Musicians' Village, in the upper Ninth Ward, is where musicians J.D. Hill, Bob French and Michael Harris live. (Jan Ramson/NYT Institute)

His cheeks puffed like a blowfish as he blew hard into the harmonica. Cigarette smoke filled the western-style, dimly lit St. Roch’s Tavern, and heads bopped as the beat dropped.

“I’m going to let the Jammers jam for you a little bit,” said J.D. Hill, 53, the man behind the harmonica and the leader of his own blues and funk band J.D. and the Jammers. “Let me get my shades.”

Hill positioned himself behind the microphone. His Afro puffed out from underneath his black top hat. He thumped his right foot, and the moon-shaped tambourine strapped to his shoe shook and rattled.  Three guitarists and a drummer added to the musical flow as Hill sang the blues.

Things have been hard for Hill.

He said since Katrina it has been difficult to get gigs. The storm eliminated a lot of the clubs, and some of the owners do not want to pay. Without much money, he lived in what he describes as a “rat-trap” on St. Anthony Street until he found a home in the Musicians’ Village.

Marked by candy-colored homes, Musicians’ Village, an eight-acre swath  in the Upper Ninth Ward, has become a home and work space for struggling local artists. It was the creation of New Orleans natives Harry Connick Jr. and Branford Marsalis, who, after Hurricane Katrina, envisioned a development to house those who have contributed to the city’s culture.

The country-style houses, built by the New Orleans Area Habitat for Humanity, are approximately 1,100 square feet, with porches and back yards.  The homes cost about $75,000, or $550 to $600 per month, paid over 30 years with a no-interest loan. Each resident in the village contributes about 350 volunteer hours to the building of other homes as well as their own.

Habitat is currently constructing eight more homes, a park and the Ellis Marsalis Center for Music (named for the pianist and head of the musical family), which will include a community center and a performing arts hall. The center, still under construction, had been set to open earlier this year.

Today there are 72 homes in the Village. Each residence has a sponsor that covers the cost of land, materials and subcontractors, according to Aleis Tusa, the Habitat communications director. Some of those include Texas Road House Restaurant, Baptist Crossroads Foundation, and Warren and Stephanie Hayes Foundation. Habitat began building in 2006, and Hill was the first to move into the Village, in August of that year.

Originally from Buffalo, N.Y., Hill landed in New Orleans in 1981. Before Hurricane Katrina, he lived in a four-unit apartment house on Mandeville Street, four blocks from the Mississippi River. He returned from his two-and-a-half week stay in Fayetteville, Ark., after the storm to find the roof of his apartment building missing. Hill stayed there for a week until he moved to St. Anthony Street, after which he reached his final destination in the Musicians’ Village.

Approximately 80 percent of the residents in the Village are musicians, but the homes are open to anyone who qualifies.

Applicants must have good or no credit, a need for housing, the ability to pay, a need for shelter, a willingness to assist in the maintenance of the village, and a minimum yearly income of $19,200 (the maximum yearly income depends on the number of people in the household).

“I’m just fortunate to be here,” he said. “I’m surrounded by great musicians.”

Hill sat in the wooden rocking-chair on his porch. One of his three dogs, Lucy, sat at the bottom of the steps.

“Bob,” Hill shouted. “That’s Bob French.” French, 71, plays the drums and is the leader of the Original Tuxedo Jazz Band. He also hosts a radio program on WWOZ-FM (90.7), a local jazz station. The two musicians have been good friends since the late 1980s.

French, who has lived in the village for two years, made his way across the street and briefly chatted with Hill. They talked about gigs and life. They discussed French’s well-intentioned effort to help Hill get back on his feet.

He was mugged in 2005 by three juveniles on a bike who stole $13. They broke both sides of his jaw and left him bloodied in the street. He now has a metal chin. And more recently he began to fall behind in his mortgage payments, and his home was in danger of foreclosure.

In an effort to help, French and a friend will hold a fund-raiser on June 4 at Sweet Lorraine’s Jazz Club on St. Claude Avenue to benefit the  J.D. Hill Save the Music Foundation. Various artists, and Village residents, will be performing, and all are welcome. The money donated will help Hill keep his home.

“It’s about looking out for each other,” French said.

Residents in Musicians’ Village describe the neighborhood as homey, a musical hub where the talented-tenth can harmonize together. When newcomers move into the village, they are welcomed with a musical celebration from fellow residents.

French was a part of the first group to move into the Village. He left his home in Treme, three days before the storm, and he stayed in Maryland for seven months. When he returned to the city his house had a huge “gaping hole.” He came back to the city for good in March 2006.

“The Village itself was really a godsend,” French said.

In the midst of French and Hill’s conversation, Michael Harris, a 55-year-old  gospel and jazz musician who sings and plays bass, walked toward Hill’s aqua blue home. They shot the breeze for a moment. He told Hill about a recent accident he was in, involving an 18-wheeler.

“I’m just thankful to be alive,” he told the men.

He has lived in the Village for nearly two years. During the storm, Harris was on tour in Brazil. When he returned he said his home was not where he left it.

“It was unreal,” he said. “It smelled like death. The silence was deafening. There were no birds.”

He found out about the Village at an application workshop for the Village held at Tipitina’s in Uptown. As a resident he said he loves it, adding it was an idea that was long overdue.

“I’m surrounded by a bunch of my peers and colleagues,” Harris said. “We all think alike, and I don’t have to explain myself.”

Harris said French checked up on him regularly after he was hurt in the accident and offered him a ride to the doctor’s office. The two, who live across the fence from each other, are neighbors and good friends.

After their afternoon chat the men went their separate ways. Harris had a performance that night, and French made his way home.

Hill walked around his house into the backyard. He paused and looked at the still-unfinished music center and community center. Hill hopes to join up with other groups to teach children how to play the harmonica.

In his backyard underneath a white tent, he performed, along with one of his guitarists, before an intimate audience at his spaghetti cookout.”Someone told me years ago, they said ‘man you must be crazy doing this music for all of these years and you ain’t got anywhere yet.’ I said well, I’m still try’na follow my dream.”