Alex V. Cook has written about music, travel and food for Country Roads since 2005. He teaches journalism at LSU's Manship School of Mass Communications and his latest book is Louisiana Saturday Night: Looking for a Good Time in South Louisiana's Juke Joints, Honky Tonks and Dance Halls for LSU Press. His next one will be about hole-in-the-wall restaurants. He blogs furiously at alexvcook.com
Photo by Mike Redaelli
Tank and the Bangas bring home-grown goodness from New Orleans to America's ears more
May 23, 2017 12:00 AM Visual & Performing Arts
All photos by Lucie Monk Carter
Cajun revivalist and 2016 Small Town Chef more
Jun 21, 2016 12:00 AM Foodways
Photos by Brian Pavlich
Cajun-Asian fusion from our youngest 2015 Small Town Chef more
Jun 22, 2015 12:00 AM Foodways
A review of Valcour Records' latest release more
Apr 28, 2015 12:00 AM Visual & Performing Arts
Photos by Angela Major
The new Louie’s is like coming home more
Jan 22, 2015 12:00 AM Restaurants
Photo by Zack Smith
The man behind MySpiltMilk writes about music in New Orleans more
Nov 24, 2014 12:00 AM Visual & Performing Arts
Photo by Lucie Monk
An avid record collector turns his eclectic music tastes into conversations more
Sep 23, 2014 12:00 AM Visual & Performing Arts
Christopher Brumfield and Raina Benoit in “Lineage” more
Sep 17, 2014 12:00 AM Visual & Performing Arts
Photos by Lucie Monk
Maureen Joyce is inspired by what’s growing locally. more
Jul 23, 2014 12:00 AM Restaurants
Photo by Alex V. Cook
Where even the alligators don’t interrupt the dancing and dining more
Jun 24, 2014 12:00 AM Restaurants
Photos by Julie Stewart
Hot on the trail of the next generation of tastemakers more
Jun 20, 2014 12:00 AM People & Places
Photo by Alex V. Cook
Sometimes a left-hand turn leads you to one of the best Cajun restaurants around more
Mar 25, 2014 12:00 AM Restaurants
Photo by Alex V. Cook
There are a million poboys to be eaten; this place serves some of the best. more
Feb 24, 2014 12:00 AM Restaurants
Photo by Alex V. Cook
A new music venue is open for business, crossing invisible boundaries and "starting a communication" more
Feb 19, 2014 12:00 AM Visual & Performing Arts
Photo by Alex V. Cook
One of the great roast-beef poboys in South Louisiana is possibly on the chopping block more
Dec 27, 2013 12:00 AM People & Places
Alex V. Cook
This all-female quartet is a study in tight harmony and subtle instrumentation more
Nov 25, 2013 12:00 AM Visual & Performing Arts
Alex V. Cook
A cherry on the kudzu-and-blues layer cake of North Mississippi more
Sep 23, 2013 12:00 AM Getaways
Photo by Wes Kroninger
In the Zachary house where he was born, Teddy Johnson has been keeping the South’s juke joint tradition alive since 1979. more
Sep 4, 2013 12:00 AM People & Places
Music travels. It rattles from strings, blows out the bell of a horn or a guitar amp, or is squeezed from an accordion bellows; but it travels across the room and across the world to let all who hear it know where that sound came from. Beca... more
Sep 1, 2013 12:00 AM Visual & Performing Arts
Frank McMains
Mardi Gras can be a tricky thing: resplendent in tradition and pageantry, yet always with rebellion at its core. Discovering traditions that expand our experience of the Mardi Gras tradition while maintaining this paradoxical spirit makes f... more
Sep 1, 2013 12:00 AM People & Places
