Our Home Louisiana

The song "Our Home, Louisiana", was originally composed on September 15, 2005.  Roughly two weeks prior, Hurricane Katrina had made landfall in New Orleans.  My family and I had evacuated safely, to my grandmother's home on Lake Bruin in Tensas Parish.  On September 14, 2005, John Maginnis, a vice-president at Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Louisiana, called me.  John and I shared our experiences of the recent weeks.  It was the start of a lengthy conversation ...

Once we had finished exchanging war stories, John told me that he had an idea.  He said that he wanted a song, to be used in conjunction with an advertising campaign, one that he hoped could be quite special.  For John, this was a time to try to rekindle hope in the state of Louisiana.  There would be no voiceover in the television spots; the only audio would be the music.  The images would be an impressionistic collection of scenes, recognizing the storm, but with the focus on homecoming, and reunion.  Finally, John said that he had come up with a line ... "This Is Our Home, Louisiana".

That night, between a dormant cotton field, and an oxbow lake which once belonged to the Mississippi River, I composed "Our Home, Louisiana".