Set just three months after Hurricane Katrina, the new HBO series Treme (cocreated by David Simon, the man behind the cult classic The Wire) is steeped in the brass-band sounds for which New Orleans's Treme neighborhood is world-renowned. In weaving its tapestry of complex characters—local musicians and their assorted lovers, exes, and friends—the show (premiering April 11) also celebrates, without a single note of sentimentality or false hope, the chameleonic powers of music: as a tonic, a time capsule, a lingua franca and a sweet escape.

3 romantic pop albums you can't miss

Photo: Courtesy of HBO
From the March 2010 issue of O, The Oprah Magazine

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