Washington, Louisiana: Where the Steamboat Whistle Still Blows
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS At six o’clock in the evening, a steamboat whistle rolls across Washington, Louisiana—long, low, and three notes deep. It’s an authentic three-chime whistle, the same kind that once announced boats coming up the bayou in the 1700s and 1800s. There hasn’t been a […]
Richard Sale Barn in Abbeville, Louisiana: A Cattle Auction House Turned Cajun Listening Room
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS Louisianans, we love our music. We’re raised on it — fiddle and accordion at the dance hall, brass on the street corner, somebody’s uncle picking a guitar on the back porch. But here’s the thing most of us never stop to think about: […]
Crawfish Haven & Mrs. Rose’s Bed and Breakfast: A Cajun Crawfishing Getaway You Won’t Find in a Guidebook
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS Louisianans, we love our mud bugs. We’re raised on a hearty dose of Louisiana crawfish at every backyard boil and family reunion. But here’s the thing most of us never stop to think about: the work that goes into harvesting them. So when […]
Laine Hardy on Louisiana Roots, Guitar at Seven, and Why Music Is Meant for Good
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS The historic Teche Theater in Franklin hummed with anticipation on the evening Laine Hardy arrived to perform. Outside, St. Mary Parish was celebrating the wrap of filming for LA64, the documentary series that has taken me deep into the soul of Louisiana. Inside, the […]
Shreveport Municipal Auditorium: The Stage Where Country Legends Were Born
By Karen LeBlanc, host of LA64, a Louisiana Travel Show on PBS There are places that hold history in their walls, and then there are places that hum with it long after the amplifiers have gone silent. The Shreveport Municipal Auditorium belongs to that second category. I felt it the moment I stepped into the […]
Meet Cajun Culture Keeper Jourdan Thibodeaux
On any given Sunday, you can find the living, breathing heart of Cajun Country at Cypress Cove Landing in Breaux Bridge. The fiddle cries, the accordion drones, and the floor shakes with the synchronized steps of a community in motion. At the center of it all is Jourdan Thibodeaux, a musician, storyteller, and an ambassador […]
The Savoy Family of Musicians: Louisiana’s Culture Keepers
The sound hits you first. It is not just music. It is a conversation in a language of button accordions, fiddles, and raw, soulful vocals. This is a Saturday morning at the Savoy Music Center in Eunice, Louisiana. Within its unassuming walls, you do not just hear Cajun culture. You step directly into its living, […]
Sabine Free State Festival: A Celebration of Louisiana’s Lawless Past
Experience the Sabine Free State Festival in Louisiana as it brings to life the lawless era through stories, costumes, performances, and local flavor.