Chuck
Credo IV
When I Paint My Masterpiece
A brand-new recording — available first, and only, right here. Chuck’s cinematic take on the Dylan classic. Press play.
Born into the music of New Orleans.
Chuck Credo IV is a fourth-generation New Orleans musician. He picked up the guitar at six years old and cut his teeth on stage with the legendary Basin Street Six, the Dixieland band led by his grandfather, clarinetist Chuck Credo Jr.
At sixteen, while at Archbishop Rummel High School, he formed his first band — The Mixed Nuts. By eighteen he was gigging weekly across the Gulf Coast and the SEC college circuit. Three decades on, he’s a working guitarist, record producer, music director for legendary acts, and the entrepreneur behind The William Credo Agency — a whole family of bands and companies.
An LSU graduate of the Manship School of Mass Communication, he has spent his career doing one thing in a dozen forms: keeping New Orleans music alive and moving.
Inducted · Louisiana Cultural Hall of Fame · 2020 
One artist, many stages.
Recording Artist
Blues, rock and New Orleans R&B — from the solo acoustic set to a 14-piece band.
Producer
Studio producer and label owner behind WCIII Records and a catalog of New Orleans releases.
Music Director
Guitarist and MD for Cyndi Lauper, Allen Toussaint and The Drifters, among others.
Festival Creator
Founder of the New Orleans Beatles, Rolling Stones and tribute festival series.
The Music.
His debut solo album Credo Blues Society (2014) landed “Tell Me Mama” on SiriusXM’s B.B. King’s Bluesville, cut with Hammond B3 legend John “Papa” Gros and guitarist Brint Anderson. As a producer he’s shaped records including Gary Hirstius’s Waterline and the Katrina benefit album Feeder Bands On The Run.
The William Credo Agency.
Chuck’s flagship company and the umbrella over everything — a talent and literary group that has become a premier source of entertainment for luxury events across the country, working with national artists including Cyndi Lauper, the Dave Matthews Band, The Temptations and many more.
The groups behind the name.
For three decades Chuck has built, owned and led some of the Gulf South’s most in-demand party and event bands.
The Mixed Nuts
The band that started it all — 30 years as New Orleans’ premier party and wedding band, 100+ shows a year.
After Party
A high-energy WCA-owned show band built for the dance floor — weddings, galas and Carnival.
Sugar Shaker
New Orleans funk, soul and dance — one of Chuck’s signature groups, on the road across the Gulf Coast year-round.
An entrepreneur’s portfolio.
Festivals, a record label, a worldwide comics brand and a debut solo record — three decades of building.
NOLA Beatles Festival
The second longest-running Beatles festival in the United States — and one of the country’s largest — with annual sold-out nights since 2002.
Rolling Stones Festival
An all-star jam of the music of the Rolling Stones — plus tributes to Elton John, Billy Joel and the icons of classic rock.
WCIII Records
The family’s independent label and publishing home — from the Basin Street Six catalog to Credo’s own productions.
Radioactive Comics
Chuck’s pop-culture venture — a comic-book subscription service and merch-production house shipping monthly comics and custom merchandise across the globe.
Credo Blues Society
His debut solo blues record, featured on SiriusXM’s B.B. King’s Bluesville.
WCA Music Publishing
Creating new material and placing IP in commercials, film and video games — and the home of some of New Orleans’ most classic tracks and artists, from the 1940s to today.
Four generations of New Orleans music.
It began with Chuck’s great-grandfather, William “Bill” Credo Sr. — a drummer who kept time on the New Orleans bandstand and, just as proudly, walked a beat as a member of the New Orleans Police Department.
His grandfather, Chuck Credo Jr. (1926–2010), became a celebrated jazz clarinetist who led the Basin Street Six and the Skylarks, carrying New Orleans jazz from Ireland to Singapore — playing the 1984 World’s Fair daily and sharing the Tulane Stadium field with Al Hirt at early Saints games.
His father, the Honorable William “Chuck” Credo III, carries it forward on and off the bandstand — a Jefferson Parish judge appointed to the Louisiana Music Commission by Governor Mike Foster, a legislative advocate for Louisiana’s musicians, and a guitarist who still plays the New Orleans Beatles Festival every year. That legacy is the foundation Chuck IV builds on every night.
The philanthropic mission.
Chuck’s charitable foundation works to make a real difference in the New Orleans community — partnering with organizations including the Gary Sinise Foundation and its Soaring Valor program, Each One Save One, The Material World Foundation and Catholic Charities.
Live, all year long.
From sold-out tribute festivals at the House of Blues to weddings, galas and Carnival balls across the Gulf South, Chuck and his bands stay on the road nearly every week of the year. A live show calendar can plug in here.
Thirty years of live.
From tribute festivals to jams with New Orleans legends like Allen Toussaint — a look at the live years.
A conversation with Chuck Credo IV.
An on-site Q&A on family, the new single, and building a music company in New Orleans.
You’re a fourth-generation New Orleans musician. Where does the story start?
It starts with my great-grandfather, Bill Credo Sr. — a drummer who also walked a beat for the New Orleans Police Department. Then my grandfather, Chuck Credo Jr., took our music around the world with the Basin Street Six. I picked up a guitar at six and played in his band. This music is literally in my blood.
You started The Mixed Nuts in high school, and thirty years later it’s still going strong.
I put the Nuts together at sixteen at Archbishop Rummel. By eighteen we were playing weekly up and down the Gulf Coast and the SEC towns. Three decades and a hundred-plus shows a year later, we’re still the hardest-working band in the room — and I’m proud of that.
You’ve been music director for some legends — Cyndi Lauper, Allen Toussaint, The Drifters.
It’s a masterclass every night. Allen Toussaint taught me that New Orleans music is about feel, not flash. When you stand next to artists like that, you learn to serve the song — and that’s shaped everything I do as a producer and a bandleader.
Let’s talk about the new single, “When I Paint My Masterpiece.”
It’s a Dylan song I’ve loved forever, and I wanted to give it a cinematic, New Orleans treatment. We’re premiering it right here on the site first — exclusively. I wanted the fans to have it before anybody else.
WCA has grown into a whole world — bands, festivals, a label, even a comics company.
The William Credo Agency is the umbrella over all of it. We produce entertainment for luxury events across the country and work with national artists. I own and run the bands — Mixed Nuts, After Party, Sugar Shaker — plus WCIII Records, WCA Music Publishing, and Radioactive Comics, which ships comic subscriptions and merch worldwide. I just like building things.
The New Orleans Beatles Festival has become an institution. What keeps it going?
We started it in 2002, and it’s now the second longest-running Beatles festival in the entire country — and one of the biggest, with sold-out nights year after year. My dad, Judge Chuck Credo III, still gets up and plays it with us every single year. It’s a family affair, and the city always shows up.
You give a lot back through the William Credo Foundation.
None of this means much if you’re not lifting other people up. Through the Foundation we partner with groups like the Gary Sinise Foundation’s Soaring Valor, Each One Save One, and Catholic Charities. New Orleans gave my family everything — we try to give some of it back.
A first-person feature for chuckcredo.com — Chuck’s own words.
In the news.
“For more than 20 years, local musician Chuck Credo IV and his William Credo Agency have presented the New Orleans Beatles Festival.”
— Keith Spera · The Times-Picayune | NOLA.com
A full clippings archive can grow from here — send me any print scans or links you have and I’ll add them.
Follow the music.
New records, live shows, festivals, and the occasional deep cut from three decades in New Orleans music — all in one place.
Booking & inquiries
For live booking, studio production and press, reach out through The William Credo Agency.