Keith Spera

Keith Spera has spent 30 years telling the stories of his hometown, especially its music community. Along the way he’s interviewed the likes of Jerry Seinfeld, Russell Crowe, Janet Jackson, Billy Joel, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Charlie Wilson, Jon Batiste, Lil Wayne and many other celebrities.

He’s won national awards for his work at The Times-Picayune and its website, NOLA.com, including a Society for Features Journalism award for his 2023 collaboration with photographer Chris Granger about the making of the St. Augustine High School Marching 100. 

Spera was a member of the newspaper’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Hurricane Katrina coverage team. He is also the host/producer of “Let’s Talk with Keith Spera,” a weekly talk show broadcast by WLAE-TV and NPR affiliate WWNO 89.9 FM.

He’s contributed his expertise to several documentaries and many newscasts. His acclaimed book “Groove Interrupted: Loss, Renewal and the Music of New Orleans” (2011, St. Martin’s Press) is an intimate portrait of a dozen prominent musicians recovering from adversity. 

Each year he hosts an interview/acoustic performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival’s Allison Miner Music Heritage Stage. He’s also the featured interviewer for the Big Easy Cruise, a week-long, New Orleans music-themed Caribbean cruise aboard the Holland America Line’s Nieuw Amsterdam. He lives in New Orleans with his wife, three children and the family dog, Goose.