For over thirty years, Mama Digdown’s Brass Band has worked inside the New Orleans brass band tradition—learning it, carrying it, and contributing to its ongoing evolution. Emerging during the early-1990s brass band resurgence, Mama Digdown’s has spent decades forging real ties to the city and its musicians, returning again and again not as visitors, but as part of the extended brass band family. Formed in Madison, Wisconsin in 1993, co-leaders Roc Ohly and Erik Jacobson met while studying in the University of Wisconsin’s Black Music Ensemble under the guidance of legendary bassist Richard Davis. Early on, Davis connected the band directly to many of jazz's titans — most memorably when Bill Lee gave his blessing for Mama Digdown’s to record “Mo’ Better Blues.” That recording soon found its way to Donna’s Bar & Grill, where it lived on the jukebox alongside the city’s own bands and led to Mama Digdown’s first New Orleans performances, sharing the stand with Soul Rebels and Hot 8 during the height of the modern brass band revival. Over fifty trips to New Orleans across three decades have cemented deep relationships within the community. Members of Mama Digdown’s have regularly worked with New Orleans bands including Stooges, Hot 8, and Treme, and several Mama Digdown’s original tunes have entered the broader brass band repertoire, played by bands throughout the city. Mama Digdown’s returns to New Orleans to perform at Chickie Wah Wah as part of Donna’s Presents, the ongoing series curated with Donna Simms, that continues the legacy of Donna’s Bar & Grill by spotlighting bands that were part of that original scene. The night serves as both a reunion and a celebration of the legacy of Donna's Bar once known as "New Orleans Brass Band Headquarters." The performance also celebrates the release of Mama Digdown’s latest album, Brass Jackson, a high-energy brass band reimagining of some of Michael Jackson’s most iconic songs—arranged with deep respect for both the source material and the second line tradition. As always, the band approaches familiar material the New Orleans way: soulful, funky and built to move people. Grounded in second line tradition and sharpened by years on the road, Mama Digdown’s plays with grit, authority, and deep respect for the form. With nine albums behind them, performances at Congo Square during the 2018 and 2019 New Orleans Brass Fest, and a long history of playing stages overseas, the band continues to carry the music where it belongs—on the stand, in the streets, and far beyond.