Robin Barnes is her own cheerleader but she wants to be yours, too. Her fitness empire, Move Ya Brass, is about making sure that no New Orleanian ever has to say, “I want to be healthy but I can’t afford it.” In fact, she’s not a big fan of the phrase “I can’t,” in any context. Her impressive four weeks spent on the Billboard Top 10 as an independent artist came after a manager laughed at her and told her, “a little girl from the 9th ward couldn’t possibly chart…

Lindsey Baker is a true force for good in the independent music world. As a sound tech and booker at Gasa Gasa, a publicist with WolfieVibes Publicity (initially founded by her wife, Kelly McClure), and a talented musician in her own act, Guts Club, she sees the music industry from multiple angles. Guts Club is her long-running, sometimes-solo project that in recent incarnations has been a vehicle for gloomy folk, lo-fi country, and now crushing psychedelic doom rock. Its initial full-band recording from 2018, Trench Foot, was a dark, twangy masterpiece, featuring Baker's distinctive countrified snarl. It's a captivating listen and a sound the band shall not revisit anytime soon. Reconstituting the group into a guitar-guitar-drums trio, with the addition of Alex Dimeff and Ronna Sandoval, the emphasis is now on sonic devastation—guitars primarily as noise machines, drums serving to push it all into your bowels and over a cliff, vocals that scream through the cacophony…

Hasan “HaSizzle” Matthews is a singer, rapper, beatboxer, booty shaker and full-fledged entertainer who has been anointing listeners with his energetic sound for nearly two decades. Matthews has collaborated with local legends such as Big Freedia, Sissy Nobby, and Tank and the Bangas. The NOLA native’s work has been extensively sampled by mainstream artists including 2 Chainz, Lil Wayne, and Jason Derulo. In 2016, Drake’s highly acclaimed album, Views, sampled HaSizzle on the single “Child’s Play,” catapulting Matthews’ sound into global recognition. Matthews even made a special appearance in Megan Thee Stallion’s twerk-centric “Cry Baby” music video in 2020…

It’s impossible to envision what it’s like to be in the presence of Josh Wingerter without knowing you’re about to get hugged–right off the bat. You’ll be bombarded with warmth, giggles, excitement; offered coffee, a comfy chair, and breakfast sandwiches from his mom’s restaurant. You might even be challenged to a game of chess or Street Fighter. Once Wingerter decides he likes you, which is what he decides about most people, you’re welcomed into the fold…

In May 2020, as New Orleans began to really sit with the prospect that live music, second lines, parades, and festivals would be shuttered, the 79rs Gang released Expect the Unexpected. At a time when the streets of the city went silent, the duo’s music rang out loudly and received attention and accolades from NPR Music, Bandcamp, and the Chicago Reader. Romeo Bougere and Jermaine Bossier are redefining what “Mardi Gras Indian music” can be, expanding beyond the traditional sounds they shared on 2014’s Fire in the Bayou and inviting collaborations on and off stage with a diaspora of musicians including Haitian collective Lakou Mizik and Cajun powerhouse Lost Bayou Ramblers…

Meschiya Lake has no shortage of accolades: NPR, OffBeat, WWOZ, Gambit, KEXP, the Sun Valley Jazz Festival, the Danish Music Awards, fellow musicians, and fans throughout Brazil, Canada, Germany, Italy, the U.K, the Netherlands, and Ireland revere her. The name “Meschiya” even means “Messiah” in Hebrew, and yet, for all her extraordinary accomplishments, she’s still scrappy, still a fighter, still an impossibly hard worker. It has taken a lifetime for her to love herself the way her listeners do…