The year in New Orleans music was full of Grammys, viral videos and unfortunate losses. It all adds up to a historically insular music scene on the verge of getting the national recognition it's always deserved. We look back at 2012 and look ahead to 2013:

New Orleans singer-songwriter Kristin Diable talks to Aura Fedora about the release of her new album with her trio The City. Once again, there's two ways to take in this interview: reading and listening.

We're used to seeing Kristin Diable on Frenchmen, and making NoDef playlists. But with her new CD, Kristin Diable and the City coming out, the blues-inflected singer-songwriter is getting ready to head around the country to New York, DC and Atlanta. Before she does, she'll be celebrating the new record at d.b.a. Sunday night at 10 p.m. with some friends, neighbors and hometown fans. And before she even does that, we can all listen to the new record here.

August 17th, when the world’s first commercial steamboat service began (1807), when the nation’s longest continuously running public farmers market, the Pike Place Market, opened (1907), when Miles Davis’ Kind of Blue was released (1959), when CDs were first released (1982), when Bill Clinton admitted to an  ‘improper physical relationship’ with Monica Lewinsky (1998), and when Michael Phelps became the first person to win eight gold medals in one Olympic Games (2008.) it’s Davy Crockett (1786), Marcus Garvey (1887), Robert De Niro (1943) and Sean Penn’s (1960) birthdays, and Charlotte Perkins Gilman’s (1935) last day. As for today:

June 9, when the "Philadelphia Spelling Book"  was the first book copyrighted under constitution (1790), when five hundred mormons left Iowa City and headed west to SLC, Utah (1858), when the first Automat restaurant opened (1902), when Jelly Roll Morton recorded "Jelly-Roll Blues” (1924), when Donald Duck made his cartoon debut (1934, and when Bruce Springsteen signed a record deal with Columbia (1972). It’s Cole Porter’s (1891), Michael J. Fox’s (1961), and Johnny Depp’s (1963) birthday, Charles Dickens’ last day (1870), and National Heroes’ Day in Uganda. How to celebrate...go to Disney World, watch Back to the Future (and/or What's Eating Gilbert Grape, and/or 'Big Love'), or realize there's too much to choose from right here (as per usual): 

Hola Nola, and Hola Baton Rouge Native, New Orleans resident, singing songwriting Kristin Diable. After leaving the South to test the music waters of New York City, Ms. Diable has returned to New Orleans and is making moves, from regular Frenchmen gigs to multi-festival digs.