Though there aren’t as many various artist Cajun-zydeco compilations being released these days, The Rough Guide to Cajun & Zydeco is one of the few that actually makes sense. Instead of featuring randomly selected tracks or historically based selections showing where the genre has been, music journalist/OffBeat contributor Herman Fuselier selected 15 tracks showing where [...]
Tag Archives: Cedric Watson
Various Artists, The Rough Guide to Cajun and Zydeco (World Music Network)
February 1, 2012 – 12:46 am
Cedric Watson et Bijou Creole, Le Soleil Est Levé (Independent)
December 1, 2011 – 12:57 am
Cedric Watson helped make the Pine Leaf Boys stars in the emerging Cajun/Creole “new wave,” recording a CD with the band, Blues de Musicien, which was quickly nominated for a Grammy award. Following that, Watson recorded three of his own Grammy-nominated CDs for Valcour Records (Cedric Watson, L’Esprit Creole and Live at the Blue Moon), [...]
Various Artists, En Français: Cajun ‘n’ Creole Rock ‘n’ Roll (Bayou Teche Records)
November 1, 2011 – 12:53 am
UPDATED What happens when producer Louis Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers translates rock classics into contemporary Cajun/Creole music? Alchemy, pure alchemy. Not that the originals by the Who, the Doors, Neil Young and more weren’t 14-karat to begin with, but try making something new out of any one of them that still retains a [...]
Cedric Watson’s Creole Kora
September 1, 2011 – 12:09 am
Cedric Watson is quickly becoming a sponge of world music. “I like any kind of music that’s related to Louisiana music and Creole,” says Watson, who was nominated for a Grammy last year. “Brazilian music called forró is triangle and fiddle and it has accordion in it. It’s the same thing [as Creole], but it’s [...]
Jazz Fest Day 4: Too Much Bliss?
May 6, 2011 – 12:07 pm
A beautiful day with such good vibes that everybody, bands included, seemed a little blissed out. Do we need a little threatening weather or oppressive heat to generate some urgency? – Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole felt urgent, not just in their performance but conceptually. His exploration of his Creole roots not only includes music [...]
Cedric Watson et Bijou Creole, Creole Moon: Live From the Blue Moon (Valcour Records)
December 1, 2010 – 12:59 am
Creole Moon, a live recording from Lafayette’s Blue Moon Saloon, is Cedric Watson’s second release in less than a year following his late 2009 studio release L’Éspirit Créole. Unlike so many live recordings that follow in close succession to their studio counterparts and have repeat tunes, here there’s no overlap whatsoever. Watson proves that he’s [...]
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 [...]
Cedric Watson et Bijou Creole, L’Ésprit Créole (Valcour)
February 1, 2010 – 12:10 am
When Cedric Watson’s eponymous debut dropped in 2008, only the astute realized that this was not just a solo record by a talented Pine Leaf Boys member but a premonition of greater things to come. His amicable departure from the band made sense; Watson had too much to say about his Creole culture not to [...]
Pine Leaf Boys, Homage au Passe (Lionsgate)
January 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
The Pine Leaf Boys have gone through a few changes since last year’s Grammy-nominated Blues De Musicien. Fiddler Cedric Watson left to pursue his own music, which resulted in the Grammy-nominated Cedric Watson, and bassist Blake Miller went back to school. They’ve been replaced by Courtney Granger and Thomas David respectively, and the only obvious [...]
Doucet vs. Doucet?
January 1, 2009 – 12:01 am
Cheating! Well, the charge has come with a qualified “sort of,” so we’re not talking about steroids, term paper plagiarism or Florida politics. Unless someone is juicing the boudin, maybe. In any case, the term is being thrown around in a rather unlikely place these days: the competition for the second-ever Best Cajun/Zydeco Album Grammy [...]
