Treme & Why New Orleans Matters: Writer Tom Piazza

Author Tom Piazza has written 12 books, many of which feature New Orleans, music, or both. His post-Katrina manifesto Why New Orleans Matters helped to inspire the HBO show Treme, and the show’s co-creator David Simon brought him on as a staff writer largely because of it. Tom received a Grammy Award for his album notes to Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues: A Musical Journey and has also written for numerous publications including The New York Times, The Atlantic, and The Oxford American.

I met with Tom at the historic Columns Hotel in New Orleans to talk about his work and the city that has shaped so much of it. Some of the things we discuss in the episode include

• Highlights from the 50th anniversary of Jazz Fest
• How to write about a place like a local
• What not to do when writing music criticism
• Research that went into his album notes for Martin Scorsese Presents The Blues
• How the writing room on Treme worked together to flesh out challenging story points

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