Toshi Reagon worried about the city of New Orleans in the aftermath and damage caused by Hurricane Katrina. The singer, songwriter and guitarist remembered walking along the river after performing a show. She thought about the classic architecture, and purchasing mementos from the vendors for her friends.

“I totally wondered about all of the places that I have been, just like everybody else did, whether they were under water and how was everybody doing,” Reagon said in a telephone interview from Brooklyn, N.Y.

The socially-conscious Reagon, who will perform at noon today at Serna Plaza, wondered about how the storm effected the music history of the city. Staying true to the history of music and respecting is what Reagon is all about.

She tried to work with a group of musicians to put on a benefit concert in New York, except that everyone else was doing the same. So, they’ll wait until October or November to put on a concert benefiting musicians who have lost their instruments. The goal is to help those affected get back on their feet.

“New Orleans is such a big musical city,” Reagon said. “I was just thinking about how much music history is lost. So many great records recorded there, so many great bands from there and so many great musicians. God only knows how much we’ve lost in terms of American history.”

The Reagon family is well known in regards to music history. Reagon’s parents belonged to Student Non-Violent Coordinating Committee, a group dedicated to fighting injustice during the civil rights movement. Their singing group, The Freedom Singers, traveled around the country performing at colleges and folk festivals. They sang songs to educate people and pushed for an end to segregation.

“I’ve been a big music fan since I was a little, little girl,” Reagon said.

She has been involved in music ever since. She learned that she needed to know how to produce, promote and book concerts; make budgets; and produce records.

And yes, she’s done all of the above.

“One of the things my mom told me when I was 13, ‘You need to learn every aspect of the business if you want to do it,'” Reagon said. “Once you get an idea about what you should do … you just do it. You can sit around and wait for people to tell you you’re good enough, and hope that somebody discovers you, or you can get off your ass and make happen what you want. That’s been my philosophy.”

Sacramento State is one stop on a week-long West Coast tour in promotion of the Oct. 4 release of Reagon’s sixth full-length album “Have You Heard.”

On the album, Reagon is joined by members of her live band Big Lovely: Fred Cash on bass, Robert “Chicken” Burke on drums, Adam Widoff on guitar, and Catherine Russell on mandolin and vocals.

Reagon said she’s gotten used to using four or five words to describe her music. She fuses rock, funk, blues and reggae into a seamless product.

She’s not too worried about classifying herself. Reagon is more worried about playing meaningful music. When she was growing up, she listened to Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, Bob Dylan and Bob Marley. She, like them, wants to be an artist who documents the times.

“I want my music to represent the times that I’ve lived in,” Reagon said. “I like my music to bring people together, people who don’t expect to be in the same room, of all colors and all ages and all sexual orientations.”

“She’s done some things that absolutely amaze me,” Cash said. “We could be dog tired and she’ll get up on stage and start singing. She’ll just get this power from somewhere. The whole audience, the band, everybody is lifted three or four different levels. She’s constantly taking it higher and higher.”

Nate Miller can be reached at [email protected].