Today marks 20 years since Hurricane Katrina made landfall and battered Southern Louisiana. The Category 3 storm was one of the most destructive in American history, as the levees around New Orleans failed to protect the city from massive flooding, causing more than $100 billion in damages and nearly 2,000 deaths in communities across the Gulf of Mexico.
The local government has set up a site, K20, to honor the anniversary and the community's resilience. As one of the most musical cities in America (if not the world), New Orleans musicians were uniquely impacted by the disaster. And today, some of those same musicians and others are paying tribute in all kinds of ways. For example, the Katrina Commemoration Foundation and Hip Hop Caucus have been co-organizing and co-leading a second line march since 2005. As they write:
Each and every year since Hurricane Katrina, we have marked the anniversary by organizing a community led commemoration. Annually, we start the morning in the Lower 9th Ward where the levees broke, with a healing ceremony and a reading of the names of those who died. We then march through the streets until a brass band joins us at our half-way point to lead us the rest of the way in the New Orleans’ Second Line tradition. We end at Hunter’s Field where we hold a rally with speakers and performers. Join us this year for the 20-year anniversary.
Check out their multimedia-centric timeline here.
Additionally, Trombone Shorty and New Breed Brass Band surprise-released a collaborative record called Second Line Sunday ruminating "on culture and tradition, on family and community, on survival and resilience" in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. To learn more about Shorty's work bridging musical cultures between his hometown of New Orleans and Havana, Cuba, check out this in-depth reporting from the Havana Funk Expedition in 2023.
Black Masking Indian group Cha Wa also released a new record titled Rise Up today, in part marking the anniversary of the disaster. No Depression is honored to share this feature profile of the funk-meets-traditional band, written by Erica Campbell for the Summer 2021 "Voices" issue, to celebrate the album's arrival.
For anyone especially interested in this rich musical and historical tradition that's so localized in New Orleans, go back and read Big Chief Bo Dollis Jr.'s original essay from June — "Fire and Feather: Cultural Preservation and Climate Justice from the Perspective of a Black Masking Indian Chief in 2025" — on the heels of his new album with The Wild Magnolias, Chip Off The Old Block.
Recently, No Depression has also covered music from New Orleans and greater Louisiana-based artists including Clifton Chenier, Jon Cleary, Irma Thomas and Galactic, and more. Check out all these tunes and reviews, as well as the photo recap of this year's New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2025.
WHAT WE'RE LISTENING TO
Mavis Staples - "Beautiful Strangers" (from her forthcoming album Sad And Beautiful World, due out November 7 via ANTI-)
Alabama Shakes - "Another Life" (the band's first new music in more than a decade)
Admiral Fallow - "Avalanche" (from their forthcoming album First of The Birds, due out October 31 via Chemikal Underground)
Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman (out today via Loma Vista Records)
NEW RELEASES – 8/28/25
The Beths - Straight Line Was a Lie
Cha Wa - Rise Up
Rodney Crowell - Airline Highway
Cooper Kenward - Bel Air
Tift Merritt - Tambourine (20th anniversary reissue)
Tift Merritt - Time & Patience: Tambourine Kitchen Recordings
Moviola - Earthbound
John Oats - John Oats
Margo Price - Hard Headed Woman
Ron Sexton - Hangover Terrace
Caroline Spence - Heart Go Wild
Anna Tivel - Animal Poem
Zach Top - Ain’t In It For My Health
COMING SOON - 9/5/25
Darol Anger - Diary of a Fiddler #2: The Empty Nest
Big Thief - Double Infinity
Wesley Hanna - Magnolia
Curtis Harding - Departures & Arrivals: The Adventures of Captain Curt
Grant-Lee Phillips - In The Hour of Dust
Liam St. John - Man of the North
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