Rachel Marin

Annotated Bibliography
Prof. McLaughlin
04/03/2017

In this paper I am researching music in New Orleans post-Katrina and how music aided
the rebirth of the city following this disaster. I am interested in this topic because I love music
and I wanted to find out more information about how music plays a role in the city that I am
from. Hurricane Katrina was also something I vividly remember from my childhood and I
wanted to look into the impacts this had on the city of New Orleans. My intended audience for
this paper are young adults who are from New Orleans or are interested in learning about the role
of music in New Orleans. Some of the question I hope to answer are what role does music play
in the culture of New Orleans? How has hurricane Katrina affected the music culture in New
Orleans? And how has music aided the rebuilding and rebirth of the city of New Orleans? I am
using a variety of types of sources as well as sources from a variety of years to further my
investigation and knowledge on the topic. I also looked both primary and secondary sources to
further the scope of my investigation.

Watts, Lewis, and Eric Porter. New Orleans Suite: Music and Culture in Transition. Berkeley,
Univ. of California Press, 2013.

In this book Lewis Watts (a professor of Arts at the University of California, Santa Cruz) and
Eric Porter (a professor of American Studies, History, and History of Consciousness at the
University of California, Santa Cruz) explore the city of New Orleans after hurricane Katrina and
how this event affected the cities culture. Watts and Porter discuss the role of music in the culture
of New Orleans, as it played a major role in the reconstruction of the city post-Katrina. CDs
such as Hurricane Katrina: We Gon Bounce Back, marked a hopeful commitment to the renewal
of the city of New Orleans (62). Much of the music created during and after Katrina attempted to
narrate the experiences many citizens faced while being away from home and speak about
returning back home and renewing the city of New Orleans (62). Music also served to spread the
sentiments the people of New Orleans were feeling to other artists around the US and many tried
to contribute to rebuilding of the city (61). The music has clearly helped the broader population
cope with destruction and displacement, has enabled cross-racial solidarity, and has engendered a
commitment to the city and specific neighborhoods in the face pf state and corporate indifference
and hostility (24).

Miller, Matt. Bounce: Rap Music and Local Identity in New Orleans. Amherst, University of
Massachusetts Press, 2012.

In this book Matt Miller (a Ph.D. at Emory University and a professor of American Studies) talks
about the effects hurricane Katrina had on the rap scene in New Orleans. Miller focusses on the
rap scene as most of the local rap scene was heavily affected by hurricane Katrina. The effects of
hurricane Katrina on the rap scene were diverse, complex, and long-lasting (161). Many rappers
used this event as a source of inspiration and also helped others cope with displacement and
challenged that came with this disaster (161). New Orleans rap was also seen in a more positive
light after Katrina and helped spread the word about Katrina. Many people were also inspired by
the music at the time which increased political consciousness and activism all of the United
States. Katrina contributed to New Orleans local cultural identity and helped shape other forms
of local expressive culture.

Porter, Eric. Jazz and Revival. American Quarterly, vol. 61, no. 3, 2009, pp. 593613.,
www.jstor.org/stable/27735009.

In this article Eric Porter (a Ph.D. at the University of Michigan and a professor of American
Studies, History, and History of Consciousness at the University of California, Santa Cruz)
explores the revival of jazz in the city of New Orleans after both hurricane Katrina and Rita.
Porter also discusses how the storms of 2005 affected the culture and enabled the reconstruction
of the city of New Orleans (593). Jazz Fest a very popular music fest in New Orleans is an
example of the change in the culture and using culture as a resource. This for many local artists
was a way to help them rebuild after the storm and it also served to showcase the revival of the
local music industry (594). After the storms there were many concerts and CD releases that
raised money for musicians and those affected by the storms. Many tried to mobilize the unique
musical culture of New Orleans as a way to rebuild and repopulate the city (599).

Woods, Clyde. Do You Know What It Means to Miss New Orleans?: Katrina, Trap Economics,
and the Rebirth of the Blues. American Quarterly, vol. 57, no. 4, 2005, pp. 10051018.,
www.jstor.org/stable/40068327.

In this article Clyde Woods (a Ph.D. at the University of California, Los Angeles and a professor
at the University of California, Santa Barbara) relates the emergence of blues during Civil War to
the emergence of blues after hurricane Katrina. Woods focusses on what the blues signify and
how they affected the culture in New Orleans. The blues are known as a unique intellectual
movement that emerged among desperate African American communities (1008). Woods also
quotes Dr. Marin Luther King, The blues tell the story of lifes difficulties, and if you think for a
moment you will realize that they take the hardest realities of life and put them into music, only
to come out with some new hope or sense of triumph (1009). This quote exemplifies exactly
what the reemergence of the blues did after hurricane Katrina. Woods also believes that the
music post Katrina was a sound known throughout the world as freedom itself (1016).

Le Menestrel, Sara and Jacques Henry. "Sing Us Back Home: Music, Place, and the
Production of Locality in Post-Katrina New Orleans." Popular Music & Society, vol. 33, no. 2,
May 2010, pp. 179-202. EBSCOhost, doi:10.1080/03007760903086151.

In this academic journal Sara Le Menestrel (a cultural anthropologist and a research fellow at the
National Center for Scientific Research in Paris) and Jacques Henry (professor at the University
of Louisiana at Lafayette) explore the relationship between place and music in New Orleans
immediately following Hurricane Katrina (179). New Orleans music has always been a source of
concern and hope for New Orleans, but this was heightened after the storm. Many people said
that once music returned to the city the people would come back as well. Le Menestrel and
Henry discovered that music was constantly presented as an important symbol of the rebuilding
of New Orleans (181). Many musicians continued to play whether paid or not despite what had
just happened many musicians felt that this was their way of copping with the disaster (182-183).
Many musicians also reported unexpected positive publicity and creativity after the storm.
Although music did bring new hope to the city there is still a lot that has to be done to rebuild the
city. Many institutions and musicians have joined together to ensure a new generation of
musicians will develop (198).

Raeburn, Bruce Boyd. "They're Tryin' to Wash Us Away": New Orleans Musicians Surviving
Katrina." Journal of American History, vol. 94, no. 3, Dec. 2007, pp. 812-819. EBSCOhost,
search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?
direct=true&AuthType=ip,url,uid,cookie&db=aph&AN=28142055&site=ehost-live.

In this academic journal Bruce Boyd Raeburn discusses how musicians from New Orleans
reacted to hurricane Katrina through their music. Raeburn focusses on jazz and how after Katrina
it offered an escape to many musicians and how it brought about public awareness of the
inadequate conditions many people had to return to. The New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival
was a way for local musicians to express their sentiments after the disaster. New Orleans has a
way of incorporating tragedy and disaster into their understanding of life (819). This can be seen
in everything from funerals to second lines to disasters such as Katrina. In New Orleans funerals
they believe the spirit is cut loose to enjoy a better life and death is followed by rebirth (815).
This relates to Katrina, after the devastating loss many experienced rebirth is due to come but
this can only be aided by music. Raeburn believes as many others do as well that if the musicians
don't return to the city of New Orleans the culture of the city will die.