Florida
CajunZydeco.com
Zydeco’s Sweetheart
RAW AND ROCKIN’
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Contents Cover image rendered from a photo of Rosie Ledet taken by photographer David Simpson of Eunice, Louisiana at the 2014 Cajun Zydeco Festival in Armstrong Park, New Orleans
Text type family used this issue is Abril, designed by José Scaglione and Veronika Burian, available on Adobe Creative Cloud. Headings are set in Artegra Slab designed by Turkish type designer Ceyhun Birinci and available at MyFonts.com (Monotype website). This publication written, edited, designed and produced by Jim Hance, 813-465-8165, floridacajunzydeco@yahoo.com
September 2019
4: Tuesday, Sept. 3 Cajun Zydeco Dance in St. Pete 5: Tuesday, Sept. 17 Cajun Zydeco Dance in St. Pete Dancing on the first and third Tuesdays at Caddy’s on Central
Feature Story
6: Rosie Ledet: Zydeco’s Sweetheart Raw and Rockin’
“Rosie said the mic-fright was less, although some fans have knocked her for sometimes singing on stage with her eyes closed.”
Download a .pdf of this publication for easy navigation!
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Cajun Zydeco Community 30: Doug Kershaw and Jo-el Sonnier in Tampa
Friday, Sept. 13 at Skipper’s Smokehouse, Tampa, FL
31: Doug Kershaw and Jo-el Sonnier in Weirsdale
Saturday, Sept. 14 at Orange Blossom Opry, Weirsdale, FL
32: Mystery Dance Venue for September
The identity of the August mystery venue: The Green Parrot!
36: Festivals Acadiens et Créoles Oct.
Celebrating 90 years of “Jolie Blonde” and other female characters and performers.
44: The Story of Floyd’s Records
Floyd Soileau, now 81, has been the middle man between you and your Cajun, zydeco and swamp pop artists for six decades.
56: Louisiana Dance Clubs
Here are the best places to catch a Cajun or zydeco band.
60: Festival-O-Rama
From the FloridaCajunZydeco.com/festivals.html page.
64: Outside Florida and Louisiana
Atlanta, Philadelphia, San Diego and elsewhere.
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ST. P E T E R S BU R G , F L
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SEPTEMBER 3 at Caddy’s on Central 217 Central Ave., 33701
6 p.m. Cajun or zydeco dance lesson 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Open dancing to DJ Jim Cajun and zydeco dance at Caddy’s on Central in downtown St. Pete in FIRST and THIRD Tuesdays. Good mix of danceable music by Cajun and zydeco artists singing about death, divorce, drinking and dancing. No cover charge. Caddy’s is at 217 Central Ave., St. Pete 33701.
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! ___________________ |
ST. P E T E R S BU R G , F L
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Cajun Zydeco Dance
SEPT. 17 at Caddy’s on Central 217 Central Ave., 33701
Photo by Jim Hance
6 p.m. Cajun or zydeco dance lesson 6:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. Open dancing to DJ Jim
Cajun and zydeco dance at Caddy’s on Central in downtown St. Pete in FIRST and THIRD Tuesdays. Good mix of danceable music by Cajun and zydeco artists singing about death, divorce, drinking and dancing. No cover charge. Caddy’s is at 217 Central Ave., St. Pete 33701.
Photo of Rosie Ledet by David Simpson, 2016
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Zydeco’s Sweetheart
RAW AND ROCKIN’ Rosie Ledet’s entire world changed after attending a zydeco performance by the legendary Boozoo Chavis. She wouldn’t have even gone, had her aunt and uncle not pestered her. “My parents would call it ‘LaLa’ music,” Rosie said of zydeco music. “They were always going out to the club to do the ‘LaLa,’ you know.” Rosie wasn’t the least bit interested in LaLa music. As a teen, Rosie listened to rock music and wanted to become a fiction writer specializing in horror. “I always wanted to be Stephen King,” she said. “Growing up, until I was a teenager, I didn’t pay zydeco too much mind, because I figured if my parents liked it, of course, I wouldn’t,” Ledet said. “I was really surprised, because when we got there, that
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com place was packed. There were kids my age, sixteen or seventeen, older and younger. I couldn’t believe it. I totally fell in love with it.” Not only did she discover her future career, but her future husband, Morris Ledet, sitting in with Chavis’ band. Morris asked Rosie to dance during a break, and he would court her for more than a year. Rosie and Morris eventually married and had a child, Kasaundra. During the day while Morris is out of the house working, Rosie taught herself to play his accordion. Then one evening, instead of having dinner ready for her Rosie Ledet, 2001 husband, Rosie surprised Morris when she pulls the accordion out and plays him a tune. The way Morris recalls it, “AI got back one day and she said, ‘Hey, I got something to show you,’ and she walks over to my accordion box, and I asked her, ‘What are you doing?’ And she said, ‘I want to show you something,’ and she snapped it open and she began playing a song. I don’t remember the exact song it was.” “‘Morning Train,’” Rosie said quietly, according to Michael Tisserand
in The Kingdom of Zydeco. Morris Ledet had been playing accordion since his sophomore year in high school when he found the instrument in the band room. Soon after high school, Morris formed the Zydeco Playboys and began performing around the region. The Zydeco Playboys became a skillful, energetic, and cohesive band. Comprised of Morris Ledet on accordion, Morris’ father, Lanice Ledet, on rubboard, nephew Lukey Ledet on drums, and longtime collaborator Kent August on guitar, Rosie Ledet, 2003 the Zydeco Playboys was becoming a reliable draw on the local circuit. Rosie began to sit in with the Playboys, performing a few songs each show. Finally, she took on accordion duties full-time, and Morris happily switched to bass. “What’s good for us is good for me,” he said. Rosie continued to develop her skills as a musician and song writer. Rosie’s favorite female recording artists were Tina Turner and Koko Taylor. “I’m trying to learn a few things from Koko,” she said. “She sings with a lot of feeling. I’m trying to be more like that. Sometimes I’m still
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Kasaundra Ledet on frottoir accommpanying her mom on stage, 2005. shy — even on stage.” “I still play just by ear. I listen to something and I pick it up like that,” she said with a giggle. Morris knew an attractive female accordionist was money in the bank. “Coming from a poor family, I thought this was a way to make life a little easier. I knew other than Queen Ida, Ann Goodly wasn’t really there anymore. Here’s the time to put another female in the spotlight. I just had a feeling it was going to work. And so far, it’s been working.”
