Smiley Ricks needed to find a place for Indian practice. The Dr. John percussionist, brass band veteran and Big Chief of the Wild Renegade Hunters had gotten into something like a “family squabble” with another chief one recent Sunday, and was searching the Treme neighborhood for a new stomping ground. Where he landed was perhaps the most fitting home base—Congo Square.

“That day turned out to be a very spiritual experience,” Ricks recalls. “Because I went out there with my gang and we sta...