Buddy D: The Voice of the Saints
The Pirate of Bourbon StreetLafitte's Blacksmith Shop Bar sits at 941 Bourbon Street, and it might be the oldest bar in America. The building dates to the 1720s or 1730s — nobody knows exactly — an...
Preservation Hall Jazz Band: Keeping the Sound Alive
The First Black Architect in the SouthIn the years after the Civil War, a formerly enslaved man from New Orleans became one of the most prominent architects in the city, designing buildings that st...
Katey Red: Bounce Music's First Queen
The Spy Who Loved New OrleansJames Pitot was born in France in 1761, became a successful merchant in Spanish colonial New Orleans, and served as the second mayor of the city after the Louisiana Pur...
Morgus the Magnificent: New Orleans' Mad Scientist
The MorgusBefore horror hosts became a national phenomenon, before Elvira and before the internet turned every city's local TV weirdness into a shared memory, New Orleans had Morgus the Magnificent...
Antoinette K-Doe: The Queen of Tremé
The Woman Who Ran the TreméAntoinette K-Doe was born Antoinette Dorsey in New Orleans and married Ernie K-Doe — the man behind "Mother-in-Law," the number-one hit from 1961 — in 1994. But this stor...
Deuce McAllister: The Saints' Heart and Soul
The Voice That Launched a Thousand Saints SundaysEvery Saints fan knows the voice. Before every home game at the Superdome, before the team takes the field, before the crowd reaches its peak frenzy...
Uncle Lionel Batiste: New Orleans Personified
The Soul Queen of New Orleans... Who Also Founded a Radio StationWe've already told you about Irma Thomas, the Soul Queen of New Orleans. But there's another woman who deserves the title of Queen i...
Tootie Montana: The Chief of Chiefs
The Mardi Gras Indians' Chief of ChiefsNo essay about New Orleans people would be complete without mentioning the Mardi Gras Indians — the African American masking tradition that has been part of t...
Drew Brees: The Man Who Made New Orleans Believe Again
The Man Who Made New Orleans Believe AgainOn February 7, 2010, Drew Brees stood on a confetti-covered field in Miami holding the Lombardi Trophy, and an entire city wept. Not because the New Orlean...
DJ Jubilee: The King of Bounce
The King of BounceBefore bounce music was a genre with a name, before Big Freedia took it global, before Drake sampled it on the biggest song of 2018 — there was DJ Jubilee, a kid from the St. Thom...
PJ Morton: The Preacher's Kid Who Joined Maroon 5
The Preacher's Kid Who Joined Maroon 5PJ Morton's father is Bishop Paul S. Morton, founder of the Full Gospel Baptist Church Fellowship — one of the most prominent religious leaders in New Orleans....
David Hennessy: The Assassination That Led to America's Largest Mass Lynching
The Assassination That Led to the Largest Mass Lynching in American HistoryOn the night of October 15, 1890, New Orleans Police Chief David Hennessy was walking home from work when gunmen stepped o...
Adah Isaacs Menken: The Most Scandalous Woman in the World Was From New Orleans
The Most Scandalous Woman in the World Was From New OrleansIn the 1860s, Adah Isaacs Menken was the most famous actress on the planet, the highest-paid performer of her era, and a scandal in every ...
Rudolph Matas: The Father of Vascular Surgery Lived to 97
The Father of Vascular Surgery Lived to 97Rudolph Matas lived so long and accomplished so much that his biography reads like three separate lives stitched together. Born in 1860 in St. Charles Pari...
Austin Leslie: The Godfather of Fried Chicken Who Died in the Storm
The Godfather of Fried Chicken Who Died in the StormAustin Leslie made fried chicken that could make you rethink your entire understanding of what fried chicken could be. His version—crispy, season...
Earl Palmer: The Drummer on Everything You've Ever Heard
The Drummer on Everything You've Ever HeardIf you've listened to music made in America between 1949 and 2000, there's a very good chance Earl Palmer played drums on it. The Tremé-born session drumm...
King Oliver: The Man Who Made Louis Armstrong Possible
The Man Who Made Louis Armstrong PossibleBefore there was Louis Armstrong, there was Joe "King" Oliver. And if you want to understand how jazz went from a local New Orleans phenomenon to the sound ...
Glen David Andrews: The Trombone Player Who Carried Tremé on His Back
The Trombone Player Who Carried Tremé on His BackGlen David Andrews didn't just come from Tremé—he was Tremé, in all its beauty and chaos and stubborn refusal to be anything other than exactly what...
Irvin Mayfield: The Trumpeter Who Rose and Fell in the Same City
The Trumpeter Who Rose and Fell in the Same CityThe story of Irvin Mayfield is one of the most complicated in modern New Orleans music. It's a story about extraordinary talent, civic ambition, the ...
Anders Osborne: The Swede Who Became More New Orleans Than Most Natives
The Swede Who Became More New Orleans Than Most NativesThere's a particular kind of audacity involved in moving to New Orleans from Sweden and becoming one of the city's most authentic musical voic...
