Five years ago New Orleans music was booming. Oil was flush, collaborations between musicians and various artists blossomed, and the town was pitched for a world’s fair whose promoters promised to transform the territory into a harvest of dollars at the bottom of America. Among the myriad ironies wrought by the debacle of the fair was the quick-fix, quick-slump economy suffered by the music clubs.

Night after night, music venues at the Fair programmed the cream of local talent—not infreque...