On the streets of New Orleans, where brass bands play every Sunday for weekly second line parades, it’s not unusual for one brass band to catch the ear of the streets and dominate the second line season. Not long after their founding in 2016, the Big 6 Brass Band had the streets on lock. Their mixtape, which has made the rounds in the second line community, features covers of songs by Michael Jackson, Fantasia, and SZA, among others. Unsatisfied with playing only “radio tunes,” their song catalog runs deep into brass band history as they breathe new life into time-honored traditional tunes like “Red Dress” and “Lilly of the Valley.” With original music soon to be put on wax, they can do it all.

The band’s all-star lineup is comprised of some of the most talented young brass band musicians in the city. Though the band is relatively young, their pedigree evinces a wealth of experience as their roster includes current and former members of the Rebirth, Stooges, Hot 8, TBC, and Da Truth brass bands. Though their music maintains ties to the tradition from which they come, they are very much the vanguard of the brass band scene. Their sound, which combines smooth R&B radio hits with the rough and ready sound of the streets, is, more than any other band, representative of the sound of contemporary New Orleans brass band music.

With a mixtape under their belt, a breakout performance at Essence Fest, nearly one hundred thousand plays on Soundcloud, and a number of local pop-up performances going viral, the band seems poised to make moves in 2019. A well-kept secret outside of New Orleans, the only thing that seems certain is that they won’t remain a secret for long.