Nowhere is this more evident than in the Best Zydeco or Cajun Album category, only the third of its kind in the history of the Grammy awards. Not only does the award honor the talents of our musical ambassadors, it works to garner worldwide recognition for a genre deeply embedded in the roots and folklore of southern Louisiana.

The influence of the newly-initiated category has sent shockwaves through the Cajun music community, giving a boost to its musicians and the culture as its presence means more work and more attention for its players.

“It is exciting to have been nominated three times in a row,” Pine Leaf Boys’ vocalist and accordion player Wilson Savoy says. “Now that a Grammy category exists for Cajun and zydeco musicians, new life has been breathed into the recording industry here. Everyone is excited and recording new records and playing new tunes, something new. Local bands are traveling more and more and receiving more deserved recognition from outside of Louisiana. I think this Grammy category for Cajun and zydeco musicians is a milestone in the popularity of Cajun music outside of Louisiana.”

The Pine Leaf Boys are nominated for Live at 2009 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

For Terrance Simien, who worked with his wife Cynthia Simien to introduce the category and won the first Cajun/zydeco Grammy award in 2008, the awards help to spread the word about zydeco and Cajun music to the world.

“Cajun music was confined to the swamp,” he says. “We used to do it in dance halls when it was just about playing and having folks enjoy the music. Now I see things differently. We’re here to educate people on the culture and the music, change the way they see it, the way they see us.”

The Cajun and zydeco artists have used the Grammy to do more business, and so has the Louisiana entertainment industry. In conjunction with Louisiana Music Partners, the third annual Night of Louisiana Music will be held in Los Angeles the evening before the ceremonies. Making its debut at the GRAMMY Museum, the best of the bayou will be presented to an audience of guests from music, film and tourism industries. The showcase will highlight the rich cultural heritage of our state and feature the talents of current Grammy nominees the Magnolia Sisters, Cedric Watson et Bijou Creole, Zachary Richard, and C.C. Adcock.

The 52nd Annual GRAMMY Awards air Sunday, January 31 on CBS.

Copyright The Disney Corporation

There’s no surprise Walt Disney Studios selected zydeco musician Terrance Simien to perform on the soundtrack for its new animated film, The Princess and the Frog, which is set in New Orleans and the swamps of Louisiana. The Lafayette resident has spent three decades taking zydeco to the world. By bringing his accordion, rubboard and triangle to the song “Gonna Take You There,” Simien hopes to expose an even broader audience to the sounds of zydeco and the culture of southeast Louisiana. “I hope they like it,” he says. “I want kids to watch this movie, hear this song and say I want to go there. I want to see this place and listen to this music.”

Recording in the Disney studios had its benefits, including the care producers took to authentically create the characters that bring the music to life onscreen. “We had animators in the studio who were drawing while we played to get a feel for body movements and facial expressions,” Simien says.

The soundtrack is the seventh Disney film which songs and score are composed by fabled songwriter and pianist Randy Newman, who has his own ties to New Orleans. Newman campaigned heavily to write the score, bringing along the Dirty Dozen Brass Band in an effort to impress the shareholders at Disney in 2007.

“Randy Newman is a class act,” says Simien, “and he did an incredible job on the music. He really brings a realism to the movie, shows this for the unique and wonderful place it is.”

The Princess and the Frog is set in the 1920s at the height of the Jazz Age, and the score is deeply rooted in the music of New Orleans, with tunes featuring Dr. John and trumpeter Terence Blanchard.

The soundtrack is set for release November 24 and the film opens nationwide December 11.

Due to the loss of a government-funded grant and a lack of community support, musicians and tradition bearers like the Mardi Gras Indians risk losing viable health care options. With incomes that in some cases float near the poverty line (between $12,000 and $15,000, according to a recent Sweet Home New Orleans study), many culture bearers rely on the clinic to sustain their health.

Some challenges existed pre- Katrina, but increased rents and higher costs of living make the services the clinic provides crucial. NOMC helps clients manage diseases such as diabetes, HIV/AIDS, cancer and hepatitis C while working preventatively to help musicians fight hearing loss, carpal tunnel syndrome, mental health issues, performance anxiety and smoking.

NOMC president and CEO Bethany Bultman broadened the clinic’s mission after the storm to help displaced musicians persevere and make their way home to New Orleans. She and husband Johann recognized that NOMC was the only health care option available to them, noting that entire departments of the LSU health care system never returned to the city.

