Baton Rouge Road Trip –
Eighty miles west of New Orleans, Baton Rouge is the birthplace of jazz. And it’s sixty miles east of Lafayette, the center of Cajun and Creole culture in America. So you can imagine that the musical heritage of a city between those two might get just a little less attention.
But the blues musicians originating from the Baton Rouge area are at the heart of the history of the blues. Names like Slim Harpo and Buddy Guy are part of the story — but there are also names you might not now, like Whispering Smith and Lonesome Sundown.
And if you’re in New Orleans, it’s all right here in your backyard, just an hour away. So we’re taking a trip out of town to Baton Rouge to hear some stories and check out the Blues Festival there, and riding shotgun with host George Ingmire is the president of the Baton Rouge Blues Foundation, Clarke Gernon.
New Orleans Calling airs Monday afternoons from 4 to 5 p.m.