day, invite ancestral guidance and lead the community forward with that presence walking alongside them. In tradition, the role of the Skull and Bone Gang is not only to call the ancestors, but to remind the living of their responsibility to carry the culture forward. Closing the album with them completes that intention. By ending where it began, Barnes reinforces that this is not just a listening experience, but a continuation. This ritual is the blueprint for the album. 

Louisiana Love is designed as a cultural journey, tracing the full Louisiana tapestry from Acadiana through Creole and Louisiana French traditions to New Orleans. It moves through genres, language and lived experience, reflecting the depth and continuity of the culture. Beginning with Big Chief Sunpie Barnes and the Northside Skull and Bone Gang, Barnes is not simply opening the album, she is calling on the ancestors in the same way the tradition does, asking them to guide the listener through this journey.

The album becomes a procession rather than a playlist, guided by ancestral presence from beginning to end. It bridges New Orleans with the broader Louisiana cultural landscape, honoring the past while placing its future in the hands of the listener.

Louisiana Love – Album Summary:

1. “The Water Remembers” (intro) ft Big Chief Bruce “Sunpie” Barnes and The North Side Skull and Bone Gang: Inspired by the historic Tremé Mardi Gras Krewe, this opening calls in the ancestors at daybreak, blessing the journey ahead and inviting the listener into a living Louisiana lineage. With ancestral rituals dating back over 200 years, The North Side Skull and Bone Gang’s presence on Mardi Gras morning is a testament to New Orleans’ rich cultural heritage and the ongoing spirit of Carnival. The krewe begins at 5 am, wearing skeleton suits, butcher aprons and papier-mâché skulls to wake up the Tremé neighborhood with a message of peace and a reminder to live well before death.
2. “Louisiana Love” featuring Louis Michot: A love song to Louisiana itself, glowing with romance, bayou air, and deep joy. An anthem for falling in love with a place and a person at the same time.
3. “Bienvenue en Louisiane” (interlude) featuring Cedric Watson.
4. “Eh Ma Belle” featuring Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and Dwayne Dopsie: A full-force zydeco explosion that hits from the first note and never lets up. Built for sweat, joy, and packed dance floors.
5. “Va Dansé” featuring Jourdan Thibodeaux, Rusty Metoyer, and Drake LeBlanc: Va Dansé means “go dance,” and this song delivers exactly that: a Louisiana dance hall alive with language, rhythm, and communal joy.
6. “Don’t Let Go” featuring Rusty Metoyer: Modern zydeco with emotional weight, honoring tradition while pushing forward. A reminder to hold on to love, culture, and connection.
7. “Do Do BeBe” (interlude) featuring Bruce Sunpie Barnes. 
8. “A Creole Lullaby” featuring Cedric Watson: A tender Creole French lullaby, sung as an offering of protection, love, and continuity. 
9. “Dey Say Run” featuring Robin’s daughters: A generational chant passed from mother to daughters, built on clapping, voices, and memory. An act of inheritance made audible.
10. “A Mother’s Love” (Interlude) featuring the great poet Sunni Patterson. 
11. “Hands Up” featuring Big Chief Monk Boudreaux and Chief J’Wan Boudreaux, with Herlin Riley: An ancestral blessing spoken directly into the record. Elders affirm Robin’s responsibility to carry New Orleans culture forward and speak it truthfully to the world.
12. “Doctah” featuring Ivan Neville: A late-night New Orleans spell where rhythm bends time and the groove pulls you deeper. Soul-funk rooted in lineage and atmosphere.
13. “Saw My Baby” featuring The Soul Rebels: A joyful brass band celebration of love and place, built to be sung everywhere. Pure New Orleans happiness.
14. “Hey Na (Iko Iko)” featuring Big Freedia and Ha Sizzle: A respectful reimagining of a New Orleans classic, bridging Indian tradition, bounce culture, and generational memory.
15.  “Carry it Forward” (Outro) featuring Big Chief Bruce Sunpie Barnes and the North Side Skull and Bone Gang: The ending procession showcases a traditional Mardi Gras Day closing by gathering people together, calling on our ancestors and honoring those who came before us. This is not the end; now, we carry our culture and our history forward. 

For more information on Robin Barnes and Louisiana Love, visit robinbarnesmusic.com, and follow Barnes on social media @NewOrleansSongbird. 

About Robin Barnes

Robin Barnes, known as “The Songbird of New Orleans,” is a multi-award-winning vocalist and songwriter whose work reflects the cultural depth, history, and living traditions of her hometown. A Crescent City native raised in the Lower Ninth Ward, Barnes is widely recognized as one of New Orleans’ most compelling contemporary voices, an artist whose music functions as storytelling rooted in place, lineage, and lived experience.

Blending jazz, soul, funk, and traditional Louisiana influences, Barnes has performed on major stages around the world, from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and ESSENCE Festival to international festivals in Europe and Asia, while also appearing on national television and film. Her music has charted on Billboard, and she has been repeatedly voted “Best New Orleans Artist” by Gambit magazine.

Her forthcoming album, Louisiana Love, honors her ninth-generation Louisiana heritage and explores themes of culture, resilience, and belonging.