By Brent Thompson

In a recording career spanning over 20 years, Marc Broussard has created a style that expands boundaries while holding true to his Louisiana roots. Last year, the singer/songwriter/guitarist released Time is a Thief (Artist Tone Records), his first album of original material since 2017. Written in a short, creative burst, Time is a Thief was produced by noted guitarist Eric Krasno (Soulive, Lettuce). On Friday, February 14, Broussard will perform at The Lyric Theatre in a show presented by Code-R Productions. Recently, Broussard spoke with us by phone from his Louisiana home.

Southern Stages: Marc, thanks for your time today. We are really enjoying Time is a Thief.

Marc Broussard: Thanks, man – I’m really proud of this one. It was really written over the course of about a week in March 2020. It took a little longer than expected to get finalized, but I think it was well worth the wait.

Southern Stages: Of course, Covid hit in 2020 so I’m sure that accounted for some delay. Other than that, why was now the right time to release the album?

Broussard: I ended up recording a blues record with Joe Bonamassa that came out in 2023 so it just took a little longer than expected.

Southern Stages: Written in a week? That’s quite a creative burst!

Broussard: It was. I reached out to (producer/musician) Eric Krasno to produce the record in March 2020. I was sitting on a batch of about 30 songs that I had previously written and had decided that I wanted to work with “Kras.” I figured that we should write a little bit together just to get the juices flowing and to see if we liked working together. Within a week, we had an entirely new album.

Southern Stages: Will we ever get to hear the 30 songs you mentioned that haven’t been released yet?

Broussard: It’s a real good question. I just actually made another blues album with Joe Bonamassa two weeks ago. Quite frankly, I think that my writing in the past four years has gotten substantially better than it was throughout the course of my career. I would say the chances are pretty slim that that stuff will ever see the light of day.

Southern Stages: How would you describe your writing process?

Broussard: It comes in fits of spurts. What I’ve found really helps me these days is when I have a co-writing partner that can handle the arrangements. I don’t fancy myself a great arranger, so when I have a co-writing partner that can take care of the arrangements and I can focus on lyrics, I find that the process goes a lot quicker. This Joe Bonamassa stuff – I wrote the entire record over the course of three days and I wrote three more songs while we were in the studio. Joe’s bass player, Calvin Turner, was my first sideman and he’s been one of my best friends for the last 20-plus years. He and I wrote everything together – he would send me an instrumental demo and I would knock out the lyrics on my own.

Southern Stages: Where do you prefer to write – at home or on the road?

Broussard: I typically write at home. It comes in seasons and it doesn’t always hit me. Calvin had sent a big batch of material and I sat on it for several weeks until I could get to my home studio and hone in on what I was trying to do. Generally, it comes in waves.

Southern Stages: With such a large catalog of songs under your belt now, how do you comprise your live setlists these days?

Broussard: It can be a struggle. There are fan favorites that have stayed in rotation like “Home” and “Lonely Night In Georgia” and those songs will probably stay in rotation for the foreseeable future. It can be very difficult [laughs]. Sometimes I want to play a song because I miss playing it from years ago, sometimes we need more upbeat material in the setlist – there are a variety of reasons that songs make the list.

Southern Stages: How do songs stay fresh after you’ve performed some of them literally thousands of times?

Broussard: Some of them, like “Cry To Me,” are so good as they are and you really enjoy playing them every night. There are songs,  like “Home,” that have had several evolutions over the years. The latest iteration of “Home” has this gospel-inspired section in the last verse that we’re having a lot of fun with. Arrangements get updated over the years – “The Wanderer” is a very different song now than it was on [2004 album] Carencro. It’s a much funkier version that we really enjoy playing a whole lot.

Code-R Productions presents Marc Broussard at The Lyric Theatre on Friday, February 14. Advance tickets to the 8 p.m. show are $35 – $44.50 and can be purchased at www.lyricbham.com.