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Rosie Ledet, 2008.
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com Rosie made her stage debut at a club in Santa Cruz, California. She remembered a frightening night, but Morris knew immediately that his hunch was going to work out. “The people didn’t want me to play. Someone told me, ‘Morris, I think you need to keep off the stage and let her keep playing.’ I said, ‘This is it. Keep going Rosie. You’re a little rusty now, but it’s going to pay off in the long run.’” Rosie said the mic-fright was less, although some fans have knocked her for sometimes singing on stage with her eyes closed. “I still have a bad habit of doing that. It’s not that I’m not enjoying myself or nothing. I’m just feeling the music. And I’m shy and I can’t help that.” Despite success, the Ledets fought a continual battle for acceptance. A club owner in Elmira, New York booked the band as a joke. “He booked us, just on the word of the agent, and he had been booking Terrance [Simien] for years,” said Morris. “He told us later when he heard there was a female accordion player, he just couldn’t stop laughing. I remember when we got there, and we were unloading. He came up and said, ‘Where’s Rosie?,’ with a little smirk on his face. I told him she was in the van, lying down. When we did the sound check, he said, ‘I didn’t think she could play that thing.’ But when it was all over, he said, ‘Y’all freakin’ blew us away.’” “At first, I don’t think they take you serious, until you start playing,” said Rosie. “I think people thought I would be a novelty and I wouldn’t be around long. They meet me and always tell me, ‘We thought you were older,’ or. ‘we thought you were taller.’”
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Morris Ledet, Rosie Ledet, and Lanice Ledet at Liberty Theater, 2001.
Sweet Brown Sugar In 1994, Rosie went to work producing her first album of zydeco music. She composed 15 original songs for the Sweet Brown Sugar album, some blues and R&B influenced. The album was eventually recorded on the Maison de Soul label in nearby Ville Platte [see story on Floyd’s Records, page 44.] Rosie was proud of the lyrics she had written for the album. “It’s the only thing I don’t like about zydeco,” Rosie commented. “Because if you put too much lyrics to a song, it’s
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Visit FloridaCajunZydeco.com like it kind of scares people. They’re afraid that you change zydeco too much. I guess they just don’t want to lose zydeco, but I think they should learn how to grow with it.” There weren’t many female zydeco singers in the early 1990s, so the introduction of a new female band leader on the zydeco scene was noteworthy. But the release of Rosie’s first album, Sweet Rosie Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys, 2008. Brown Sugar, showed original style beyond the novelty. The album introduced a budding young songwriter and an energetic accordionist. “Her voice may be a little too restrained for some tastes, but she makes up for that with her propulsive, infectious instrumental work,” according to one reviewer.
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Rosie was entering the zydeco music scene about the same time as Keith Frank. “If you played accordion, they laughed at you and called it country music,” recalls Keith Frank of his high school. “A lot of the people spoke French, but they didn’t want anybody to know it.” Rosie Ledet listened to Jimi Hendrix when she was in high school. She was 16 when she first went to a zydeco dance. “My uncle dragged me over to Richard’s Club, and everyone was having fun, and Boozoo was jamming. I was glad they dragged me.” In early 1995, twenty-two-year-old Frank had seized the reigns to become the top draw at such zydeco proving grounds as Richard’s Club and Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki. When Rosie Ledet stepped forward to front her husband’s band, Ledet, 23, assumed her position as the only working female zydeco musician based in Louisiana, and her soulful vocals and dynamic stage appearance are quickly attracting fans. Both musicians released debut albums on Maison de Soul records, and both performed at the International Festival in Lafayette. Even before making an appearance in New Orleans, Frank was nominated for the Big Easy award for best emerging artist. At the same time, Rosie Ledet made her Jazz Fest debut, as well as New Orleans club appearances at House of Blues and Rock’n Bowl. When asked if he is surprised at his sudden success, Keith Frank laughed. “To be honest,” he said, “I didn’t think it would take this long.” On stage, Rosie Ledet’s early songs were in turns commanding (“Swing That Thing”), scolding (“Shame On You”) and laden with
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Rosie Ledet at Cajun Zydeco Festival, New Orleans, 2009. promise (“Sweet Brown Sugar.”) She bragged that “I like to watch you dance” on “Wear It Out.” On the bluesy “Ever Love a Woman,” she coaxed, “You can’t go so fast, ’cause your love won’t last.” These were startling lyrics for 1990s zydeco, a music heavily adorned by dog barks and donkey brays. In “The Mardi Gras,” Rosie Ledet issued what seemed to be her statement of purpose. In a song as haunting as a ghost story, she sang of a strange group of men who arrive in costume each year. Then the song ends with a twist: “Mardi Gras man, dance with me / I ain’t
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! scared like I used to be.” Rosie explained: “I used to be terrified when the Cajun Mardi Gras was coming. They would pass in front of the house, and we used to have chickens and stuff, and man, they’d be running around catching our chickens, and I used to just peep out of the window, terrified.” In 1996, she won three “Best Of The Beat” awards from OffBeat Magazine, including Best Zydeco Band or Performer, Best New Zydeco Group or Performer and Best Vocalist. Portions of her songs, “Ever Loved a Woman” and “Let The Sky Cry,” have been used on cable television network shows. On the bandstand, Rosie Ledet was gaining confidence. She sang things to dance crowds in Opelousas, Lawtell and Lake Charles that she wouldn’t have dared to say anywhere else.“Normally, as everybody knows, I’m shy and I don’t talk much,” Rosie said. “So when I write a song, I can say whatever I want to say. And it’s just a song, so nobody can say anything about it. I can express myself.” Rosie’s sometimes sultry and suggestive lyrics earned her the moniker, “Zydeco’s Sweetheart.” Morris Ledet couldn’t fully explain his wife’s on-stage transformation. “I guess maybe the feel of the music changes her, I don’t know,” he said. And even Rosie’s mother didn’t recognize her at first. “When I was coming up, I was always holding on to her leg,” Rosie recalls. “I didn’t want to talk to some of my own family. So she was really surprised to see me get on stage.”
