When the Louisiana Office of Tourism decided to designate 2024 “The Year of Music,” it certainly had no shortage of material to work with.

“The Year of Music,” which is part of the department’s “My Louisiana” marketing campaign, kicked off at the Rose Parade in Pasadena, California, earlier this year. It will entail a host of programs designed to showcase Louisiana’s musical heritage as the birthplace of jazz, Cajun and zydeco, as well as a key player in most other major American musical forms (including, of course, rock ‘n’ roll).

Assistant Secretary of Tourism Doug Bourgeois said the Year of Music incorporates everything from a Louisiana Music Trail — which will be rolled out in stages — to advertising in musical hot spots around the country. 

“It’s going to be a yearlong celebration to attract more people to Louisiana to discover all the great music we have here,” he said.

The Year of Music will have its own website, FindYourLouisianaSound.com, which is scheduled to go live on Jan. 22.

The highlight of the page will be the “Written in the Stars” itinerary selector. Page visitors can select a date range based on their (or, say, a friend or family member’s) birthday to receive a music genre-based trip itinerary to fit the given “birthday personality” — like travel planning by zodiac.  

Itineraries are based around areas of the state and include destinations such as restaurants, dance halls, museums and outdoor activities. The result will also link to one of 12 curated Spotify playlists, all featuring songs performed by Louisiana musicians.

The results will be social media-shareable. Examples of the personalities and their corresponding music genre include The Soul Seekers (jazz), Back-Porch Boogie (Cajun) and Rooted in Realness (gospel).

Announced late last year, “My Louisiana” is part of an overall $10 million state travel and tourism budget and will last for the next three years. It has been designed to “promote staycations and domestic travel as well as international travel.” 

Influencers and musical ambassadors will produce content for social media while, on the advertising front, the campaign will include a commercial scored by distinguished composer, producer, arranger and orchestrator Jay Weigel. Weigel has been teaching courses in film scoring for Loyola University since 2007.

It will also include a mobile welcome center that will visit large festivals around the country, such as the CMA Fest in Nashville, bringing a taste of Louisiana music to music lovers outside the state.

“It’s very much like something Austin and West Virginia have done,” Bourgeois said. “We’re taking it to some major music events within the market around us. You have to fish where the fish are — people who love music love music festivals, so we want to promote a trip to Louisiana to get them back to visit us here and enjoy one of the many festivals we have in the state.”