Three years ago, the New Orleans Musicians’ Clinic became one of 11 recipients of federal funding to help uninsured citizens of New Orleans as part of the Primary Care Access and Stabilization Grant administered by the US Department of Health and Human Services. The allocation of more than $2 million over three years allowed NOMC to become the medical home for more than 1,600 musicians, tradition bearers and their families. Over 83 percent of them suffer from chronic conditions.

For cornet player Jamie Wight who suffered a heart attack living in Seattle post-Katrina, the clinic meant that he could come home and also that he’d have the means to sustain himself once he got here.

“I can’t afford health care on my salary,” he admits, “and couldn’t get it anyway with my ‘preexisting condition’. The costs of my medications alone would take every bit of the money I make performing.”

Wight visits the clinic every three months, where they keep him stocked with life-saving medications and regulate his blood pressure. “It’s a blessing to have them here,” Wight says. “I don’t know what I’d do otherwise.”

For many, the clinic takes the fear out of the phrase “pre-existing condition.”

Musician Paul Pattan maintained his own insurance, but after a motorcycle accident left him an amputee, he found Blue Cross/ Blue Shield would do nothing to help him regain his quality of life. The clinic referred him to Dr. Kurtz-Burke at the Veterans Administration, who fitted him with a prosthetic and aided with the phantom sensations he experienced after losing his leg.

With assistance from a network of health care providers including LSU and Daughters of Charity, the clinic strives to sustain the health, history and dignity of musicians, but without aid from community leaders and the support of local music lovers, its existence is in jeopardy.

“As we begin the last year of this federal grant, reduced funding dictates that we must diminish our services even though the needs of our patients are increasing” Bultman says.

“We have less than $500,000 to cover all medical costs for our patients for the next 14 months. Consider that each hand surgery performed on a musician costs us $4,000, and we have huge chemo bills for several patients.”

NOMC has already been forced to relinquish their mental health services, which Bultman believes to have had a big impact post-Katrina. “The idea that older musicians or Mardi Gras Indians would ever admit to needing therapy was unheard of before the storm,” she says. “Because of the services of the fully functioning and willing Department of Psychiatry at Tulane, they no longer fear therapy is going to take away their creative edge. Instead, they’ve realized these services make life easier.”

Bultman fears for the musicians if a change doesn’t come.

“We must make a leap of faith that local banks, businesses and private foundations are going to begin viewing our local musicians as a natural resource that must be protected. In the meantime, our board and staff are expanding our network of pro bono providers and are writing grants night and day. All we ask from musicians is that they come in to the NOMC for check-ups, take their medications and stay healthy.”

“Everyone is pretty well-behaved,” he admits. “They aren’t on the boat long enough to get too out of control.”

“And,” he says, “The Natchez lacks the headaches of barflies who feel entitled to free drinks.”

Still, don’t think he has it easy on the river. Between the customers that step up to his bar and the challenges of taking care of cocktail servers—not to mention playing the role of bar back, which includes carrying heavy kegs up the Natchez’s narrow metal steps—Stehr has plenty of demands upon him.

But he feels honored to be part of the steamboat tradition that helped mold New Orleans, a tradition that has dwindled to the point that the Natchez is the last of its kind on the Mississippi. “It really is a shame that we’re the last one out there.”

Though he likes to take the time to get to know his customers and appreciates repeat business, the lack of bar stools is meant to discourage the chatterers who assume a bartender has nothing to do but listen to their woes.

“Pay attention. If you see I’m busy or you realize I’m not making eye contact, which means it’s time to move on. I’ve got work to do!”

It’s Carnival Time again in New Orleans and no one is happier to be a part of it than the man who penned the legendary song of the same name.

Thanks to the music community that holds him so dear and a partnership between Habitat for Humanity, Air Traffic Control (ATC), the Future of Music Coalition (FMC) and regular folks who’ve put in time and money to help, Al “Carnival Time” Johnson has returned home from a three-plus year exile in Houston, where he relocated after damage from floodwaters of Hurricane Katrina picked up his old house in the Lower Ninth Ward, slid it off its foundation and landed it across the street.

There’s no comparing this house to the one on Tennessee Street that he called home for decades, the place that sparked a touching tribute called “Lower Ninth Ward Blues” but he’s less blue these days as he prepares to move into his new home on Bartholomew Street.

“This is a wonderful thing,” Johnson says. “I’m glad to be a part of it. It’s the best way to come back and establish a place back in New Orleans, by joint venture. Here I am.”