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The Zydeco Playboys in 2009: Andre Nizzari on guitar, Lanice Ledet on frottoir, and Pernell Babineaux on bass. “I hadn’t even realized it happened for awhile,” Rosie continued. “People started telling me, ‘Boy, you act different when you’re on stage.’ And I just started thinking about it, and I realized that it’s like, nobody can bother you when you’re on stage — you’re just somewhere else. You can do whatever you want. You’re safe.” Rosie Ledet continued to tease her audiences with suggestive lyrics. On her 1996 CD, Zesty Zydeco, Rosie advised a female rival to keep her dog on a real short leash because she had a place “where he can bury his bone.” On the I’m A Woman CD of 1999, Rosie told her wandering man that she’s had enough of his roaming ways –— he can eat her
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! poussiere (the French word for dust). Then on her Pick It Up CD, Rosie asked father-in-law, Lanice “Poppi” Ledet, why he took those little blue pills. He responds flatly in the song, “To pick it up.” “It’s just another gag song we came up with,” explained Rosie. “We were practicing songs for the CD in this big, old barn next to the house. “Bubba (drummer Lukey Ledet) saw one of his favorite uncles passing by. They’re always picking at him about his ‘prescription.’ “We started playing around with some words and the next thing we knew, we had a song. We just had to put it on the CD.” Rosie’s zydeco salute to Viagra became the next CD’s title cut, and a favorite at her live performances. “People were on the ground laughing when they were listening to it,” said Rosie. “They wanted to buy it, but we had to tell them just wait a while. It’s not out just yet.”
I don’t look like them. I don’t want to play like them. Rosie said her ideas come from many sources, including her favorite authors, Stephen King and Anne Rice. “I used to write little poems when I was young,” said Ledet, who is nicknamed The Zydeco Sweetheart. “Growing up, I wanted to be a writer. Music gives me the chance to still write. “Sometimes, my ideas come from movies because I watch a lot of movies on the road. Sometimes, they come from girlfriends. I read
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Rosie Ledet and Zydeco Playboys at Cajun Zydeco Festival, New Orleans, 2014. a lot of books, too. Some of it is just life.” Ironically, Rosie’s original music and love of words and stories have hurt her at home, where she is surrounded by dozens of zydeco clubs and festivals that rarely book her. “Sometimes, I just think it’s because I’m never here,” said Rosie. “You have to be seen to be remembered. “I’m always out on the road. So when I do play at home, I think nobody is going to remember me. “I play a lot in New Orleans. That’s not far. I call that home.”
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! But Ledet has no desire to be just a face in the local crowd of soundalike males. “Some people here just aren’t used to the kind of music we play. They say it’s branching off from what they call ‘mash down zydeco’ here. But that’s what I want. I don’t look like ’em, so I don’t want to play like ’em. I don’t want to be just one of the guys.” In a short time, the prolific songwriter released a number of albums of her own material, with a backing band that included her husband, Morris, on bass and father-in-law, ‘Poppi’ Lanice on rubboard. Ledet’s first albums were Sweet Brown Sugar (1994), Zesty Zydeco (1995), Zydeco Sensation (1997), I’m a Woman (1999) and It’s a Groove Thing! (2000), all for the Maison de Soul label of the Flat Town Music Co. in Ville Platte. One critic wrote, “All of Ledet’s albums showcase superb songs, strong vocals, and adequate accordion playing.” Rosie and her band performed throughout the Texas-Louisiana triangle, and gradually began to tour rest of the U.S. and made several European tours as well. Rosie was growing in confidence and maturity as she released her eighth album in her first twelve years as a professional musician. She had performed in all of the United States (except Alaska and Hawaii) and had three European tours under her belt. Rosie and the Playboys performed as an opening act for Bob Dylan at the prestigious Newport Folk Festival. And she even had the Godfather of Soul get on the good foot in Alabama. “Probably the coolest thing we had happen was when we were at City Stages in Birmingham,” said Rosie. “James Brown got up and he was dancing to
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Rosie Ledet and Zydeco Playboys, 2014. us. Now any time you can make the Godfather of Soul dance, you must be doing something right.” James Brown was just following Rosie’s suggestion in her song, “Work That Body.” “Lady Marmalade,” the Patti LaBelle remake by Christina Aguillera in 2001 that was also covered about the same time by Lil’ Kim, Pink and Mya, also appeared on Rosie Ledet’s Show Me Something album, the only tune on the album that Ledet didn’t write. According to one reviewer, “Ledet and her hot band do a steamier ‘Lady Marmalade’ than all four of those music starlets put together.”
