New Atlantis

Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans

John Swenson

Uniquely uplifting account of New Orleans's musicians' attempts to rebuild their city
Author has written extensively about New Orleans music for more than 30 years
Unprecedented biographical detail and access to New Orleans musicians

New Atlantis

Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans

John Swenson

Description

At its most intimate level, music heals our emotional wounds and inspires us. At its most public, it unites people across cultural boundaries. But can it rebuild a city? That's the central question posed in New Atlantis, journalist John Swenson's beautifully detailed account of the musical artists working to save America's most colorful and troubled metropolis: New Orleans.

The city has been threatened with extinction many times during its three-hundred-plus-year history by fire, pestilence, crime, flood, and oil spills. Working for little money and in spite of having lost their own homes and possessions to Katrina, New Orleans's most gifted musicians--including such figures as Dr. John, the Neville Brothers, "Trombone Shorty," and Big Chief Monk Boudreaux--are fighting back against a tidal wave of problems: the depletion of the wetlands south of the city (which are disappearing at the rate of one acre every hour), the violence that has made New Orleans the murder capitol of the US, the waning tourism industry, and above all the continuing calamity in the wake of Hurricane Katrina (or, as it is known in New Orleans, the "Federal Flood"). Indeed, most of the neighborhoods that nurtured the indigenous music of New Orleans were destroyed in the flood, and many of the elder statesmen have died or been incapacitated since then, but the musicians profiled here have stepped up to fill their roles. New Atlantis is their story.

New Atlantis

Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans

John Swenson

Table of Contents

1. Voice of the Wetlands
2. African Americans and Indians
3. The Constantinople of the New World
4. Sad night in Jackson Square
5. Return of the Spirits
6. Let It Go
7. Don't Let Them Wash Us Away
8. Reality Check
9. Don't Take My Picture
10. Musicians Strike Back at Violence
11. I am New Orleans
12. Shorty on the Block
13. The Armstrong Legacy
14. Cold in the Trailer
15. If I Can Help Somebody
16. Baghdad on the Mississippi
17. Brown Baby Dead in the Water
18. On the Fringes
19. City That Care Forgot
20. Wild and Free
21. Saving at the Bank of Soul
22. It Ain't Just the Suit
23. Bourbon Street Blues
24. Snooks Flies Away
25. Ghosts of Traditional Jazz
26. New Blood
27. Jazz Fest turns 40
28. New Atlantis
29. McDermott's Duets
30. Cyril's Nightmare
31. The Wizard of Piety Street
32. Blues Come Down Like Rain
33. Cyril Comes Full Crcle
34. Marching In

New Atlantis

Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans

John Swenson

Author Information

John Swenson has been writing about popular music since 1967. He edited the website jazze.com for Knit Media and has worked as an editor at Crawdaddy, Rolling Stone, Circus, Saturday Review, Rock World, and OffBeat magazine, while publishing articles in virtually every American popular-music magazine of note. Among his previous books are biographies of Bill Haley, John Lennon, Simon and Garfunkel, and Stevie Wonder, as well as reference works such as The Rolling Stone Jazz Record Guide. In addition, his writing has won two awards from the Press Club of New Orleans: Best Entertainment Feature in 2007 and Best Critical Review in 2008.

New Atlantis

Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans

John Swenson

Reviews and Awards

Winner of the 2011 JazzTimes Critics Poll Book of the Year Award

"New Atlantis is a fast-moving hybrid of richly detailed journalism and compelling partisan memoir." -David Fricke, Rolling Stone

"A solid, rewarding book."--Kirkus Reviews

"An all-inclusive and engrossing study of New Orleans music and life in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Highly recommended."--Library Journal

"Intimate, intelligent and passionate...Swenson's concern for the future of the music culture is as personal as it is journalistic--probably more so--and reading him, you can't help but care, too."--The Times-Picayune

"This intimate portrait of a city that lost so much yet still has so much to offer captures the resiliency of its inhabitants and their stubborn determination to never give up."--Booklist

"Swenson nimbly deals with an increase in violence and turf wars, one of the consequences of the town losing most of its inhabitants, while also telling heartrending stories of the irreplaceable memorabilia that was destroyed...anyone who loves New Orleans will find New Atlantis an engaging read." --The Austin Chronicle

"John Swenson's moving book records the story of a city that acted on singer Randy Newman's famous plea, 'Don't let them wash us away.'"--The Independent

New Atlantis

Musicians Battle for the Survival of New Orleans

John Swenson

From Our Blog

Music events to see in New Orleans 1-4 November

By John Swenson Greetings to all of you in New Orleans for the AMS/SEM/SMT conference. I've been writing about the music of New Orleans dating back to the mid-1970s and am still making discoveries to this day. The city is a seemingly bottomless well of creative musicians, with more arriving every day from around the world seeking the muse that inspires this magic, spiritual sound. Here are a few suggestions about where you might want to go over the next few days to hear this aural cornucopia in person. These recommendations are really just the tip of the iceberg, but they reflect what I am likely to be hearing myself.

Posted on October 25, 2012

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New Atlantis at Voodoo Fest

I had the great thrill over the week to perform as part of the Paul Sanchez Rolling Road Show at the Voodoo Experience in New Orleans. The three day music extravaganza takes place under the live oaks in beautiful City Park. Sanchez asked me to read from New Atlantis: Musicians Battle for the Future of New Orleans at the beginning of his set on the Preservation Hall stage. I read about my return to New Orleans after hurricane Katrina as the band played the melodic swells of 'At the Foot of Canal Street' behind me.

Posted on November 6, 2012

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