David John Legg (8 June 19678 March 2024), known professionally as Brother Dege and Dege Legg was an American singer, songwriter, and musician of rock and blues.

Early life

From Cajun-French and Irish ancestry, Legg was born and raised in southern Louisiana. His parents were Anne and John Legg,

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from the United States Air Force. They moved a lot and lived in

Northern California Northern California (colloquially known as NorCal) is a geographic and cultural region that generally comprises the northern portion of the U.S. state of California. Spanning the state's northernmost 48 counties, its main population centers incl ...

and Georgia. His parents broke up so he and his mother came back to Louisiana.Brother Dege Shares “The Devil You Know” Video Single from Upcoming Album
ghostcultmag.com, January 29, 2024 He had a Bachelor of Arts in philosophy from Louisiana State University. He also discovered Henry Miller, Charles Bukowski, Gabriel García Márquez and

Beat Generation The Beat Generation was a literary subculture movement started by a group of authors whose work explored and influenced American culture and politics in the post-war era. The bulk of their work was published and popularized by Silent Generatio ...

's writers.INTERVIEW: BROTHER DEGE TALKS NEW ALBUM ‘AURORA’
New Noise Magazine, March 27, 2024South Louisiana artists grieve the death of musical icon 'Brother' Dege Legg

The Advocate An advocate is a professional in the field of law. The Advocate, The Advocates or Advocate may also refer to: Magazines * ''The Advocate'' (LGBT magazine), an LGBT magazine based in the United States *''The Harvard Advocate'', a literary magazin ...

, March 9, 2024 He listened to 1970s and 1980s rock music : Led Zeppelin, Black Sabbath,

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American guitarist, singer and songwriter. Although his mainstream career spanned only four years, he is widely regarded as one of the most ...

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

, plus the blues of

Blind Willie Johnson Blind Willie Johnson (January 25, 1897 – September 18, 1945) was an American gospel blues singer, guitarist and evangelist. His landmark recordings completed between 1927 and 1930—thirty songs in total—display a combination of powerful "ch ...

, Son House, Robert Johnson, Bukka White, plus lyrics of Tom Waits and Bob Dylan. He taught himself how to play guitar and wrote his first songs. Legg suffered from chronic depression and

drug dependence Substance dependence, also known as drug dependence, is a biopsychological situation whereby an individual's functionality is dependent on the necessitated re-consumption of a psychoactive substance because of an adaptive state that has develope ...

. After a

suicide attempt A suicide attempt is an attempt to die by suicide that results in survival. It may be referred to as a "failed" or "unsuccessful" suicide attempt, though these terms are discouraged by mental health professionals for implying that a suicide res ...

in the Mississippi from a bridge he decided to go to drug rehabilitation.

Career

An underground artist (1994–2012)

In 1994, Legg with his initials DJ chose "Dege Legg" as his professional name. He formed the band Santeria as a singer with other musicians : Primo (guitare), Krishna Kasturi (drum), Chad Willis (bass) and Rob Rushing (percussion). During ten years the band self-released on his own label four albums and became one of the southern underground band. The band dissolved in 2008. To support his artistic projects, Legg worked many odd jobs :

cabdriver A taxi, also known as a taxicab or simply a cab, is a type of vehicle for hire with a driver, used by a single passenger or small group of passengers, often for a non-shared ride. A taxicab conveys passengers between locations of their choic ...

, machinist, caseworker in a

homeless shelter Homeless shelters are a type of homeless service agency which provide temporary residence for homeless individuals and families. Shelters exist to provide residents with safety and protection from exposure to the weather while simultaneously r ...

, delivery driver, dishwasher, tire mechanic, cook, journalist at The Independent and won the Louisiana Press Award in 2004 and 2008 for his article about

Homelessness Homelessness or houselessness – also known as a state of being unhoused or unsheltered – is the condition of lacking stable, safe, and adequate housing. People can be categorized as homeless if they are: * living on the streets, also kn ...

in Lafayette.Brother Dege’s Folk Songs of the American Longhair Gets Special 10-Year Anniversary Vinyl Release
americanbluesscene.com, June 16, 2020 Legg varied the musical experiences by joining

C. C. Adcock C. C. Adcock (born Charles Clinton Adcock, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and blues rock musician, noted for his cajun, zydeco, electric blues and swamp pop-influenced sound and for his efforts to preserve and promote swamp ...

