If you have lived in New Orleans for any time at all you have heard about this fellow referred to simply as “Bienville” –although his baptismal name was Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville. The native of Montreal gets the credit for founding New Orleans and being the Louisiana territory’s colonial governor as part of the exploits, for the French crown, with his explorer big brother Iberville.

Historian Sally Asher joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde, and podcast producer Kelly Massicot, to tell about the founder and his many quirks, including a fondness for tattoos and an ability to communicate with local native tribes. Then there is the story about how he once fooled the British. There is a Louisiana parish and a prominent New Orleans street named after him, plus there is a statue in the French Quarter. There are also lots of stories and we will tell a few of them.

It was along Bayou Teche, at St. Martinville, where Evangeline, according of Henry Longfellow’s classic poem, searched for her love Gabriel. The two had been separated by the Acadian expulsion from Nova Scotia. Not far away in Breaux Bridge there is a happier scene at the annual Crawfish Festival when the bounty is served. At New Iberia, Weeks Hall, a renowned artist and photographer, restored Shadows on the Teche a once rundown ante-bellum home that would become a piece of art in itself. The town is also the site of the Bayou Teche Museum, which provides a visual journey down the waterway. Michael Tarantino, a member of the museum’s board, joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde and podcast producer Kelly Massicot to talk about the 125 mile long bayou, as well as the museum and the surrounding Cajun country. In a state blessed with many bayous, the Teche is one of the most historic and picturesque. Had fate allowed, It would have been a great stream for Gabriel and Evangeline to appreciate many Sunday afternoon pirogue rides.

It is not the most poetic of nicknames but it is backed by science. Author Ned Randolph joins Louisiana Life Executive Editor Errol Laborde and podcast producer Kelly Massicot to talk about his new book, "Muddy Thinking in the Mississippi River Delta," and his experiences covering the state’s landscape including the river known informally as “The Big Muddy.” Because the Mississippi River drains much of the central part of the continent, the water carries sediments from upriver along the way that in turn has built riverbanks and nourished marshes and swamps and, near the river’s mouth, given the Gulf of Mexico its chocolatey color. It has also built land that would one day give the region, “the blues.” And speaking of colors, the sediment’s rich soil also enriches the land for our indigenous “Creole tomato.” You will likely gain a new appreciation for mud including it being the building substance for the Mississippi Delta region – all the better for sitting on a levee and listening to the blues.