Though the title serves as both a musical pun and a modest credo to live by, this is actually a live recording of exemplarily played traditional Cajun music without the “live, hot Cajun music” catchphrase emblazoned anywhere. Bayou Deville, led by frontman accordionist/fiddler Jonno Frishberg, saluted the end of the era of Marrero’s Four Columns’ [...]
Tag Archives: accordion
Cedric Watson: Fiddling With Tradition
May 1, 2010 – 12:11 am
Canray Fontenot, the man Arhoolie’s Chris Strachwitz dubbed “The last of the great Cajun and Creole fiddlers,” died on July 29, 1995 after a long bout with cancer. Though two of Fontenot’s disciples, D’Jalma Garnier and Ed Poullard, would remain active in the years to come, the future of Creole fiddling looked bleak. Two-hundred-and-fourteen miles [...]
The Right Side of the Red Carpet
August 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
As past president and longtime supporter of the Cajun French Music Association, Ray Landry knows all about organizing the annual Le Cajun Awards and Festival. The CFMA honors some of Cajun music’s best and brightest with a Grammy-style awards show and festival Aug. 20-22 at Lafayette’s Blackham Coliseum. But this year, instead of rolling out [...]
Zydepunks: Exile on Decatur Street
September 1, 2007 – 12:01 am
Hipsters and stoners converge at Checkpoint Charlie’s on this muggy Friday evening. The smell of stale beer drifts through the air and the next band up is the Zydepunks. The front man is shirtless, a tall woman in a red dress is on the left side of the stage, and your average-joe bassist is in [...]
The Accordion: Party in a Box
August 1, 2007 – 12:01 am
At least once every Schatzy performance, Greg Schatz jumps off the stage and makes his way through the crowd. But even as he leaves the bandstand, he takes the music with him. Schatz fronts the band that bears his name, and as he winds through the club he pushes and pulls on the bellows of [...]
Joe Hall, Mary Broussard and Nolton Simien, La Danse Finis Pas (Independent)
August 1, 2007 – 12:01 am
When it appeared that the University of Louisiana-Lafayette would have to delay their field recordings release of Creole accordionist Freeman Fontenot, Joe Hall thought so highly of the man that he released his own tribute that originally was going to be a companion to the ULL package. Hence, the resulting, one-of-a-kind project: a treasure trove [...]
The Schatzy Band, Nocturnal Wild Life Journal (Hot Spazz Records)
August 1, 2007 – 12:01 am
You might expect a band so connected to its live shows to get combative with its audience at some point, and the latest release by Schatzy (now called The Schatzy Band, perhaps in deference to its position as a local drunk-rock supergroup of sorts) shows signs of just such a strained relationship. This being Schatzy, [...]
Inside Zydeco, Part Two
January 1, 1990 – 12:01 am
On the dark, winding, old Breaux Bridge highway, a neon sign outside the former King Creole club flashes: “Saturday at 9 p.m. Fernest and the Thunders.” Inside it’s 9:30 p.m., but Fernest is behind the bar using the pay phone. He hangs up the phone and heads for the stage. Only a handful here tonight [...]
