Hurricane blues

One of my colleagues has just come back from New Orleans, where she was investigating how the town's music scene has struggled to recover two years after Hurricane Katrina tore out its soul.

She's written a series of (excellent) features, which are running on the BBC website this week.

My personal favourite is a heart-breaking interview with blues musician Chris Thomas King, who has just released a new album of music inspired by the disaster. As he rightly points out, Katrina is the perfect subject for the blues.

Since 1984's Blue Beat, King has sold more than 10 million albums. From the 1990s, he started combining his traditional blues skills with turntables, samples and hip-hop, directly inspiring "Dirty South" rappers like Bubba Sparxx and Nas. You might also know him from his roles in Hollywood films O Brother Where Art Thou and Ray.

But, despite his success, the multi-instrumentalist is still living on a building site in downtown New Orleans a full 24 months after the levees broke.

You can, and should, watch Caroline's report here. And below, I have added a video of King performing with his father in Los Angeles. Because I am nice like that.

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