New Orleans has given the world all kinds of music. We refer to ourselves as the birthplace of jazz. We’re one of the principal breeding grounds of funk, bounce, and brass band music. And then there’s a style of piano playing that’s so identifiably from here it’s simply called, “New Orleans piano.”

Generations of legendary New Orleans piano players became identified with the places they played. Fats Domino at the Dew Drop Inn. Professor Longhair at Tipitina’s. James Booker at The Maple Leaf. Today you can hear masters of New Orleans piano like Jon Cleary, Tom McDermott, Joe Krown, and others at clubs around town, like Chickie Wah Wah, The Bon Temps, and Buffa’s.

Or, you can hear them at your place.

Piano on a Truck is, well, a piano on a truck

You can have an A-list New Orleans piano player show up at your place – with a grand piano – and play your birthday party, wedding, or just a random Friday night, thanks to Jacques Ferland’s business, Piano On A Truck.

Jacques Ferland, a piano tuner and restorer, he unintentionally became a music promoter thanks to his Covid-era inspired peripatetic stage, Piano On A Truck

Piano On A Truck is pretty much what it sounds like. It’s a grand piano on the back of a yellow, 1972 International pick-up truck. And it comes with, or without, a piano player.

In our seemingly never-ending attempt to place order on a chaotic world, we like to categorize things into twos – either/or. Tall or short. Black or white. On the rocks or straight up. Today, for a lot of white-collar occupations, the either/or distinction is either working in the office or working from home.

Well, like so many things in life, it turns out there’s a 3rd way.

Billy Schell describes himself as CEO, owner and van driver of an apparel company called NOLA Shirts. NOLA Shirts designs and manufactures New Orleans themed Polo shirts, T-shirts, and hats, and sells them online or at various brick-and-mortar stores around New Orleans.

Billy Schell, the headquarters of NOLA Shirts and his living quarters are the Mercedes Sprinter van he shares with his two Labrador Retrievers

The “van driver” in Billy’s job description is a reference to the company’s headquarters which are also Billy’s living quarters – a Mercedes Sprinter van that’s been his principal home and office since 2021.

Around 5,525 years ago – it was probably a Thursday – in ancient Mesopotamia, the wheel was invented. To say it was a revolutionary invention is not just a bad pun, it’s also the understatement of several millennia. And just when you think every possible use of the wheel has already been thought of, along comes the 21st Century – and#vanlife and Piano On A Truck, two New Orleans entrepreneurs discovering yet more places the revolutions of a wheel can take us.

Billy Schell, Technical Director Eric Murrell, Peter Ricchiuti, Producer Grant Morris, Jacques Ferland, Out to Lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans

Out to Lunch was recorded live over lunch at Columns in Uptown New Orleans. Photos by Jill Lafleur.