Your yard. Their horns.
New Orleans jazz, one front yard at a time
The Florida Street Blowhards have been turning Baton Rouge front yards into neighborhood living rooms since the pandemic—and they're doing it again.
The band, led by trumpeter Sam Irwin, got its start during the 2020 lockdown. He asked his bandmates to meet in a Glasgow Elementary parking lot, spaced 10 feet apart, to play. People stopped. Listened. Dropped tips. Word spread.
What followed was an accidental civic institution: front yard concerts across Beauregard Town, Southdowns, Goodwood, Hundred Oaks and beyond—lawn chairs, libations and New Orleans jazz on a residential street. Hosts provide the yard. Neighbors provide the crowd. The band provides an hour and a half of music rooted in the tradition Allen Toussaint helped keep alive.
Intimate and low-stakes. No cover. No velvet rope. Just neighbors finding out they like each other.
The Blowhards return to Woodland Ridge on April 25 at 6 p.m., a repeat engagement—five years running—at the home of Brittany and Jonathan Welch.
Your neighborhood could use one. Here's how.