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Music

New Orleans bounce music dancer and rapper Willie Puckett Jr. has died at 50

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
May 22, 2026

Willie Puckett Jr., the pioneering New Orleans bounce music dancer turned Take Fo’ Records recording artist, died May 3 of respiratory failure brought on by cancer. He was 50.

The smaller 2026 Bayou Boogaloo festival goes ashore at the Broadside this weekend

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
May 15, 2026

The Bayou Boogaloo celebrates its 20th anniversary this weekend by downsizing.

TikToker Keith Lee’s first FamiLee Day festival is in New Orleans. Here’s what to know.

BY KEITH SPERA and CHELSEA SHANNON | Staff writers
May 15, 2026

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival isn't the only springtime event built around the confluence of food and music.

Michelle Obama, more big names coming to New Orleans Essence Fest 2026. Here's the lineup.

BY VIOLET BUCARO | Staff writer
May 12, 2026

Michelle Obama will open the Essence Festival of Culture's popular concert series this summer with a live conversation related to her book, organizers announced this week.

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Legendary Queens of R&B shared the spotlight with Big Freedia at New Orleans concert

BY RASHAD MILLIGAN | Staff writer
May 8, 2026

Four legendary Queens of R&B were on the marquee Thursday, but it was the Queen of Bounce who stole the night.

'The Queens,' Alison Krauss, Ethel Cain: music in New Orleans the week of May 7, 2026

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
May 7, 2026

The 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is over, but the music plays on. Here are options for live music this week.

From crowd size to Jon Batiste, some final thoughts on the 2026 New Orleans Jazz Festival

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
May 6, 2026

The ears have stopped ringing, the muddy shoes are cleaned off, and a normal work/life balance has returned now that the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is in the books.

Musaica Chamber Music Ensemble marks 20th season with concerts in New Orleans, Metairie

BY DEAN M. SHAPIRO | Contributing writer
May 5, 2026

In summer 2006, while driving out to Colorado, Bruce Owen had an inspiration to organize a chamber music ensemble in New Orleans.

How many people were at Jazz Fest 2026? Here are the numbers and dates for next year.

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
May 4, 2026

Attendance for the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival swung dramatically over the second weekend, thanks in part to the weather.

Photos: Jazz Fest closes on a high note as blue skies return for final day of 2026 celebration

By CHRIS GRANGER | Staff photographer
May 3, 2026

It took a while, but New Orleans singer Robin Barnes finally found her 'Louisiana Love'

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
May 2, 2026

When Robin Barnes was invited to sing during Mayor Helena Moreno’s inauguration Mass in January, she was supposed to go on right before Irma Thomas.

Little Feat's frontman grew up in Milwaukee but learned from New Orleans' The Meters

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
May 1, 2026

Future Little Feat frontman Scott Sharrard first heard New Orleans funk band The Meters’ early, instrumental recordings as a Milwaukee arts high school student in the 1990s.

Keith Spera: Some music fans just don't like the Eagles. And they're wrong.

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
May 1, 2026

Sometimes I need a perfect album. Sometimes I need the Eagles.

Jazz Fest shuts down more than 3 hours early for rain. Friday schedule could change, too.

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Updated Apr 30, 2026

Thursday was a day of improvising for the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and not just onstage.

See photos from a soggy start of Jazz Fest in New Orleans

BY DAVID GRUNFELD | DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Apr 30, 2026

Soggy Thursday on the first day of the second weekend. The festival ended 3 hours early due to weather.

2026 New Orleans Jazz Fest after dark: Guide to the 2nd weekend of nighttime music

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Apr 30, 2026

Tired yet? The second weekend of the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival is as jam-packed as the first, with music clubs, theaters and other venues across the city beefing up their b…

The making of a New Orleans piano player: how John 'Papa' Gros tapped into the tradition

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Apr 26, 2026

A Friday night in March found John “Papa” Gros in his natural environment: working a Hammond B3 organ on the low-slung stage of the Maple Leaf Bar, locked in with both his band and audience.

See photos: Little Freddie King’s reign rolls on at Jazz Fest

BY DAVID GRUNFELD | DIRECTOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY
Apr 25, 2026

Little Freddie King’s reign isn’t over yet. The 85-year-old New Orleans blues guitarist and singer played the first Jazz Fest in 1970 and has played nearly every one since. But after a Septemb…

Jon Batiste went big as he headlined the 2026 New Orleans Jazz Festival on Friday

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Apr 24, 2026

During a Thursday afternoon interview for an overflow crowd at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival's Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage, Jon Batiste discussed his bonkers travel sched…

Singer and pianist Judith Owen is her 'authentic' self on her new 'Suit Yourself' album

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Apr 24, 2026

Multi-talented pianist, singer, songwriter and bandleader Judith Owen’s longtime musical collaborator David Torkanowsky refers to her, affectionately, as “a great bunch of girls.”

As The Meters reunite, George Porter Jr. and Cyril Neville delve deep into their funky past

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Apr 24, 2026

In the spring of 1976, New Orleans funk band The Meters embarked on a European tour opening for The Rolling Stones.

Welcome to the 2026 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. Here's what you need to know.

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Updated Apr 29, 2026

The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival kicks off Thursday for the first of two jam-packed, four-day weekends at the Fair Grounds. But opening weekend is essentially Jon Batiste weekend.

Guide to after-dark live music shows during 2026 New Orleans Jazz Fest's first week

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Apr 22, 2026

In any given week, New Orleans boasts more live music than just about anywhere. During the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, music venues kick into overdrive.

Davell Crawford brings his fabulous, forever friends along to his set in Jazz Fest’s Gospel Tent

BY GERALDINE WYCKOFF | Contributing writer
Apr 22, 2026

Davell Crawford is no stranger to wowing a crowd in the Jazz and Heritage Festival's always-powerful Gospel Tent.

Bruce Springsteen's New Orleans Jazz Fest show after Katrina is still iconic 20 years later

BY ERROL LABORDE Contributing writer
Apr 21, 2026

Twenty years ago, on April 30, 2006, Bruce Springsteen stood on a stage at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and introduced a song he had written about a city that had faced a disaster.

Photos: Dancing in the streets and music in the air, French Quarter Fest takes over the quarter

By CHRIS GRANGER | Staff photographer
Apr 17, 2026

New Orleans krewe is raising money for legends Al 'Carnival Time' Johnson, Little Freddie King

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Apr 17, 2026

The Krewe of Red Beans, the legume-themed Carnival walking organization with a philanthropic bent, finds itself in the unusual position of raising money for two icons of New Orleans music simu…

What's it like to manage New Orleans' massive French Quarter Fest? Hear from the CEO.

BY KEITH SPERA | Staff writer
Apr 17, 2026

Before she was in charge of the French Quarter Festival, Emily Madero grew up in Maine, where, among other pursuits, she played steel drums.