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), [...]
Tag Archives: Pine Leaf Boys
Wayne Toups, Steve Riley, Wilson Savoy, The Band Courtbouillon (Valcour Records)
November 1, 2011 – 12:58 am
There’s never been a recording quite like this one. Three highly accomplished Cajun revivalists—each representing a successive generation, each a musical pioneer, and each a highly respected bandleader in his own right—spontaneously coming together in an informal setting to pay their mutual respects to a musical heritage that has now become their shared inheritance. They [...]
YouTube du Jour: Treme
April 13, 2011 – 2:13 pm
During SXSW this year, HBO hosted a party for Treme, and though none of the cast or crew were there, the party screened a teaser for season two (which debuts April 24 at 8:30 CDT) and music by the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, Big Chief Monk Boudreaux, Henry Butler and the Pine Leaf Boys. Here’s [...]
Grammy Come, Grammy Go
April 7, 2011 – 9:55 am
I have a hard time feeling a sense of great injustice for the Recording Academy’s decision to consolidate categories, in the process wiping the Best Cajun/Zydeco Album category. I’d prefer that they still have it, but the reasons are largely selfish for the region. It has helped drive local membership in NARAS (a good thing) [...]
Touched by Treme
April 1, 2011 – 12:14 am
“I now have all the Facebook friends I’ll ever need.” Tom McDermott appeared in episode three of the television show Treme, starting a rift between Lucia Micarelli’s violin-playing Annie and Michiel Huisman’s Sonny when he asked her to accompany him on a gig. The appearance gave him the sort of exposure only television can give, [...]
SXSW Day 2: They Love Us, They Like Us
March 18, 2011 – 9:17 am
Thursday started at a party thrown by HBO’s Treme, and even without anyone from the production (the show’s still shooting) and really, music directly associated with the show – a Boutte or Kermit, for instance – I had to wait in a 20-minute-long line to get in while Henry Butler was playing, and there were [...]
Pine Leaf Boys, Back Home (Valcour Records)
February 1, 2011 – 12:58 am
After countless stateside and international tours, the Pine Leaf Boys realize that you never appreciate what you have until you leave home, hence the premise of the disc’s title. Their Valcour Records debut and fifth disc overall is quite possibly the group’s best musical export yet. The playing is razor sharp with a penchant for [...]
Louisiana’s Grammy Hopefuls Have the Blues
December 2, 2010 – 11:34 am
While Eminem, Bruno Mars, Lady Gaga and Katy Perry were some of the bigger names recognized at the Grammy nominations ceremony last night, Louisiana owned the Contemporary Blues Album category. Traditional Louisiana Grammy nominees Lil Wayne, Terence Blanchard and Irma Thomas are on the bench this year, but television gives Louisiana some of its best [...]
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 [...]
Grammy Business
February 1, 2010 – 12:01 am
The 52nd Annual Grammy Awards are filled with ties to New Orleans and Louisiana. From the nominations of Harry Connick, Jr. in the Pop category and Allen Toussaint and Terence Blanchard in Jazz categories to the acknowledgements of the True Blood soundtrack and Dave Matthews’ latest effort (recorded at Piety Street Recording), the diversity of [...]
