About the Author
John Swenson has been writing about popular music since 1967. He edited the award-winning website jazze.com for Knit Media and has worked as an editor at Crawdaddy, Rolling Stone, Circus, Rock World, OffBeat magazine and been published in virtually every popular music magazine of note over that time. He was a syndicated music columnist for more than 20 years at United Press International and Reuters. Swenson has written 14 published books including biographies of Bill Haley, the Who, Stevie Wonder and the Eagles and co-edited the original Rolling Stone Record Guide with Dave Marsh. He is also the editor of The Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide. In another role Swenson is a veteran sports writer who covered the New York Rangers for 30 years, writing pieces for outlets from Rolling Stone to the Associated Press. Swenson is also a veteran horseracing columnist and handicapper who covered the New York racing scene as a columnist for the New York Post and the New Orleans Fair Grounds meet for The Daily Racing Form. His profile on jockey Steve Cauthen, "Rise To Stardom, Fall From Grace" in Spur magazine was nominated for an Eclipse Award.
Swenson's account of musicians returning to New Orleans after Katrina, The Bands Played On, appeared in Da Capo's Best Music Writing 2007. His Every Accordionist a King won the 2008 Best Entertainment Feature award from the Press Club of New Orleans. Swenson's latest book, New Atlantis chronicles how musicians battled to rebuild New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina.
Swenson wins 2011 Press Club Award —This year’s Excellence in Journalism Award for Best Critical Review goes to New Atlantis author John Swenson for his review of Anders Osborne’s American Patchwork in OffBeat magazine. More here.
Reviews of New Atlantis
A must-read for anyone interested in post-Katrina New Orleans and its music; also, a must-read for TREME fans of that even needs to be said. I have added about 20 items to my download queue thanks to Swenson's wide music coverage net, and I can't wait to hit the Crescent City in August.
—Phil, Columbia, MO for GoodReads Social Reading Site
In veteran music scribe John Swenson's view, there is a correlation between New Orleans rising from the sea after Hurricane Katrina, buoyed by the musicians who call the Crescent City home, and the mythical sunken island Atlantis. Few will argue with that thesis, even if the fight for survival is ongoing. Swenson, a NOLA resident for more than a decade, provides enlightening, at times alarming, interviews with those most outspoken and visible fighting to save what was almost washed away. Mac Rebennack, aka Dr. John, talks about his activism in trying to save the wetlands of Southern Louisiana even before the so-called "federal flood," while Cyril Neville speaks of his time as a refugee in Austin, trying to deal with the devastation from afar. A good portion of the book is spent with the Andrews family, including Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews, who spotlights the importance of the daily music scene in the Treme neighborhood and what effect its ruin had on a younger generation of musicians. Swenson nimbly deals with an increase in violence and turf wars, one of the consequences of the town losing most of its inhabitants, while also telling heartrending stories of the irreplaceable memorabilia that was destroyed. The commercialization of Jazz Fest is covered as well, although many have resigned themselves to relying on tourism to get New Orleans back on its feet. Anyone who loves New Orleans will find New Atlantis an engaging read.
—Jim Caligiuri, Austin Chronicle
"Swen is on fire! Buy the damn book - I did and was jolted into recalling what a writer John can be when the subject matter is something about which he's passionate. This book details something very straight-forward and straight from John's heart - New Orleans, his adopted second hometown, has always been a city built on its phenomenal music and the musicians that play it. You've seen a bunch of jive films about what's rebuilt NOLA from the chaos left behind by Katrina Forget those idiot movies and read the real deal - it's all here. It'll leave you breathless and begging for more."
—Bruce Malamut
"In “New Atlantis,” his [Swenson's] allegiance to the music — and to New Orleans itself — resonates with vividly descriptive language that gives readers the sense that they’re right alongside Swenson, a cold bottle of High Life sweating in their hands, trumpet ringing in the air and sweet olive scenting the humid Bywater breeze." More here.