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! In 2001, Morris said they had a strategy for putting different music that might fit into new genres on the albums. “The music is more of a variety and we’re trying to touch different markets. If you listen, the first song starts out as a zydeco, the second has a bluesy flavor. The next is a pop ballad. We went back to the zydeco and ‘Lady Marmalade’ is R&B. We have a jazz song and traditional blues. Is all that good or bad? We just don’t know. We’ll have to wait and see.” “People here at home want that first song to be one way and they want that last song to be the same way,” added Morris. “Our booking agency is booking us in a blues market and with traditional zydeco, you can only get so much work. But to put out a variety like we did, you can step into another market.” One reviewer appreciated the fact that Rosie Ledet is different from all the other zydeco artists. “Rosie Ledet & The Zydeco Playboys has quickly become the act to watch on the zydeco circuit. Brimming with coy sensuality, Rosie’s music is fresh and daring, while still retaining its links to its bayou Creole heritage. Rosie has a rare combination of talent, not only in the zydeco world, but in any musical genre. She can write top-notch award winning songs. play with the best of them on her instrument, and she can sing circles around her peers. Rosie is among the few zydeco artists who can still sing and write her own material in Creole French.” Accordion Americana commented, “Accordionist, singer and songwriter Rosie Ledet IS the Zydeco Sweetheart. But, make no
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mistake, there’s nothing sweet about the way she can rock and roll with her diatonic accordion. Yes, that’s what I said…the accordion. She is quite unique among accordionists, of any stripe. But if zydeco is a man’s world, and if the accordion is a major part of that world, then they both need Rosie Ledet, with her sass, style and all that swag that goes with it to make it all the more exciting…. Rosie Ledet’s method of playing the accordion is very percussive, with both heart and guts behind her moves to show she is not about being shy with her instrument. Influenced by Santana and ZZ Top, among others, Rosie leans heavily on those influences, applying them to traditional zydeco music, to create a different spin. Add a little Etta James, some definite Louisiana blues influences and her own French Creole heritage, Rosie Ledet presents an interesting mix of styles in her sultry voice.”
Come Get Some Roger Hahn reviewed Rosie Ledet’s 2011 release, Come Get Some. Come Get Some what? It’s a Rosie Ledet CD, so what’d’ya think? Sex, of course. Or, more precisely, decidedly female zydeco soul filled with double entendres and lots of hip-shaking grooves, a sound at which Rosie Ledet typically excels, especially in live settings. Based on her last CD effort, 2005’s Pick It Up, one veteran zydeco journalist dubbed her “the music’s best songwriter.” He also informed his readers, “The queen of teasing lyrics and zydeco artist most likely to be a centerfold is renowned for her songs with a double meaning,” citing
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as an example “You Can Eat My Poussiere” from 1999’s I’m a Woman, which, it turns out, translates in Cajun French to mean “You Can Eat My Dust.” Between her last effort and this one, the attentiongrabbing bandleader, expert accordionist, and nuanced vocalist has gotten herself a brand new rubboard player, a brand new sound, and a brand new “main squeeze,” Brooklyn-bornand-bred bluesman and lead guitarist, Andre Nizzari. He also serves as producer on Rosie Ledet and Zydeco Playboys, 2019. Come Get Some, helping to define its sound by playing all the guitar and keyboard parts while contributing bass and “fuzz bass” on selected tracks. The results are mixed. As zydeco evolves into a new century, its natural environment has become more urban, its sound harder and grittier. In that context, this bass-heavy mix loaded with studio-
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modified vocal treatments might win Ledet new fans. On the other hand, the more traditionally minded among her fan base may find some these distortions distracting. One thing they are not is uninteresting. Since Ledet’s been flirting with rock and pop sounds on recent albums, touches of slashing blues guitar leads, pedalsteel accents, and reggae-ified, hip-hop rhythms are not completely unexpected. They often provide moments of welcome sonic variety, and the few lighter-themed compositions and more traditional arrangements here happily supply their own brief moments of truly satisfying and genuinely beautiful music. And the sex thing? This is the whole chorus to Come Get Some’s title tune: “Come, baby / come, baby / baby come, come.” Sounds a lot like sex to me, wrote one reviewer.
