Legendary New Orleans bassist George Porter Jr., best known as a member of the Meters, didn't have to wait for Hurricane Katrina to have his world turned upside down: His 9th Ward home was burglarized the night before the storm. And when Katrina hit and the levees exploded, Porter's house took on nearly 5 feet of water, destroying his music studio.

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"Before Katrina, I could get 10 [trumpeters] by throwing a dollar out the window. There's just no place to live and the musicians are not here. And the ones who are aren't making the same money ... " -- Mark Bingham

With New Orleans in chaos, Porter took to the road, touring steadily for almost a year. In the interim, his wife purchased a house for them north of New Orleans in Darrow, La., and set about rebuilding their New Orleans home. "She went into our savings," says Porter. "We didn't want to wait around for the state and federal assistance." Getting back home as soon as possible was the primary motivation. "The house in the country is nice, but I did no work without my studio," he says. "My wife saw that and said, 'He needs to be in New Orleans.'"

Porter's recently released album, "It's Life," is ample proof the Porters made the right moves. But two years after Katrina devastated New Orleans, the shattered musical community is still wrestling with the same emotional questions it faced the day after the storm: Is there a future in New Orleans? Can the Crescent City's rich and unique music scene regain its economic footing?

Along with its tradition and history, pre-Katrina New Orleans provided a unique environment for musicians. With a local economy built largely on tourism and conventions, New Orleans' bars, clubs and hotels provided steady work for a large music community -- and the city's comparatively cheap rents made the town doubly attractive.

"The cost of living was great for musicians," says keyboardist John Gros of the band Papa Grows Funk. "You could do well in New Orleans: have a middle-class lifestyle on a musician's salary. But since Katrina, the rents have doubled."

Indeed, a new round of property reassessments that more than doubled the tax rate for many homeowners was the talk of New Orleans recently. Pianist Henry Butler, who lost all his musical equipment including his piano when his home filled with 6 feet of water, now lives in Denver. He recently saw the assessment on his New Orleans home rise 500 percent and says it will likely spur him to sell. "I still have a love for the city," says Butler.

The veteran musician and teacher grew up there and has lived in Los Angeles and New York but called New Orleans his home base and held a Thursday-night residency with his band at the Blue Nile. "It's kind of a sad situation. You have to wonder what the footprint of the city will look like in 10 or 20 years. I think they're going to lose more property as they rebuild and they're going to have to have more money flowing there even if [it] becomes Disneyfied. I hope they will do the right thing. But I have to say that as I peruse the news, it just doesn't sound that good."

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