—Times Picayune
"I got my copy of this book today and can't put it down. The first Zeke Fishhead mention/quote is on page 23. Anyone who loves New Orleans, it's music and culture MUST get this! You've danced near him if you've been to Radiators shows in NOLA or NYC in the last fifteen years. The author is also an old school fishhead and serious author, I think this is his 14th published book. And if you happen to be at the Fairgrounds for the best day of the year, Thanksgiving not Fest, this is who you want to converse with before you place yer bet. Covered the ponies for years, UPI and Reuters. Five Star recommendation for 'New Atlantis' by John Swenson!"
—Steve Martin
"... I ran into mega-journalist John Swenson at the gig; [the Montreal International Jazz Festival]. Swenson has a great new book out all about New Orleans musicians called New Atlantis, and he has been watching [Trombone] Shorty’s meteoric rise from growing up in the Tremé neighborhood to performing on a world stage. Like Fly, Shorty’s group leaves Montreal for Europe, where they’ll be barnstorming across the countryside all summer long. This show was probably the best thing going all evening long, and that was just with just one hour of playing time. So, get hip to Trombone Shorty as soon as possible, watch the HBO show Treme this season, and buy Swenson’s new book so you can appreciate what New Orleans and its musicians are all about." More here.
—Mitch Myers, MAGNET Magazine
Swenson (columnist, United Press International & Reuters; The Rolling Stone Jazz & Blues Album Guide) documents the post-Katrina state of music and culture in New Orleans. The work and the plight of musicians, famous and not so famous alike, are covered in fine detail. Swenson examines the New Orleans jazz, hip-hop, R&B, brass band, and rock scenes and ties each to the culture of this unique city. The author utilizes published sources, informal conversations with musicians, interviews, and insightful musical analysis to weave a compelling narrative. Throughout, Swenson and the musicians also look to the future; a subtext of concern for wetlands preservation pervades the book. VERDICT Readers interested in New Orleans culture and music, the federal response to Hurricane Katrina and the Gulf oil spill disaster, and environmentalism will all enjoy and learn much from this book. It is an all-inclusive and engrossing study of New Orleans music and life in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Highly recommended.
—James E. Perone, Univ. of Mount Union, Alliance, OH
"An all-inclusive and engrossing study of New Orleans music and life in the wake of Hurricane Katrina. Highly recommended." —Library Journal
"This intimate portrait of a city that lost so much yet still has so much to offer captures the resiliency of its inhabitants and their stubborn determination to never give up."—Booklist
"A solid, rewarding book."
"A detailed, angry look at the Crescent City’s imperiled players and traditions in Hurricane Katrina’s wake.
Veteran music journalist Swenson (The Rolling Stone Jazz and Blues Album Guide, 1999, etc.), a New Orleans resident since 1999, surveys the havoc wreaked on his adopted hometown’s music scene after the so-called “federal flood” of August 2005. Already threatened by the erosion of southern Louisiana’s coastal wetlands, the city was flattened by the massive storm, which scattered its musicians around the country. Swenson details the natives’ taxing attempts to reinstate the indigenous musical culture, one of the country’s national treasures, within a shattered civic infrastructure. He interviews dozens of locals, ranging from vets like Dr. John, Dr. Michael White and Cyril Neville of the Neville Brothers to young lions like Troy “Trombone Shorty” Andrews and his troubled cousin Glen David Andrews. The author excoriates the city fathers, whose thinly veiled racism led to post-Katrina opposition to the Mardi Gras Indian tribes and practitioners of funeral “second lining” (parading). Despite chaos and escalating violence, the music community courageously restored itself. However, after a description of the celebration of the New Orleans Saints’ uplifting 2010 Super Bowl victory, the book ends on a downbeat note with a rushed look at the April 2010 Deepwater Horizon pipeline disaster, which wracked the region anew. Readers won’t fault Swenson’s journalism, comprising on-the-ground observation and interviews, and he is at home with every pertinent musical genre, from jazz and funk to rock, gospel and hip-hop. But the lax organization and editing of the book often slow the narrative’s momentum and lose the thread of the tale. Chapters stutter to a halt with lengthy explications of artists’ careers, replete with unsifted quotes, or with endless descriptions of performances in clubs or on festival stages. These notebook-clearing exercises too frequently swamp Swenson’s powerfully affecting story of New Orleans’ monumental cultural tragedy and gutsy rebirth. A solid, rewarding book that could have been great with some judicious pruning."