Much of the money for Johnson’s house came through the efforts of ATC and musicians who organized benefits here and elsewhere. As a direct result of singer Damian Kulash’s time in New Orleans on an ATC/FMC activist retreat for musicians, OK Go teamed with Bonerama to do a benefit in Washington, D.C. for Johnson’s house, and they cut an iTunes-only benefit EP, which includes Johnson singing Bob Dylan’s “I Shall Be Released.”

“After the first retreat, it became a tradition to have a benefit at the end of the retreat so that the participating musicians can give something back immediately, even if it is just a night of music and community, ATC Information Director Deyden Tethong says. “Over the past couple of years we have seen the artists take what they have learned about New Orleans to their fans and communities nationwide. Many have continued to be involved and raise money and awareness for the New Orleans community. Since the first retreat, collective efforts have raised over $60,000 towards Al Johnson’s new home and another $50,000 for the New Orleans community both musicians and others.”

What began in earnest over two years ago with the help of the Arabi Wrecking Krewe, who threw his first benefit concert, is now fully realized for Johnson.

“Yeah, we’ve come a long way,” he says, referring to the city’s rebuilding efforts. But there is still so much work to be done. Each new homeowner has to put in 350 hours of “sweat equity” before moving into the neighborhood, and that includes Johnson. “We hammered. We sawed. We did it all. We built this house. All these houses!” he says, gesturing to the rows of brightly painted homes surrounding his, each nearly identical except for the banner proudly displaying the name of the musician due to call it his or her own.

Johnson intends to be a part of the work that remains, especially in his new neighborhood. He hopes to aid in the building of the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music, a school and community center which will be at the heart of Musicians Village.

“It’s a great thing and now, I’ve got to figure out a way to help others myself,” he says. “They were really good to me and I’ve got to pass that around.”

Fans of New Orleans-bred rock band the subdudes have a new DVD to tied them over until Jazz Fest, their next scheduled appearance. Live and Acoustic was filmed at the Ram’s Head in Annapolis, Maryland and released by Biographica Films and Recordings. The two-disc DVD features over 100 minutes of live footage, interviews as well as an exclusive acoustic set and studio footage from the recording of the band’s last CD, Street Symphony.

Producer Bob Hughes is thrilled about Biographica’s first foray into rock ’n’ roll, he and his partner Jerel Jones crossed paths with the subdudes on several occasions and sat down with the band in July 2007 in Chicago to discuss a live film.

“At first it was a very loose concept, but I felt the band needed a live recording out there. Fans like me know from experience that the subdudes reach another level performing live,” says Hughes.

For a band that spends most of the year on the road and has established quite a following nationally, the DVD makes good sense. “It’s just like being in the room with the band onstage,” assures Hughes. “The film was shot close and intimately and that translates well onto the small screen.”

Noting that the band is in talks with a major record label that could bring them nationwide success, Hughes is encouraged. “The subdudes are ready to move into the next stratosphere,” he says. “And this DVD is a great showcase for their entire catalogue.”

New Orleans is full of bars and clubs with rich histories and traditions. Some we relinquish to the tourists, but the locals don’t turn loose of places like the Mid-City Lanes Rock ’n’ Bowl. The Rock ’n’ Bowl celebrates its 20th anniversary this month, and its success has surpassed everyone’s expectations, no one more so than owner John Blancher.

What he conceived as a reception hall where he’d hoped for nothing more than enough money to support his family grew into a legendary establishment after he booked Louis Nugent on a Friday night in December, 1989 and discovered the irresistible combination of live music and bowling.

Handling live music brought on some growing pains. At first, there was no cover and crowds were hit and miss. When he decided to charge a cover, many regulars and some bands weren’t sure about that, but the choice had an unexpected benefit. He’d had problems with patrons’ purses disappearing; “Once I started charging a cover, the problem stopped,” he says.

Blancher has only missed a handful of nights in the last 20 years, and “I do whatever it takes to get the party started,” he says,  “I’ll have the bartenders bring out the Hula Hoops, dance on the bars, bring out the umbrella to get a second line started. Whatever it takes to get the people moving and show them a good time.”

The club has presented such R&B legends as Johnny Adams, Tommy Ridgeley and Ernie K-Doe, and Snooks Eaglin and Eddie Bo have remained in regular rotation. At the same time, Blancher says the bar has been “a hatching spot” for young artists such as fiddling ingénue Amanda Shaw and local favorite Tab Benoit. Benoit was offered his initial recording contract on the spot after taking third in the Lanes’ and OffBeat sponsored blues contest in the early ’90s. “This is the place where they drew their first crowds,” Blancher says.

