The Neville Brothers have been called the royal family of New Orleans jazz. The group’s groovy blend of pop, R&B, jazz and reggae has been a staple in the music world since the late fifties.

Their concerts, which feature long jams and moving rhythm, have made The Neville Brothers legends across the world.

The band consists of four brothers, Art, Charles, Aaron and Cyril, who joined together to make a spiritualized sound which would make the masses groove. Cyril describes the experience as “a spiritual revival and a Mardi Gras parade at the same time.”

The Neville Brothers formed in 1976 and pulled the siblings together after they had been playing in different groups for several years.

Art and Cyril had been members in the seminal reggae/funk group The Meters. Aaron and Cyril had also played in the Neville Sounds.

Additionally, both Art and Aaron had successful solo careers at the time.

But the Neville Brothers represented the first time the four brothers had played together as a group.

“I wanted to get with my brothers,” Art said about his departure from The Meters. “It was time to do the family thing. We all had varying levels of success independently, so we thought that it would be in all of our best interests to pool our talent and see what came out of it.”

The results of that combination have been staggering. Albums like “Wild Tchoupitoulas” (’76), “The Neville Brothers” (’77), “Fiyo On The Bayou” (’81), “Yellow Moon” (’89) and “Brother’s Keeper” (’90) earned critical praise and accolades.

Art won a grammy for his tribute to Stevie Ray Vaughn (“SRV Shuffle”), Aaron won two grammys for duets with Linda Ronstadt (“Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life”) and the group won another one for best pop instrumental in 1989 (“Healing Chant”).

Several of the group’s tunes have made their way up the charts, with “Tell It Like It Is” hitting #2 in 1966.

“There have been some good years,” Art said. “Sometimes our success amazes me. But it’s nice to make a living doing what you love. And I love playing music with my family.

“Of course, everything has its own way of happening. There have been conflicts within the family, but nothing that we couldn’t work out,” he said.

The Neville Brothers will be playing at McElroy Auditorium in Waterloo as part of the National Cattle Congress tomorrow.

Ticket prices are $20, $18 and $16. Brody “Boy Wonder of Blues” Buster will open for the band.

“I’d like to urge anyone interested in good music to come out,” Art said. “Our music is a mixture of everything, it covers too much territory to put a label on it.

“We’re still singing about what we’ve always sung about,” Art said. “Love, justice and waking up to the fact that we’re all human beings on the same planet.”