Music

All kinds of music float through the French Quarter this weekend. The neighborhood is central to New Orleans music history and the lifeblood of performers today.

Musicians spend so much time here, it’s no wonder French Quarter streets, sites and people gets celebrated in song.

Here’s a list of famous, and infamous, songs that mention “Da Quarters.”

“Salee Dame” tells the tale of a woman who lives by La Rue Dauphine. You can just see her hips shaking when you listen to this version by the Creole Jazz Serenaders. (Thanks American Routes and Nick Spitzer.)

The French Quarter is alive with music this weekend as the 30th annual French Quarter Festival kicks into high gear.

Music has been central to the identity of New Orleans from the earliest years of the city's founding, and a casual stroll through the streets of the French Quarter will bring you past centuries of tangible music history.

While you're down in the Quarter for the Festival, or any time at all, make sure you don't miss these landmarks.

J&M Recording Studio
840 North Rampart St. (corner of Dumaine)

Bluegrass Hall of Famer Del McCoury’s folks came from the mountains of western North Carolina, but he grew up on a farm in York County, Pennsylvania, less than an hour’s drive from Baltimore.

“My dad and my older brother listened to the Grand Ol’ Opry every Saturday night,” McCoury said. It was before television, in the middle- to late-1940s.

“At a young age I heard Earl Scruggs, and that’s what got me into music.”