The Rock ’n’ Bowl became associated with zydeco in 1993 with performances by Beau Jocque and the infamous Beau vs. Boozoo Chavis battles for the “King of Zydeco” title. The Thursday Zydeco Night outlasted both of its marquee players, and is now the longest running weekly zydeco series in town.

Blancher has kept the business in the family all these years, employing his mother, sister and wife while remaining the face of the place. “Being centered in family is the primary reason I’ve been able to make this work,” he says. “When guys open clubs and bars like this, it could be easy to get swept up in the lifestyle of money, women and drugs, but my family keeps me focused.”

Blancher and the family celebrate the anniversary with Kermit Ruffins and the Barbecue Swingers as well as Joe Krown’s house band on November 8. While you can expect a few favorites to accompany them onstage, there’s no telling who may show up for the celebration.

JT Nesbitt has never met a stranger. He’s a charming and engaging guy, cordial in a relaxed way that probably makes him everyone’s favorite bartender. And he pours a damn fine drink down at Flanagan’s, even if it isn’t the career path he’d originally chosen.

Three years ago, he was a world-renowned custom motorcycle designer dining next to the prince of Bahrain with a million dollar deal on the table and an offer for complete artistic freedom. That same weekend, he kept eyeing the growing blip on the radar called Katrina and by the time he made it back to the States, he knew the place he’d called home had changed irrevocably.

But he also knew he would stay, even when the company where he’d worked 10 years fled for higher ground. That meant saying goodbye to the Brad Pitts and princes of the world but not to his artistic ambitions.

“New Orleans is like no other place in the world,” he says. “Everybody’s got a secret life here. If you don’t, then you’re not doing something right.”

These days, Nesbitt leads a secret life as a guerilla filmmaker with a race car in his living room. He produced Salt Dreams, which is now available on DVD.

“You hear the same two stories: guy lost everything and he’s trying to rebuild; guy lost everything and he can’t rebuild,” Nesbitt says. “It’s always the same story. I wanted to reinvent it.”

Salt Dreams documents Nesbitt gathering a motley assortment of friends, who together took a storm-soaked Lincoln Mark VIII and transformed it into a car worthy of Utah’s Bonneville Salt Flats. Dubbed the “Stinkin’ Lincoln” by the crew, each of whom kindled his own desire to move past the carnage and destruction of the storm with one clear goal: to make that baby go over 200 miles per hour. But they had to get there first.

Salt Dreams traces the team’s tumultuous journey, from the car’s renovation to the long road to Bonneville and the race itself.

Did they achieve their goal? Pick up the DVD to find out—available online at BienvilleStudios.com or at Flanagan’s. You can drop by, let Nesbitt pour you a drink and tell you all about it.

Fabled R&B singer Andre Williams recorded with Stevie Wonder, Ike and Tina Turner and Mary Wells. Ryan Scully joins that list with the Black Godfather’s latest album, Can You Deal with It? on Bloodshot Records, due out at the end of the month.

Scully and his bands, Morning 40 Federation and the New Orleans Hellhounds, have a history that spans the last decade with the 70-year-old Williams. With a mutual love for hard, heavy riffs and debauched lyrics, they are kindred spirits when it comes to celebrating the down and dirty lifestyle they share.

The album is three years in the making, birthed in booze-fueled late nights at One Eyed Jacks that bled into early morning jam sessions. “We were at a party after one of our New Year’s Eve gigs,” Scully says. “Andre and I were the last ones standing and we started rolling on songs.” Scully caught a few on his handheld recorder and, he says, “when I went back and listened to it, we had some great stuff.”

Scully called upon his bandmates to expand on Williams’ ideas and lyrics with their smooth horns, thundering rhythm section and boisterous organ in their Ninth Ward studio.

“Andre’s an unsung hero to a lot of us,” Scully says. “Everybody contributed and it was a really joyous experience.” The recording was interrupted by spells of ill health and an unfortunate run-in with the law that left Williams temporarily homeless.

The resulting record captures Williams’ unrefined essence. In the verse, he tries to sweet talk the woman he’s talking to backed by Quintron’s mysterioso organ. On the chorus, he shouts “Can you deal with it?” with Scully’s bid, distorted guitar adding to the confrontational tone.

“I purposely used boom mics all around the studio to create this real edgy, garage-rock sound,” Scully says. “Andre sounds best when he’s raw. Clean and sweet don’t work for him.”