“When I first came to New Orleans, we were doing a lot of busking just to pass the time. That was in 2007. It was mostly for fun—we had jobs and stuff, but if we had the night off we’d go downtown and busk. And when I was in high school, we’d come here on St. Patrick’s Day, learn Irish tunes, and play around town. There was only one Irish bar in Gulfport [Mississippi, where I’m from] and they wouldn’t let us in because I w...