Raw! Raw! was Rosie Ledet’s 2015 release, and Dan Willging shared some insights in his OffBeat review. This album has a rock’n roll edge to it makes it a departure for Rosie Ledet. “Funny that Rosie Ledet’s tenth studio album would be titled Raw! when that’s been an apt description of her music all along. But truth be told, this one’s rawer than her typical fare. Produced, mixed and mastered by guitarist André Nizzari, nearly all tracks are one-takes with “You’re Only Lonely” being the only two take with very little dubbed-in guitar solos afterwards. Compared to Ledet’s previous pair of JSP offerings, the
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Rosie Ledet and Zydeco Playboys, 2019. drums and bass are not overly prominent but clean sounding with an occasional pop or funk flurry from bassist Chuck Bush. Yet, the austere arrangements better showcase Ledet’s alluring, siren pipes that are truly a thing of beauty. She varies her inflection and alters her moods to be playful, sensuous or entrancing on this all original affair. Compared to the JSP offerings, Nizzari has less of a lead guitar presence but still manages to weave in an occasional searing solo (“It
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Rosie Ledet and Zydeco Playboys, 2019. Might Be You”). At times, the proceedings feel experimental. “No Do Over” is sans accordion and filled, instead, with Nizzari’s edgy, fuzzed guitar; “Keep on Dancing” finds him accompanying on organ which complements Ledet’s accordion and Bush’s splattery bass well. There are no seconds of silence between tracks; every song launches without hesitation and differs from its predecessor in terms of tone, rhythm and licks. Not your Rosie’s Rosie anymore but adventuresome nonetheless.
A Fantasy Performance Rosie also holds on to a long-held fantasy — jamming with Carlos Santana. “Just to see him would be enough for me. I’ve never been to one of his concerts. Every time he’s playing in New Orleans, I’m playing and I can’t see him. I love his music. I’d love to play with him. Then I would probably be too nervous and couldn’t play.”
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Albums 1994 — Sweet Brown Sugar (Maison de Soul) 1995 — Zesty Zydeco (Maison de Soul) 1997 — Zydeco Sensation (Maison de Soul) 1999 — I’m a Woman (Maison de Soul) 2000 — It’s a Groove Thing! (Maison de Soul) 2001 — Show Me Something (Maison de Soul) 2003 — Now’s the Time (Maison de Soul) 2005 — Pick It Up (Maison de Soul) 2011 — Come Get Some (JSP Records) 2012 — Slap Your Mama (JSP Records) 2015 — Raw! (Andre Nizzari)
Awards 2008 — Louisiana Treasure Award by The Black Heritage Association of Louisiana 2007 — Zydeco Music & Creole Heritage Award for Best Female Vocalist 2006 — New Orleans Big Easy Award for Best Zydeco Artist 2003 — Louisiana Treasure Award by The Black Heritage Association of Louisiana 2001 — Best of the Beat Awards by Off Beat Magazine ( Best Zydeco Vocalist, Best Performer, Best Band) 2001 — Zydeco Music & Creole Heritage Award for Best Female Vocalist 2001 — Southwest Louisiana Music Association Award for Best Zydeco Band 1999 — Zydeco Music and Creole Heritage Award for Best Female Vocalist 1996 — “Best Of The Beat” awards from OffBeat Magazine (Best Zydeco Band or Performer, Best New Zydeco Group, and Best Vocalist)
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S KI PPER’ S S MOKEHOU SE
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DOUG KERSHAW JO-EL SONNIER
Doug Kershaw
Jo-el Sonnier
bandmix.com
David Simpson
David Simpson
Opening Band: Cadillac Cowboys
Cadillac Cowboys
FRIDAY, SEPTEMBER 13, 2019
8 p.m. at Skipper’s Smokehouse, 910 Skipper Road, Tampa, FL 33613. Info: 813-971-0666. Cadillac Cowboys is a local band that plays all original, but very danceable, tunes. Tickets $25 online / $30 at the gate available at skipperssmokehouse.com.
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! _____________________ |
OR AN G E BLOS S OM OPRY
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Photos by David Simpson
KERSHAW / SONNIER
Doug Kershaw
Jo-el Sonnier
SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 14, 2019
7:30 p.m. at Orange Blossom Opry, 16439 SE 138th Terrace, Weirsdale, FL 32195. Cost: $48-$52-$56. Opening act: Orange Blossom Opry Band. Website: obopry.com
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______________________ | MYSTERY DANCE VENUE | _______________________
This outdoor music venue is situated under a canopy of century-old oak trees lit with twinkling lights at night. Artists that play this venue include Tab Benoit, Marcia Ball, Chubby Carrier and Jeffery Broussard.
September Mystery Dance Venue Lonnie Mack called this venue “the club that washed ashore. It looks like flotsam and jetsam.” Hand-painted murals, concert posters, and fluorescent-lit beer signs decorate the venue. The owner says, “We don’t cancel, unless there’s a hurricane. Then we might cancel, or we might have a hurricane party.” Have you been there?
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MYSTERY DANCE VENUE
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Once a grocery store established in 1890, the location has been a gathering spot since the Depression. Green Parrot is an open air bar.
August Mystery Venue:
GREEN PARROT BAR
Rosie Ledet has played here. The sound of the band emanates outside to the streets of Key West through the window openings. According to bar’s website, the Navy pulled out of Key West in the early 1970s and the town became a haven for hippies, bikers, vagabonds, and free spirits of all kinds. With her finger to the wind and astutely taking note, Judy Sullivan transformed the Navy hangout known as the Brown Derby into an open-air hipster watering hole. She re-named it The Green Parrot Bar.
greenparrot.com
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Green Parrot Bar can get crowded when there’s live entertainment.
