On Tuesday night, Brass Queens will present A Very Dapper Mardi-Gras Party in Brooklyn. The female-led brass band will perform their Fat Tuesday gig at Littlefield. Doors will open at 7 and the show at 8, however the group will lead a community second line starting at 6:30 at The Commissioner (247 5th Ave) and ending at Littlefield (635 Sackett St).

The Brass Queens will play their new single “Keep Your Head Up” along the way. Preservation Hall Jazz Band wrote the tune, which appears in their A Tuba to Cuba documentary. During the early days of COVID, Pres Hall’s Ben Jaffe performed the song each evening at his New Orleans home. Brass Queens began playing it in Brooklyn around the same time. In 2025 Brass Queens recorded their take on the tune at Esplanade Studios in New Orleans, where PHJB recorded the original track.

Trumpeter and co-founder Alex Harris reflects, “In 2020 on a trip to New Orleans, members of Brass Queens went to ReNEW Dolores T. Aaron Academy in New Orleans East with members of Preservation Hall and other local brass bands to participate in a music share with the students. The students taught us ‘Keep Your Head Up’ the way Pres Hall had taught it to them. Every time we play the tune I think about the kids and the aural tradition of teaching and learning music in New Orleans. We came home from that trip and immediately went into lock down for COVID. It felt really special to bring the song to the people of New York in a time where we all really needed to hear that positive message.”

Since February 6, all Bandcamp Proceeds from the single have been donated to Feed the Second Line, and this will continue through February 17.