's touring band as second guitarist in The Lafayette Marquis and he formed the new band Black Bayou Construkt and released the album ''Kingdoms of Folly'' in 2009. After several solo albums he continued to play solo tour as "Brother Dege". During ten years he wrote the album ''Folk songs of the American Longhair'' and recorded in non-traditional spaces : elevator shafts, open fields, abandoned houses before recording the tracks at home. After that he worked with professionals to mix and master his albums. Brother Dedge described his music as psyouthern (

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and southern) because in his country the energy was "dark and spooky". David Maine of PopMatters said the album was ranged "from quietly desperate to careening full-tilt boogie" with

slide guitar Slide guitar is a technique for playing the guitar that is often used in blues music. It involves playing a guitar while holding a hard object (a slide) against the strings, creating the opportunity for glissando effects and deep vibratos tha ...

, Southern gothic and rock and roll. For Walter Pierce of The Independent, ''Kingdoms of Folly'' was a "musical departure from the dark, Southern tribalism of Santeria".O Brother Dege, Where Art Thou?
The Independent, April 13, 2010 For KLOF Magazine "the album tunnels into the ancient mysteries of pre-war blues and its devil-obsessed masters". Brother Dege, called by the press "the best kept secrets in the Deep South" went in solo tour in America with a

dobro Dobro is an American brand of resonator guitars, currently owned by Gibson and manufactured by its subsidiary Epiphone. The term "dobro" is also used as a generic term for any wood-bodied, single-cone resonator guitar. The Dobro was originally ...

and for the first time in Europe ( Belgium and Netherland). The producers of American reality television series ''

Deadliest Catch ''Deadliest Catch'' is a reality television series that premiered on the Discovery Channel on April 12, 2005. The show follows crab fishermen aboard fishing vessels in the Bering Sea during the Alaskan king crab and snow crab fishing seasons. The ...

'' licensed the song "Hard Row to Hoe". Cabbie’s log: Dege Legg turns five years of driving a taxi into new quasi-memoir

, November 5, 2020

Worldwide recognition (2013–2024)

Quentin Tarantino heard at

Sirius XM Sirius XM Holdings Inc. is an American broadcasting company headquartered in Midtown Manhattan, New York City that provides satellite radio and online radio services operating in the United States. It was formed by the 2008 merger of Sirius Sat ...

the song "Too Old to Die Young" and wanted it in his movie's

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, '' Django Unchained''. Tarantino said : "every track could have been in the movie". The movie was a great success. Tarantino won the

Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay The Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay is the Academy Awards, Academy Award for the best screenplay not based upon previously published material. It was created in 1940 as a separate writing award from the Academy Award for Best Story. Be ...

and the music was nominated for the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media. About this participation Brother Dege declared : "I couldn’t ask for a better director to be interested in my music. ..People associate Quentin with a bold cinematic aesthetic and his exquisite taste in music". In 2013, Brother Dege released the new album ''How to Kill a Horse''. To Robert Gluck of The Aquarian he was emerged into the spotlight with the same attention as The Black Keys and Gary Clark, Jr.. In 2015 the album ''Scorched Earth Policy'' was atypical because he mixed new songs "haunting and catchy compositions" for ''

OffBeat Offbeat, originally a music term meaning "not following the standard beat", which has also become a general synonym for "unconventional" or "unusual", may refer to: Music *Syncopation *Off-beat (music), the musical term in more detail *Off Beat (l ...

