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 [...]
Tag Archives: cajun music
BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Alligator Purse (Yep Roc)
February 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
BeauSoleil has long been a band that can be taken for granted. To win Grammys, to become representative of a genre, and to become keepers of a cultural flame can be a blessing and a curse. Because, at the end of the day, it’s all about how the music moves you Truth be told, I’ve [...]
Dennis Stroughmatt, Cadet Rouselle: French Creole Fiddle Tunes & Ballads from Old Upper Louisiana, Volume II (Swallow)
December 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
Though he’s widely known for his Creole Stomp dance band, there’s another intriguing angle to Dennis Stroughmatt as revealed by this collection of French Creole fiddle tunes and ballads from Old Upper Louisiana. Unlike many of his zydeco contemporaries, Stroughmatt didn’t pop out of the womb and into the family band. He was weaned on [...]
Pat Savant and the Louisiana Playboys with Joe Turner, Pat Savant and the Louisiana Playboys with Joe Turner (MTE)
November 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
Though he’s not the most active accordionist on the crawfish circuit these days, Pat Savant has indelibly etched his initials in the annals of Cajun music. In 1972, the teenage accordionist of the Lake Charles Sundown Playboys wondered what the Beatles’ reaction would be to their regional hit, “Saturday Night Special,” and mailed a 45 [...]
Travis Matte, Hip Hop Zyde-Rock (Mhat)
June 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
Paul Marx, owner founder of KBON-FM out of Eunice Louisiana, said it best when he said, “Travis Matte’s music is the gateway drug to traditional Cajun music.” In keeping with the progression of previous Kingpin albums, this disc contains a strong dose of wacky, Acadiana-centric party anthems laced with just enough of the traditional stuff [...]
Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys, Call It What You Want (Swallow)
June 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
On his eighth overall and sixth in a series of quality releases, Kevin Naquin and the Ossun Playboys aren’t about to turn in some lackluster dud. With nearly a year painstakingly invested in the recording process alone, several of these carefully crafted tracks rank among the finest Naquin has ever waxed, especially given the standout [...]
Michael Doucet, From Now On (Smithsonian Folkways)
June 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
Solo records from a band frontman are usually interesting propositions since they often have something to say beyond their normal band framework. Such was the case with BeauSoleil’s Michael Doucet’s 1989 Beau Solo effort. Not only did it showcase guitar-accompanied fiddle tunes sans “His Highness” the accordion, it served as a reminder that Cajun music [...]
Lost Bayou Ramblers, Vermilionaire (Independent)
May 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
By most objective measures, it would be wrong to call Grammy-nominated Cajun band the Lost Bayou Ramblers punk rock, but everything they play goes forward and does so hard (though not necessarily fast). They keep it straightforward (though not necessarily simple), and they’re not afraid of abrasive textures (particularly in Andre Michot’s accordion). On fiddle [...]
Cedric Watson, Cedric Watson (Valcour)
May 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
Only a few years after moving to Lafayette from Sealy, Texas, Cedric Watson has become one of the most prolific contributors to Acadiana’s recent outpouring of roots music. Through recent recording projects—his collaboration with accordionist Corey Ledet on Goin’ Down to Louisiana and his work with the highly-acclaimed Pine Leaf Boys—Watson has quickly become one [...]
Kyle Huval and the Dixie Club Ramblers, The Corner Post (Swallow)
April 1, 2008 – 12:01 am
If you blinked, you might have missed it. Cajun music just sprouted another branch, and this time it’s Kyle Huval and the Dixie Club Ramblers. Though the Ramblers may be young—16-year-old accordionist Huval fronts the mostly 20-somethings—it’s clear that they take tradition and the stalwarts who came before them seriously. Their pile-driving dancehall stuff stomps [...]
