Get in the Mood: NPR Brings You Allen Toussaint Live!

Photo courtesy of New Orleans Convention and Visitors Bureau

The next best thing to being in New Orleans is listening to some great New Orleans music. Here are two great links for hour-long programming on National Public Radio. You can just hit the "play" button and drift away on a dreamy cloud, or learn about how Katrina impacted the NOLA music community.

Click here to listen to the recorded concert of Allen Toussaint and the Bright Mississippi Band last month in New York City. The concert is hosted from the NPR web site; just click on the "listen now" type at the top of the page and be entranced for an hour or so. This is beautiful music.

Click here for a broadcast of the NPR show "Talk of the Nation" with several New Orleans musicians, included Allen Toussaint, performing live in the NPR studio. This show was recorded a week after Katrina hit. The performers had lost their homes, and Toussaint also lost his piano in the flood. "Next time, I'll put it on the second floor," he said. But they said much more, and people called in to talk about what New Orleans music meant to them.

What will it mean to you? New Orleans has every type of music. It's known for jazz but it won't be defined in just one word. You might hear anything or anyone as you walk down the street. Whether you go to a concert or a club or listen to street musicians, it's a special sound from a special place.

And you can start listening now, right here on the blog!