AUGUST 12, 2022 | Beat Café is a weekly program that explores the music scene in New Orleans and the broader reach of Louisiana hosted by David Johnson, digital media editor for OffBeat magazine. The program is broadcast on WHIV 102.3 FM every Friday from 1 to 2 p.m. Central.

This week’s episode features rockabilly singer and piano player Linda Gail Lewis, the sister of notorious rock pioneer Jerry Lee Lewis and cousin to country star Mickey Gilley and televangelist Jimmy Swaggart, all of whom were raised in the north Louisiana town of Ferriday. She is currently on tour through September 4, 2022.

The second half hour of the talk show features Curtis Doucette Jr., a real-estate developer in New Orleans who has taken it upon himself to restore a legendary but derelict music landmark, the Dew Drop Inn, located at 2836 Lasalle Street in Central City. This former hotel and live music venue, which opened in 1939, was host to such acts as Ray Charles, James Brown, Sam Cooke, Ike and Tina Turner, Otis Redding, Solomon Burke, and Little Richard, who wrote a song, “Dew Drop Inn,” about the nightclub.

Listen to podcast on Spotify.