Hugh Laurie's New Orleans Romp, By Way Of Oxford

Hugh Laurie worked with producer Joe Henry, Allen Toussaint, Irma Thomas and Dr. John on his debut album, Let Them Talk.

September 2, 2011

Fans of the TV medical drama House know actor Hugh Laurie as the sardonic, limping, Vicodin-popping title character, Dr. Gregory House. From time to time, Dr. House will noodle at the piano, and that’s no act: Laurie started playing piano as a child in England. Now, on his debut album Let Them Talk, he’s romping through the music he loves best: New Orleans and Delta blues.

“I wanted to appear — if you don’t mind me saying — I wanted to appear naked, because I am surrounded by wonderful, wonderful musicians,” Laurie says. “I didn’t want to hide behind them. I wanted to sort of come out and to appear as nakedly and as honestly as I could and say, ‘Well, this is me doing this. This is what it’s going to be. This is what I love and this is how it sounds, and take it or leave it.’ Well, take it. Please don’t leave it.”

‘Not Conventionally Qualified’

Laurie starts the liner notes of Let Them Talk with a bold disclaimer: “I was not born in Alabama in the 1890s. You may as well know this now. I’ve never eaten grits, cropped a share or ridden a boxcar.” In an interview, Laurie assures All Things Considered host Melissa Block that this is all true.

“Although, by the reference to the 1890s, I was slyly trying to make it clear that actually no one currently making records was born in the 1890s,” Laurie says. “But, yes, I am perfectly well aware of the fact that I’m not conventionally qualified to play this music. It’s easier for a camel to pass through the eye of a needle than for a rich man to make a blues record.”

For Laurie, his love of the blues goes back as far as he can remember, but, he adds, “that’s not saying much, because I can’t remember more than an hour ago.”

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