Kira Viator and Bayou Beat, Sticking to My Roots (MTE)


Nineteen-year-old Kira Viator has been pumping accordion since age seven and has released three albums along the way. With seven years between her last and latest, she ends the silence with a rousing set of tracks set in the Cajun dancehall tradition. Like a good dance record should, Viator and her veteran band waste no time firing up the groove with the driving “Crowley Two-Step” and maintain a consistent level of playing throughout the album. Robert Sonnier’s steel guitar stylings are nothing less than golden, often adding glorious touches to the waltzes and keep the pace blasting on the jitterbuggers. Besides Viator on vocals, Sonnier and drummer Barry Cormier also croon, making this feel like a true collaborative effort. Additionally, Viator wrote the touching “The Last Respect,” which was inspired by observing a funeral procession of a man she never knew. Some of the English-sung rock ’n’ roll and swamp pop numbers probably work better live and it seems ironic that a quasi-novelty song, “Sticking to My Roots,” is in English when it would been more novel in French or a bilingual combination. Still, with a whopping 15 tracks, there’s plenty here to savor.