The Wild Magnolias

The Wild Magnolias
The Wild Magnolias at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, 2006
Background information
Origin	New Orleans, Louisiana, United States
Genres	Funk Mardi Gras Indian
Years active	1970–present
Labels	Crescent City, Barclay, Rounder, AIM, Metro Blue
Website	Wildmagnolias.net
Members	Theodore "Bo" Dollis June Yamagishi Norwood "Geechie" Johnson Gerard "Little Bo" Dollis Queen Rita
Past members	Monk Boudreaux

The Wild Magnolias are a Mardi Gras Indian tribe who also record and play as a funk musical act from New Orleans, Louisiana.

A group calling itself the Wild Magnolias, participating in the local "Indian masking" traditions and performing New Orleans Mardi Gras music, extends at least back into the 1950s. The group's lead member was called the Big Chief, and at least three Big Chiefs are known to have headed the band for short stints prior to 1964: Leon, Flap, and Joe Lee Davis. In 1964, Bo Dollis became Big Chief of the group, having previously participated in other Mardi Gras tribes such as the White Eagles and the Golden Arrows.

In 1970, the group cut a 45rpm single for Crescent City Records entitled "Handa Wanda," recorded and mixed by Cy Frost at Deep South Recording Studio. In addition to their usual ensemble of vocalist and a battery of percussion instruments (snares, tom toms, cymbals, beer bottles, cans, and so forth), the group culled together a number of local musicians, including pianist Willie Tee and guitarist Snooks Eaglin, as their backing band, called the New Orleans Project. The single received little airplay on radio but was successful in jukeboxes and through local word-of-mouth. On the strength of the single, the group signed with Barclay Records, a French label, and secured distribution of their albums in America with Polydor Records. Two critically acclaimed full-length albums followed, in 1974 and 1975, and a single, "Smoke My Peace Pipe (Smoke it Right)", cracked the Billboard Black Singles chart, peaking at #74 in 1974. At the height of the group's popularity, they booked dates at Carnegie Hall and the Capital Centre in Washington, D.C..