Willie Purple’s
Status: Closed
Parish: Lafayette
Location: Lafayette
Patricia Davison: “Off of Pinhook, across the bridge- down a little incline towards the river. It was a road house type place- very popular from 1970-75. ZZ Top played there 3 or four days before the 1st record came out. Dr. John played there a bunch in his ‘night tripper’ phase- with the big stage costumes and glittered up backup singers. Rufus played there a bunch too.”
Mike: “My friends owned Willie Purples- their slogan was “Willie Purple’s: Where music is Love!” One of the owner’s brothers worked at a big record label- Columbia I think. He helped route bands to Lafayette to play there. It was made of rough hewn boards, probably cypress. It always smelled great in there. Once, a show of an English band, Wild Turkey that features the Jethro Tull bassist, got busted by the DEA. The band stayed another night to perform and raise money to bail out those busted. ZZ Top, Dr. John the Night Tripper (with Red Dog, the roadie from Allman Brothers), and lots of good local bands played there.The club was originally Swinging Machine- there were 2 Swinging Machine clubs- first one was where Outback is now- owned by Carol Martin (it burned down). The second one was back by the river- that one became Willie Purples.”
Jack Shaheen
Saw Dr. John with Professor Longhair, Long John Baldry, Osibisa and others there too back in the 70’s. Great venue.
I was told the owner’s brother owned the Warehouse in New Orleans and that is how Lafayette got a lot of these great bands to show up there.
John Diaz
The Pillot Brothers owned it. Michael was the owner who worked at Columbia Records. Freddie ran the club. I was close friends, with Michael, and he worked with me in music videos, throughout the 80’s. Michael broke Bruce Springsteen, for Columbia Records forcing them to release Born To Run when the label was going to drop him. I was an original employee, and later owner, of The Warehouse in New Orleans. Willie Purples was our ticket outlet and our favorite after show venue when we, Beaver Prod., did shows in Lafayette.
Mary Lou Fewell
My husband and I met at Willie Purple’s in Spring of ’72. ZZ Top was playing and it was as awesome evening. It was the best place to hear live bands and popular with all my college friends. In fact he was on a date with one of my classmates who he ignored after meeting me. At the time he had a beard, mustache, long hair, and a motorcycle. How could I resist, right?
We married later that year and will be celebrating our 50th Anniversary in December.
Are there any photos that exist?