Sixteen-year-old New Orleans pianist River Eckert speaks with KGNU’s Joanne Cole ahead of his Colorado debut at the Nederland Wine & Jazz Fest. He talks about growing up surrounded by New Orleans musicians and music and his early start on piano. He also mentions his father’s influence and the musicians who have shaped his playing, including Fats Domino, Huey “Piano” Smith, Dr. John, James Booker, Professor Longhair, Jon Batiste, and Harry Connick Jr.
Eckert also talks about his connection to New Orleans’ musical tradition and his experiences performing outside his hometown. (Air Date 8/21/26).
Listen to the interview here:
Transcript:
Joanne Cole: All right. Mr. River, I hear you.
River Eckert: Hello, hello.
Joanne Cole: Hey. Oh, I love when the magic works. Welcome to KGNU Radio.
River Eckert: Thank you for having me. I’m excited to be here on the radio with y’all.
Joanne Cole: I’m so excited to have you. So, we just heard a song, and I was just watching George Porter get down on that one. What’s the name of that?
River Eckert: That was “Too Much Blues,” and that was interesting because the version you just played I actually have not heard in years. That was the original version we recorded, but then on my album we re-recorded that and redid a lot of things, so it sounds pretty different.
When it first started playing—and it’s playing through this phone call for me—it sounded like a record from the 1920s playing right now.
Joanne Cole: It sounded really good coming over the radio.
River Eckert: No, actually, I loved it. It was something so cool that it would be cool to experiment with.
But anyway, that version was the original version I recorded when I was about 13 or 14, and then I re-recorded it when I was 15, or maybe earlier this year when I was 16. I can’t remember.
But yeah, I haven’t heard that version in years, so I was like, “Man, where did they get this version?” I was like, “Oh, that’s the version with the YouTube video. That’s right.”
Joanne Cole: Exactly. Yeah. Right. Well, welcome to Colorado. Have you been to Colorado before?
River Eckert: I’ve been here before. I’ve been to Nederland a couple years ago when my dad was here touring with his band, New Orleans Suspects.
But I think, yeah, this is my debut Colorado performance.
Joanne Cole: Indeed. And so it’s a wonderful thing. River is performing tomorrow at the Nederland Wine and Jazz Fest, taking place at Chipeta Park. It is sold out, so I hope you have your tickets. It’s a wonderful event. Not only is the wine great—I’m not a big drinker—but they do a really great job.
And when I saw your name, River, I was like, “Oh my God, I gotta get this guy on the radio.” So I’ve been waiting, and I’m thrilled.
I know you get interviewed a lot. But I was thinking, you’re a young man, 16 years old, obviously. Growing up in New Orleans, your father is a musician. You’re surrounded with these fabulous musicians, not to name-drop, but George Porter being one.
What’s it like to pursue a career? Is it a heavy burden, or is it just like you’re standing on the shoulders of giants?
River Eckert: Ever since I was a really young child, from the age of six to 10, I would always look at my dad. I’ve seen my dad do many different jobs throughout his life, from being a musician on stage to studio production and engineering, to even working some construction and many other jobs.
I would look at my dad a lot when I was younger and try and picture where I could be based off of what I was growing up around. The only place I could really see myself was in that musical world that he’s so immersed in.
Growing up in New Orleans, it’s all I’ve known most of my life, up until these past couple years when I’ve started really traveling to play music outside of town more.
But New Orleans is home, so nothing, for me at least, is very abnormal. I’ve known those guys like George Porter Jr. of The Meters and Ivan Neville, and many others, most of my life—since my earliest memories.
It’s a dream to have them as mentors, I guess you could call them, because the influence and impact they’ve had on not just New Orleans, but American music as a whole, is so immense, with the innovation of The Meters’ music and The Neville Brothers and things like that.
It’s just a dream for me to understand their impact and to be able to work with them and have them still around today, because there are a lot of guys who aren’t around that I look up to, like Dr. John and Professor Longhair.
So those guys like George and Ivan are the people who are still around to pass that torch to the next generation today.
Joanne Cole: When did you start playing piano?
River Eckert: I started when I was three.
Joanne Cole: Ah, okay. So, a young age. To talk about piano, I’m a big fan of the piano in particular, whether it be blues or jazz or whatever. It’s one of my favorite instruments.
And in New Orleans, there’s this deep, rich, fabulous history of piano players. I don’t want to put you on the spot, but who do you think is your biggest influence? Who do you aspire to be?
You just mentioned Dr. John and Professor Longhair. I just played Tuts Washington earlier, too, just to warm the crowd up for you. But who do you think is your biggest influence?
River Eckert: I don’t look up to a single one more than the other these days, at least. Obviously, I’ve grown up listening to their music my whole life.
My earlier influences, when I first started studying the New Orleans piano style, were people like Fats Domino.
Joanne Cole: Thank you for mentioning that, because I can’t believe I left his name out of that canon when I was rattling off names. Thank you.
River Eckert: Yeah. Fats Domino’s really the first guy that I did a deep dive on and learned a nice amount of his music.
Then the first New Orleans piano song I learned was “Rockin’ Pneumonia and the Boogie Woogie Flu,” and that’s by Huey “Piano” Smith.
He’s another one. He’s not as well-known as the other guys, but that was one of his hits. He’s another one I really looked up to in my earlier days of learning this music.
As I progressed, it got to the James Bookers and the Dr. Johns and Professor Longhair. Those are definitely the big three that I look up to these days: Dr. John, James Booker, and Professor Longhair.
Now I’m starting to get into some of the earlier cats, like Jelly Roll Morton, and even the newer guys of today.
I love what Jon Batiste is doing. He’s a good friend of mine as well, same with Harry Connick Jr., who’s a good friend. He’s been a bit of a mentor.
But every New Orleans piano player from New Orleans, at least, has been an inspiration to me, including guys who weren’t necessarily known more as piano players, like Art Neville, who was more of an organist.
It’s still under the same big umbrella of New Orleans music, New Orleans funk, R&B, piano, whatever you want to call it.
But I don’t really look up to anybody more than the next guy, you know?
Joanne Cole: I like that. Thank you, River. We’re speaking with River Eckert. He’ll be performing tomorrow at the Nederland Jazz and Wine Festival.
Thank you so much for taking time out of your busy day. I know you gotta practice. Enjoy your time here in Colorado. Drink your water, get a good night’s sleep, and we’ll see you tomorrow.
Thank you so much. I appreciate it. People can find you online, River Eckert, E-C-K-E-R-T, dot com?
River Eckert: Yeah. And yeah, I mean, my Instagram is where everything is. You can keep up with my updates. That’s @RiverEckertMusic. Instagram, Facebook, YouTube, TikTok, and then I’m on Spotify. You can listen to my music.
But thank you so much for having me, and I’m really excited to make my Colorado debut tomorrow at the Ned Jazz Fest.
Joanne Cole: Very cool. All right, we’ll see you out there, River. Thanks again.
River Eckert: Thank you.
Joanne Cole: All right. Bye. Bye.
That’s River Eckert, and we’re gonna hear one more by him. This is a studio recording called “Painting Pictures,” right here on KGNU.