'', old demos, covers ( Black Sabbath, Hüsker Dü). To Blues Rock Review the album was full of surprises with "undertones of funky, psychedelic production techniques such as echoing background vocals and spacey, saturated drums". Brother Dege toured with his new band The Brethren founded in 2013. In 2018, his concept album ''Farmer's Almanach'' was "trying to fight your way out of a small town in the South". To Peter Lindblad of '' Elmore Magazine'' "Farmer’s Almanac is a broken piece of scuffed luggage bulging with troubled narratives of angels, drifters, ghosts and oddballs trapped in a hole of small-town desperation". Brother Dege and his band toured in America and in Europe during nine weeks (France and Netherlands) and again in 2019. In 2022 after touring two months in Europe he toured again in America alone in acoustic concert for the first time since 2014. Brother Dege was also a writer. He published a novel in 2006 ''The Battle Hymn of the Hillbilly Zatan Boys'' and co-signed with the architect Geoff Gjertson a book about solar home in 2014, ''Generating Hope: Stories of the Beausoleil Louisiana Solar Home''. In 2020 he released with UL Press, ''Cablog: Diary of a Cabdriver'' and detailed the five years (2003–2008) he drove a taxicab in Lafayette. With the book Brother Dege released the instrumental album ''Only the Dust'' with 36 tracks. In December 2023 the first single "Where the Black Flowers Grow" from his new album, ''Aurora'', was out. To Brother Dege ''Aurora'' dealed "with love, psychosis, and the dysfunctions that get repeated within these relationships and patterns of myself. I thought of it as an ouroboros—which is a snake that eats its own tail. In a relationship, you are swallowing your own tail and tail of your partner, because you blame them for some of it too. The Aurora resembles the spectral light of falling in love." For the first time the musician was signed with a label : Prophecy Productions & Records. The album was released on 15 March 2024. After two dates in

Austin Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the seat and largest city of Travis County, with portions extending into Hays and Williamson counties. Incorporated on December 27, 1839, it is the 11th-most-populous city ...

he intended to tour in April 2024 in Europe.

Death

Brother Dege died on 8 March 2024 in his native town of Lafayette at the age of 56 years old. Prophecy Productions & Records decided to release the album ''Aurora'' on 15 March 2024. In promotional materials Brother Dege said: "As dark as it gets, I’d like for people to know there’s some kind of twisted light at the end of the tunnel that’s worth reaching together. I don’t know if it’s an illusion, but even hope embedded in an illusion is better than no illusion or no hope at all".'You just wanted to be around him': Dege Legg and a life of authentic creativity

, March 29, 2024

Discography

Albums

* 1997 : ''Bastard's Blues'' * 1999 : ''Love Letters & Suicide Notes'', EP * 2004 : ''Trailerville'' * 2010 : ''Folk Songs of the American Longhair'' * 2013 : ''How to Kill a Horse'' * 2015 : ''Scorched Earth Policy'' * 2018 : ''Farmer's Almanac'' * 2021 : ''Only the Dust'' * 2024 : ''Aurora''

With Santeria

* 1998 : ''Santeria'' * 2000 : ''Apocalypse, Louisiana'', live * 2002 : ''House of the Dying Sun'' * 2008 : ''Year of the Knife''

With Black Bayou Construkt

* 2009 : ''Kingdoms of Folly''

Bibliography

* ''The Battle Hymn of the Hillbilly Zatan Boys'', 2006 (novel) * ''Slipping Through the Cracks: A Week on the Streets with Lafayette's Homeless'', The Independent Weekly, 13 June 2007, n° 196 * ''Into the Great Unknown : A Short History of Going Nowhere: Collected Santeria Journals 2000–2004'', 2011 * ''Generating Hope: Stories of the Beausoleil Louisiana Solar Home'', cowritten with Geoff Gjertson, UL Press, 2014 * ''Cablog: Diary of a Cabdriver'', UL Press, 2020

Awards

* Louisiana Press Award 2004, 2008 for ''Slipping Through the Cracks: A Week on the Streets with Lafayette's Homeless''

Nomination

* Grammy Awards 2014 : Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media for '' Django Unchained''

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dege, Brother 1967 births 2024 deaths Louisiana State University alumni 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male singers 20th-century American singer-songwriters 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male singers 21st-century American singer-songwriters American blues singers American blues guitarists American male guitarists American male singer-songwriters American people of Irish descent American people of French descent American rock guitarists American rock songwriters Musicians from Louisiana Songwriters from Louisiana People from Lafayette, Louisiana People with mood disorders Singer-songwriters from Louisiana American journalists 21st-century American writers 21st-century American novelists American autobiographers