For every Navy customer who remained, it seemed there was a hippie, sailor or nomad on the next barstool. It became a place for travelers to rendezvous, to mingle with the bar’s cast of eccentric local characters, and to perhaps glimpse a celebrity seeking refuge in its cool anonymity. The next boom to hit Key West was the discovery of Key West Pink Shrimp. When the fleet was in, The Green Parrot morphed into a shit-kickin’ fisherman’s honky-tonk. Then came the fishermen, who were more nefarious, armed with more cash, and laden with contraband from Jamaica and Colombia. But Key West would finally find its place as the only Caribbean city that
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Americans could reach by car. Bridges to the mainland got wider and bigger and tourism overflowed. Jim Bean bought the Green Parrot Bar on his birthday in 1983 and, with his wife Linda, began a love affair with the local, sometimes rowdy, corner saloon that would endure for nearly 30 years. The Parrot’s rep was forged one act at a time, and not always on full nights when revelers spilled onto the sidewalk. It was the nights when every other seat in the house was filled. Maybe it was the music: real and raw onstage, the people’s choice thumping from the juke box, whirring ceiling fans, the murmur of conversation, the sharp clack of pool balls, brilliant peals of laughter. 2011 marked another year of change at The Parrot. After a close and successful 27-year relationship with Jim and Linda Bean, their partner John Vagnoni teamed up with Key West stalwart and Philadelphia entrepreneur Pat Croce. This is what Bean left and what Croce so reverently inherited: the spirit, great music, a place to share a beverage or a thought, a place where anything is possible, anytime. A place where people tell their stories un-distracted, stripped of veneer, of pretense and of charade. A space to just be. The Green Parrot Bar 601 Whitehead Street, Key West 33040 Website: greenparrot.com
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OCTOBER 10 – 13, 2019
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Festivals Acadiens et Créoles 2019 Honors the Role of Women in Cajun & Creole Music CELEBRATING 90 YEARS OF “JOLIE BLONDE” AND OTHER FEMALE CHARACTERS AND PERFORMERS.
AN ICONIC SYMBOL of the
female influence on Cajun and Creole music, what we know today as “Jolie Blonde” was first recorded as “Ma blonde est partie” in 1929 by the Breaux Brothers. Ninety years later, this “pretty blonde” has led to other female characters in songs, like Joline, Colinda, Madeleine, Chère Alice, Chère Mam, Chère Bassette, Bernadette, Tante Adèle, Marie, Rosa, la Fille de la Veuve and les Filles à Nonc Hilaire, among many others. For 2019, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is celebrating the role of women in Cajun and Creole music—and the 90th anniversary of “Jolie Blonde.”
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Dancers in the late afteroon at one of the stages in Girard Park, Lafayette.
Photo by David Simpson, heavily rendered by Jim Hance
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Female performers from Cléoma Breaux Falcon to the current generation who have taken the stage, such as the members of Bonsoir, Catin, T’Monde, Babineaux Sisters, The Daiquiri Queens and many others, have helped to Bonsoir, Catin will be performing at Festivals carry on these musical Acadien et Créoles. (See Update! #68.) traditions. “We would be remiss not to also mention the women who have preserved our venerable ballad traditions by singing for their families and friends at home, such as Alma Barthélémy, Lula Landry, Inez Catalon, Odile Falcon, Agnes Bourque and Marie Pellerin,” says Board President Barry Jean Ancelet. “And then, there are also women who helped to document and preserve our musical and cultural heritage, like Irene Whitfield, Corinne Saucier, Catherine Blanchet, Marce Lacouture and Kristi Guillory. This year, we are celebrating all of these women, real and fictional, and their contributions to our musical history both on and off the stage.”
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Official 2019 Poster Artist
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Our 2019 official poster artist Melissa Bonin was tasked with depicting a visual celebration and tribute to the lyrical legacy of the feminine in Cajun and Creole music. Her original artwork depicts birds in flight, a symbol of freedom for women finding their voice. A recorded interview of Creole singer Alma Barthelemy in which she talks about where she learned her songs, also supported the image selection. In French, Barthelemy said: “Avec maman, oui, avec ma maman. Et ben j’apprenais ça avec ma maman. Ma maman, c’était une femme qui chantait réglé. Et la tante de ma maman, elle prenait son panier d’ouvrage. Elle allait s’asseoir en dessous des arbres, et le z-oiseau qui passait, qui sifflait, elle faisait une chanson là-dessus.” Translated into English, her response means: “From my mother, yes, from my mother. Well, I learned them from my mother. My mother was a woman who sang often. And my mother’s aunt, who would take her basket of needlework. She would sit under the trees, and the birds that passed, that whistled, she would make a song on that.” A native of New Iberia and a leading Louisiana landscape painter, Bonin will be also exhibiting a series of paintings in an exhibition titled “Songbirds: Nature as Metaphor” at the A. Hays Town Building at the Hilliard University Art Museum Sept. 9-Oct. 13. The Festivals Acadiens et Crèoles 2019 poster art will be unveiled during a reception
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2019 Music Lineup
Our 2019 music lineup opens on Friday, Oct. 11, with female supergroup Bonsoir, Catin and special guests. Several other femalefronted bands will be playing this year’s festival, including Magnolia Sisters, Feufollet, Babineaux Sisters, T’Monde, Yvette Landry & the Jukes, The Daiquiri Queens, Soul Prominent Acadiana artist Creole and Sweet Crude. We will Kristi Guillory also be celebrating the evolution of Cajun and Creole musicians like Jeffery Broussard, who will follow Bonsoir, Catin with his Creole Cowboys on opening night; Joel Sonnier, celebrating his 60th anniversary in music, and Horace Trahan and the Ossun Express, both playing sets on Oct. 12; and Feufollet, which has featured a female singer since its origins, on Oct. 13. Scène Atelier will have Wade Falcon telling the “True Story of Jolie Blonde” and “Femme: A Celebration of Louisiana Women Musicians” on Oct. 12, as well as the Broussard family sisters performing traditional
Photo by David Simpson
at the museum Friday, Sept. 13, from 6-8 p.m. The event is open to the public and free to attend.
