NEW ORLEANS MUSIC RESOURCES

Disclaimer: We’re not in the business of duplicating content or creating lists just to game search engines and generate website hits. Rather, our mission is to create original content and let you know about other businesses and services that celebrate and sustain the diversity, traditions and artistry associated with the New Orleans Mardi Gras experience. If we don’t have the information you're looking for—live music listings, club and bar directories or restaurant guides, for example—we’ll direct you to credible resources. Here are some of our favorites in the realm of music, nightlife and entertainment.

WWOZ: Starting out in 1980 from a cramped, unairconditioned apartment above the legendary music shrine Tipitina’s, this beacon of local music and culture, at 90.7 FM (also available online at wwoz.org) now enjoys a worldwide following. Music listings broadcast at the top of each odd hour, plus Livewire Music Calendar online. Also: community event listings, live event broadcasts (New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, etc.), tips on local happenings (including Mardi Gras Indian practices), forums, blogs and documentary vignettes about music, food, festivals and more. In short, a vital community resource celebrating and preserving the cultural heritage of New Orleans and Louisiana. Click to explore WWOZ online.

Offbeat: Monthly magazine with international circulation, and, like WWOZ, an essential way to stay connected with the music scene and beyond. News, features, CD reviews, interviews and advocacy for the economic development of music in New Orleans and Louisiana. Sort live music listing by date or venue. Also: Louisiana Music on Tour listings. Venue descriptions include links to venue Websites. Sign up at Offbeat.com for the online Weekly Beat newsletter to stay current on music and other happenings. Offbeat also publishes, in conjunction with the Louisiana Department of Economic Development, the "Bible" of the Louisiana music industry—the Louisiana Music Directory, a database of everything from musicians and attorneys to festivals and clubs. A $35 subscription gets you online access to the directory, which is updated weekly, plus the print version, which is published annually. Click to explore Offbeat online.

AmericanRoutes.org: Hosted by acclaimed folklorist and ethnomusicologist Nick Spitzer, who provides an absorbing mix of interviews, documentary features, commentary and music, American Routes is a nationally distributed, two-hour radio program usually focused an individual artist or a particular theme, musical genre, holiday, event or place. Based in New Orleans, the program is intimately attuned to a multitude of musical byways and the pulse of Southwest Louisiana. The online archives and playlists are a veritable trove for any lover of roots music and Americana. Spitzer is steeped in New Orleans Mardi Gras traditions and music as well as the rural (Cajun) version of Mardi Gras, known as the courir. On AmericanRoutes.org, search keywords “Carnival” or “Mardi Gras” for special episodes focusing on the music and traditions of Mardi Gras. Click to explore American Routes online.

Public Radio Exchange (PRX) is a social network and distribution marketplace for producers and broadcasters of public radio programming—and a dream come true for listeners who love such programming. Sign up for a free account to access a bottomless archive of full-length streams on a mind-boggling array of topics. New Orleans music and culture are well represented. Independent producer and WWOZ DJ David Kunian has made a selection from his impressive oeuvre available, including documentaries on such seminal New Orleans musicians as James Carroll Booker III, James Black, Chris Kenner and Eddie “Guitar Slim” Jones. Co-produced by Kunian and Bill Taylor, the highly recommended Classic Mardi Gras Songs Project, originally aired on WWOZ, comprises documentary vignettes on nine canonical songs indelibly associated with New Orleans pre-Lenten festivities. Also available: programs on Mardi Gras Indians, New Orleans brass band and second-line traditions, Mardi Gras costuming and more. The site offers a powerful keyword search function, and you can create your own profile and playlists that can be shared with friends and fellow enthusiasts. For an extensive selection of New Orleans-related fare, check out the Mardi Gras Unmasked playlist. Click to explore PRX online.

MyNewOrleans.com: Online hub of Renaissance Publishing, whose magazines include New Orleans, St. Charles Avenue and Louisiana Life. All under the editorial guidance of Errol Laborde, a Carnival historian whose most recent books are Krewe: The Early Carnival from Comus to Zulu and Marched the Day God, a history of the Rex organization. Recommended for Carnival coverage plus blogs and features on New Orleans food and dining, nightlife and cocktail culture. Jason Berry’s monthly music column for New Orleans magazine appears on MyNewOrleans.com in the Entertainment Features section of the Entertainment pull-down menu. Berry is co-author (along with Tad Jones and Jonathan Foose) of the indispensable Up From the Cradle of Jazz: New Orleans Music Since World War II, originally published in 1986. In 2009, University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press issued a new edition of the book, with an updated history of the music scene including a poignant look at the tribulations and resurgence of musicians in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Click to explore My New Orleans online.

www.NolaMusicNews.com: Blog about the New Orleans music scene by longtime observer Jay Mazza, who has been documenting his live music experiences for three decades. Mazza wrote the Jazz City column and covered culture for the Louisiana Weekly from 1992 to 2005. His forthcoming book, titled Up Front and Center: New Orleans Music at the End of the 20th Century, will be essential reading for anyone interested in the evolution of the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and the cultural tourism economy of New Orleans, as well as city’s brass band, second line and Mardi Gras Indian communities. Click to explore New Orleans Music News online.

www.Nola.com/music: Music news, listings and reviews from the New Orleans Times-Picayune. Veteran writer Keith Spera is a leading chronicler of the musical Mecca that is New Orleans. Click to explore www.NOLA.com/music online.

BestofNewOrleans.com: From the publisher of Gambit, an alternative weekly newspaper, this is an excellent all-around resource for food, drink, entertainment and culture. Listings, descriptions, maps and recommendations for music, events, dining and bars. Click to explore Best of New Orleans online.