From backwoods bars and small-town dives to swampside dance halls and converted clapboard barns, Louisiana Saturday Night offers an anecdotal history and experiential guidebook to some of the Gumbo State's most unique blues, Cajun, and zydeco clubs.

Music critic Alex V. Cook uncovers south Louisiana's wellspring of musical tradition, showing us that indigenous music exists not as an artifact to be salvaged by preservationists, but serves as a living, breathing, singing, laughing, and crying part of Louisiana culture. Louisiana Saturday Night takes the reader to both offbeat and...

Louisiana can be a complicated place, but the state s good food and friendly people are simple facts. Pairing these two indisputable truths, author Alex V. Cook takes readers to the many unsung diners, quirky low-fuss restaurants, and family-run establishments that serve up the very best of true Louisiana cuisine. From a gas station with the best boudin links to a Vietnamese bakery with mouthwatering banh mi, each of these lesser-known culinary gems stitched across southeast Louisiana offers tasty local fare in a down-to-earth atmosphere. Setting off from the state capital of Baton Rouge...