George Ingmire: In Tune with the Sounds of New Orleans
By Jann Darsie
Notes From Ella is presented with funding support from the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation
Creative producer George Ingmire had several early influences that would shape his life — and his future career — as he was growing up in Virginia. His maternal grandfather was a filmmaker, and an uncle is a blues musician. “It all just seeped in,” he recalled.
Ingmire is well-known locally for his work with WWOZ-FM radio. His interest in the audio arts formed early. While still in grade school, he dabbled in recording and taped himself on an 8-track cartridge at his grandfather’s house, pretending to be a DJ. He didn’t have to pretend hard — it came naturally.
“Music was my escape as a kid,” he said. “I say it was a healthy escape.”
His first encounter with New Orleans — for Mardi Gras 1992 — got off to a bad start when his rental car was stolen within 20 minutes of his arrival. Not letting that ruin his trip, he stayed through Ash Wednesday so he could experience the “real New Orleans,” and he fell in love with the city. Seeing the vintage streetcars during that visit sealed the deal.
He moved to New Orleans and took his time getting to know the city and its culture, using a connection to get a restaurant job in the French Quarter. He went on to study at the University of New Orleans, where he earned a bachelor's degree in anthropology, followed by a master’s in filmmaking. He knew he did not want to be writing academic papers, and filmmaking was hands-on.
He immediately gravitated to sound production, which led to jobs doing work behind the scenes on the Dukes of Hazzard movie and on Harry Shearer’s film The Big Uneasy.
He laughed when he said he would probably have had a less adventurous life if he had stayed in Virginia. “I’ve always been creative, and New Orleans is certainly a good fit,” he said. “Creativity runs deep here. I’d say by any standard it’s the most culturally rich place in the country, if not the world.”
His current recording work began in 1999 when he recorded the Reverend Goat Carson from Texas. Ingmire saw him playing an instrument made from a buffalo jawbone at the Dragon’s Den and approached him about recording. He continued to collaborate with the Reverend, eventually receiving a 2011 Native American Music Award for My Life is My Sundance: Prison Writings of Leonard Peltier.
Ingmire‘s journey to becoming an integral part of WWOZ began in 2002 when he offered to volunteer, with the intention of training to become an on-air host. Soon thereafter, he was asked to sit in for the host of the “World Journey” show, who was going abroad. When he asked about training or auditioning, the reply was: “Your first show is your audition.” And, as they say, the rest is history.
When the regular host returned, he was offered the “New Orleans Music Show” slot. He recalls that he “just did it,” and he grew into it. “I became more and more a part of that world,” Ingmire said. “The culture here is open to that, and the anthropologist in me wants to share other people’s stories.”
He went on to produce “New Orleans Calling,” a program of one-hour episodes distributed by WWOZ to non-commercial radio stations around the country and the world. They feature the music, stories, sounds and people of the Crescent City.
As he was telling other people’s stories, he wanted to create a limited liability corporation to house his work. Word-of-mouth led him to the Ella Project, at that time housed within the Arts Council of New Orleans. “I had gotten grants from ACNO and the Louisiana Division of the Arts, and of course I knew both Ashyle Keaton and Gene Meneray,” he said. This legal help for his Mi Abuelo Productions (which became Sounds Traveling in 2017) was the first assistance in a relationship that has spanned 18 years.
He works as an associate producer and guest host at WWOZ as well as producing “The “Reading Life” with Susan Larson on WWNO-FM. And he has immersed himself in filmmaking. In 2006, he finished a film shot by his grandfather in the 1960s and ‘70s about his son and Ingmire’s uncle, Dwight Core Jr., who was born with Down syndrome. Upon completion, Ingmire took the film, Think of Me First as a Person, to home movie night at the Zeitgeist Multi-Disciplinary Art Center.
An archivist who happened to be in the audience was so impressed he petitioned the Library of Congress to consider this film as part of only 25 films honored in its 2006 National Film Registry as an important part of film history.
So Think of Me First as a Person was included that year along with such iconic films as Blazing Saddles, Fargo and St. Louis Blues. Ingmire was also invited to introduce the film at the 2011 Special Olympics held in Greece, their country of origin.
In 2024, he edited a short film of the life of the late general manager of WWOZ, David Freedman, for his memorial service. His new business, Legacy Films and Preservation documents the lives and stories of living people, as well as those who have passed away. The films use archival footage, oral history, old photographs and interviews to capture the essence of a person.
One of Ingmire’s first orders of business when he created Legacy Films was to contact the Ella Project to craft a contract that he could use for clients. “I needed to have an understanding of the ‘moving parts,’” he said. “There is always a lot of detail and finetuning for things like this.”
Ingmire’s relationship with the Ella Project includes more than the legal assistance he has received. He recently also led a Zoom workshop entitled “Larry Batiste: A Career in Music Business and Advocacy.” That can be viewed on YouTube.
Ingmire was heading to Kyoto, Japan, after the Ella Project interview for DJ sessions at Kyoto’s Music Bar Universe, bringing New Orleans culture to the rest of the world. Renaissance man George Ingmire is a fitting ambassador for the city.
Ingmire can be found on Instagram, LinkedIn and Facebook. His live DJ persona website is @djcrushedvelvet on Instagram, and his new film venture can be found at www.legacyfilmsandpreservation.com.
