This summer, more than ever, the challenge is to be and stay cool. So we’re all about songs and sounds as ways to chill out. We asked musicians, critics and producers just what it means to be cool. The late Chicago pianist Ramsey Lewis had a huge hit with a song about cool people, “The ‘In’ Crowd," back in 1965. It was recorded live at the literally underground Bohemian Caverns in Washington, DC. Ramsey Lewis was also known for adapting tunes like "A Hard Day's Night,” “Hang On Sloopy” and "Dancing in the Street" into hip jazz instrumentals. Ramsey Lewis told us he made his own brand of jazz by blending the blues he heard on the Chicago streets with gospel music from home.

The Historic New Orleans Collection spotlights Brittany Francois, survivor of the 2025 terrorist attack on Bourbon Street and president of the Fourteens Foundation.

Country singer Kelsey Waldon grew up in the Ohio River bottoms of Ballard County, Kentucky, a place called “Monkey’s Eyebrow,” where her father runs a hunting lodge and her mother’s family has been farming for generations. Kelsey started writing songs at a young age, went to Nashville at nineteen, played in bars, studied songwriting and later released noted albums that landed her on stage at the Grand Ole Opry. It was there with the now late songman John Prine that she agreed to join his label, Oh Boy Records, in 2019, the first artist Prine had signed in fifteen years. Kelsey counts John as a mentor, but remembers the first encounter with music came from her nanny.

The Gulf States Newsroom’s Joseph King went to a few games at the 76th annual Choctaw Indian Fair to report on one of the oldest sports in the nation.

Our guest is the late singer, pianist and swamp pop hero, Tommy McLain, who passed away in July 2025. He told us how much he enjoyed being on the road, singing for new audiences. Tommy’s known in Louisiana for his hit cover in 1966 of “Sweet Dreams” and his contributions to swamp pop. He also recorded gospel music, wrote songs for Freddy Fender and toured with Dick Clark’s Road Shows in the 1960s. Tommy went back in the studio later in life with Elvis Costello and producer C.C. Adcock to record a 2022 album I Ran Down Every Dream. Entertaining was a constant for him since his early days in Pineville, LA, singing for his family and listening to the Grand Ole Opry. But his whole path changed when he went to a concert nearby in Alexandria.

Baton Rouge guitarist, harp player and singer Kenny Neal is a second-generation leader in the city’s blues scene, born into a family of ten children. Kenny’s father Raful Neal was a noted harmonica player, influenced by Little Walter and played in a local band with Buddy Guy. Raful Neal’s friend Slim Harpo gave son Kenny Neal his first harmonica at age three. Kenny started playing bass for his father at thirteen and went on to Buddy Guy’s band. Later, he recruited his siblings to form the Neal Brothers Blues Band. In 1989, Kenny recorded a breakout swamp blues LP Big News from Baton Rouge for Alligator Records. His fine guitar work and harmonica, as well as authoritative voice, carried him forward making sixteen more records. Kenny carries on the Baton Rouge blues tradition. Let’s go to to the Juke Joint stage at West Baton Rouge Parish Museum with Kenny Neal.

Whether Essence Fest is changing or simply growing depends on who you ask. The Gulf States Newsroom's Tanner Riley attended the 2026 festival. Here's what he saw.