Robert H. Cataliotti is a music critic and historian who teaches at Coppin State University in Baltimore. A contributing writer for Living Blues magazine, he has also published two books, The Music in African American Fiction and The Songs Became the Stories: The Music in African-American Fiction, 1970-2005. He is the producer and annotator of Classic Sounds of New Orleans from Smithsonian Folkways (2010).

Herlin Riley is a preeminent drummer on the contemporary New Orleans music scene. He has released four albums: Watch What You're Doing (2000), Cream of the Crescent (2005), New Direction (2016), and Perpetual Optimism (2019). Riley is the coauthor of New Orleans Jazz and Second Line Drumming and is adjunct drum instructor at the University of New Orleans, Northwestern University, and The Juilliard School.