Creole jurés on Oct. 13. Gina Forsyth and Sheryl Cormier will lead sessions at the Jam Tent throughout the weekend. And Wayne Toups & ZydeCajun help us close out Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in what has become a Sunday night tradition.
Symposium & Other Events
Festivals Acadiens et Créoles is working with the Center for Louisiana Studies to produce Jeffery Broussard will perform special programming at the festival opening night. and a pre-festival symposium that will address these issues. Titled “Les femmes et les filles: Female Perspectives in Cajun and Creole Culture,” the symposium on Friday, Oct. 11, will take place at the A. Hays Town Building at Hilliard University Art Museum. More details and a full schedule of events are included below. Festival dates are Oct. 11-13, 2019. As always, the festival takes place in Girard Park and is free and open to the public. More information can be found at www.festivalsacadiens.com
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Events for 2019
All events are free and open to the public (except Tour Des Atakapas). Friday, Sept. 13: Poster & Pin Unveiling & opening of Melissa Bonin exhibit of paintings “Songbirds: Nature as Metaphor” from 6-8 p.m.; exhibit will be on display in the A. Hays Town Building at the Hilliard University Art Museum through Oct. 13. Friday, Oct. 11: “Les femmes et les filles: Female Perspectives in Cajun and Creole Culture” symposium from 9 a.m.-4:30 p.m. in the A. Hays Town Building at the Hilliard University Art Museum (full schedule & registration will be open soon); Festivals Acadiens et Créoles opening with cutting of the boudin in Girard Park at 5 p.m.; Friday Night Fais Do Do with Bonsoir, Catin & Jeffery Broussard: Zydeco Force to Creole Cowboys. Saturday, Oct. 12: Tour Des Atakapas Race & Duathlon at 7:30 a.m. (register at https://www.latrail.org/tourdesatakapas) and Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in Girard Park from 10 a.m. to 8 p.m. Sunday, Oct. 13: French Mass at 9 a.m. and final day of Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in Girard Park until 8 p.m.; final day of “Songbirds: Nature as Metaphor” exhibit at A. Hays Town Building. Festivals Acadiens et Créoles can trace its roots back to the first Tribute to Cajun Music Festival organized by CODOFIL in 1974. Festivals Acadiens et Créoles was officially established in 1977 with components of music, food and crafts. Since then, the event has grown
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
The festival closes by 8 p.m. each evening, so dancers from all over the country crowd the Lafayette area dance halls in the evenings where the dance parties go on through the evening. Popular spots include Rock’n Bowl, Artmosphere, Blue Moon Saloon, Feed ’n Seed and La Poussiere. See “Louisiana Dance Clubs” for a complete list beginning on page 56. into a multi-day affair taking place during the second full weekend of October each year in Lafayette, Louisiana. Festivals operates as a nonprofit corporation and is run by a community board and volunteers.
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The Floyd’s Records & Flat Town Music Story When you think of Cajun and zydeco music, you think of your favorite artists. Maybe you visit your favorite artist’s website to purchase their latest album, or maybe you download it from iTunes or Amazon. Wherever you buy the music, you’re probably thinking about your favorite artist and your favorite tunes. Behind the publication of new music by your favorite artist are specialists who produce the music, make the physical media and packaging, distribute the music, and sell it. Fifty years ago music
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
was made on 45 rpm and 33 rpm vinyl records and cassette tapes. In the 1980s the music industry migrated to higher cost CDs. Then the music industry reluctantly embraced streaming music and downloads around the turn of the century. And now, to a small degree, vinyl records are making a comeback. Throughout the history of popular music, most every artist relied on specialists who can produce, publish, package, market and distribute their work. Not many artists starting out can do it themselves effectively. James Floyd Soileau, now 81, has been the middle man between you and your Cajun, zydeco and swamp pop artists for six decades. He has seen all of the changes in the music industry, and miraculously he’s still putting out recordings that people like you and I want to buy. Maybe it’s from his online and brick-and-mortar business, Floyd’s Record Shop, but more likely it’s through his publishing and distribution business, Flat Town Music Company, established in 1957, and his various labels: Swallow Records, Maison de Soul Records, and Jin Records. Floyd Soileau was born in 1938, in the Faubourg/Grand Prairie area, a rural area located a few miles northwest of Ville Platte, Louisiana.
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Floyd’s Cajun father, grandfather, and great grandfather played fiddle. His brother played fiddle and accordion. Typical of Cajun French families at the time, Floyd spoke no English until he was six years old when he attended the 1st grade. While still in high school, Soileau got a part time job as radio disc jockey at KVPI in Ville Platte, Louisiana playing Cajun music. To supplement his income, Floyd and his brother traveled to a New Orleans record distributor and purchased $250 worth of inventory and a $60 phonograph. With this he opened a small record shop in a small room of the radio station. His record sales, made during breaks in between DJ-ing, became so popular that eventually he was told by the radio station’s management to choose: spin records at the radio station, or establish his record business elsewhere.
