I can’t be objective about Treme, the new HBO series, because I’ve been cheering it on since it was first announced. Some of my friends are in it, and a number of specific songs, people, and places in the episodes I’ve seen are also in my two books about New Orleans. So I'm gonna like it.

I don’t own a TV – never have, never will. For that matter, I don’t like fiction much, I’m a history guy, so I’ll leave it to others to discuss the show’s dramatic content.

But what I will tell you is that the makers of Treme have correctly perceived the centrality of music to New Orleans. The show is wall-to-wall music, meticulously researched by music supervisor Blake Leyh, and that music is strong enough to carry its own narrative.

The series theme song is from the repertoire of the great New Orleans jazz singer John Boutté. Episode Two alone had snippets of -- just to name three – Cajun-Choctaw bluesman Coco Robicheaux doing his transcendental “Walk with the Spirit,” Dr. John’s spiritual-church dirge version of “When the Saints Go Marching In,” that reclaims the song from the tourist repertoire and brings it back into the sacred space, and the Mardi Gras Indian song, “Shallow Water, oh Mama,” which I’ll never forget hearing Big Chief Donald Harrison, Jr. sing during the first Mardi Gras after Katrina. There are playlists at the show’s website.

But beyond that, the political economy of Treme is worth noting. Treme spent a lot of money in town, and employed a lot of New Orleanians during months of shooting on the city’s streets. Many musicians – Kermit Ruffins, Big Sammie Williams, Trombone Shorty -- have speaking parts, which means they get paid extra. All those songs on the soundtrack generate royalties for the many songwriters.

So Treme is systematically putting money into the city’s musical economy at multiple entry points, which will have the direct effect of strengthening the community. The makers of Treme know very well they’re doing this. Their love for New Orleans shows up both on screen and behind the scenes.

Meanwhile, Louisiana’s radical Republican governor, Bobby Jindal, never misses a chance to show his hatred for his state’s great city, which does not vote for his party. Jindal is proposing cutting the state’s arts budget at a time when it should be multiplied. Money spent on the arts has a multiplier effect, especially for the New Orleans economy, and the cuts will put cultural workers out of their jobs.

Maybe the legislature will restore some of the cuts, maybe not. It’s a good thing HBO has already renewed Treme for a second season.

Ned Sublette is the author of The Year Before the Flood: A Story of New Orleans and The World That Made New Orleans: From Spanish Silver to Congo Square.