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loyd opted to give up his DJ job to establish Floyd’s Record Shop in Ville Platte, en Francais, “Flat Town.” Interest in the small town record source grew. Recordings of Cajun music were in relatively short supply at the time. Legendary producers like George Khoury (Lyric & Khoury labels) and Eddie Shuler (Goldband Records) were having difficulties with establishing a supply of recordings. Shuler’s
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! star artist, Iry Lejeune, died an untimely death, and Khoury’s titles were quickly going out of print because the record manufacturing plant in California that he used was burnt to the ground along with his source materials in a fire. Other producers of the time like Jay Miller in Crowley, LA, had somewhat left the Cajun genre for other styles like rhythm’n blues. Floyd soon recognized the necessity of “waxing” the talent of the “local” Cajun and rock n’ roll musicians. Shortly thereafter he got his first opportunity to make a recording of his own and form his first record label, sort of. Floyd partnered with Mamou jukebox and nightclub operator Ed Manuel to record Milton Molitor and Austin Pitre performing the “Manuel Bar Waltz” and “Midway Two-Step” and release singles on the Big Mamou label. It was a success for all. Floyd then recorded Vee-Pee (as in Ville Platte), for his own label. His first recordings were pressed in Nashville and released as 78s and 45s in 1957. Word of his regional record label spread and Soileau was soon approached by several local Cajun musicians including Aldus Roger, Austin Pitre, Adam Hebert, and Lawrence Walker about recording their songs. In 1958, Soileau dissolved his earlier record labels and founded two new labels, Swallow (a play on the pronunciation of his last name) and Jin (named for his soon-to-be-wife Jinver). On the early recordings on the Swallow and Jin Record labels, there was no distinction between genres of music. Soileau released Cajun French music and south Louisiana rock n’ roll (later called swamp pop) on both record
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labels. Later, the Swallow label was dedicated to French language Cajun releases, and the Jin label to Swamp Pop and its blend of mostly English but sometimes Cajun French music with rock’n roll, country and New Orleans rhythm’n blues. Soileau had early success with Jin Records. Rod Bernard’s “This Should Go On Forever” (1958), became a national hit, making it to No. 8 in the Hit Parade and to the Top 20 of Billboard’s Hot 100. Bernard even found himself on American Bandstand. Later Jin hits included Jivin’ Gene’s “Breaking Up is Hard to Do” (1959), Joe Barry’s “I’m a Fool to Care” (1961), Tommy McLain’s “Sweet Dreams” (1966), Johnny Allen’s “Lonely Days and Lonely Nights.” (1959) and Rufus Jagneux’s “Opelousas Sostan” (1973). Other swamp pop Jin stars include Warren Storm, Don Rich, Cookie and the Cupcakes, and The Boogie Kings. Soileau, on his Swallow label, has recorded many legends of Cajun music, including Dewey Balfa and The Balfa Brothers, Nathan Abshire, Adam Hebert, Dennis McGee, Vin Bruce, Hadley Castille, Paul Daigle, Aldus Roger, Lawrence Walker, Austin Pitre, Belton Richard, D.L. Menard and more recently BeauSoleil, Wayne Toups, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Jambalaya Cajun Band, Kevin Naquin, and
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! the Lost Bayou Ramblers. Especially notable recordings include The Balfa Brothers “Play Traditional Cajun Music” (1965) which helped spark the “Cajun revival”, Belton Richard’s album, “Modern Sounds in Cajun Music”, which included “Un Autre Soir D’ennui”(1967), and D. L. Menard’s “La Porte En Arriere” (The Back Door) (1962). Floyd’s Record Shop soon grew into Floyd’s Wholesale Distributing Inc., filling the gap between the many small music retail stores in the Gulf South and the major record labels. Soileau’s wholesale resources enabled him to distribute Cajun and Swamp Pop music on a scale previously unavailable to other producers of Cajun music. Floyd created his own network to distribute the recordings of his and several other local record labels, as well as a mail-order service for Floyd’s distant retail customers.
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loyd’s Record Shop became a south Louisiana icon – a business place of Cajun hospitality with possibly the best selections of recorded south Louisiana music as well as oldies, hard-to-find, and popular music of the day. Floyd advertised on KAAY AM Radio out of Little Rock, AR, which could be heard throughout the gulf south. A little-known fact about Floyd’s Record Shop is that Floyd Soileau was largely responsible for the Hitachi Rice Cooker wave of the early 60s. Floyd discovered the product’s potential (certified by his wife, of course), became a distributor, and quickly began marketing it into possibly one of the greatest products South Louisiana kitchens have
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ever seen. Floyd’s distributed Hitachi rice cookers by the truckload, so much so that it sparked the interest and a personal visit to Ville Platte by Hitachi’s president of the their heating division. Paralleling the success of his record store and wholesale, Floyd continued to produce more recordings of Cajun and swamp pop music. Flat Town Music Company now housed Soileau’s record labels, as well as his growing music publishing catalog. In 1974, taking the advice of zydeco king, Clifton Chenier, Soileau began producing recordings of Clifton’s music on the Bayou Records label, which soon led to the creation of Maison de Soul Records, which is the first record label dedicated to the soulful, upbeat style of music called “zydeco.” He recorded several albums by Chenier as well as the 1980s comeback album of Boozoo Chavis, “Louisiana Zydeco Music,” that included such zydeco classics as “Dog Hill” and “Motor Dude Special.” Soileau scored his biggest hit with Rockin’ Sidney’s Grammy Award winning “(Don’t Mess With) My Toot Toot” in 1985, the biggest selling zydeco tune of all time. Over two dozen versions of “Toot Toot” have been recorded in the U.S., as well as dozens of foreign versions, and has racked several awards besides the Grammy: The Handy Blues Foundation’s Song of
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! the Year, a 1986 Broadcast Music Inc. (BMI) award, and a 2004 Latin BMI award for its Spanish version, “Mi Cu Cu.” Zydeco legends Rockin’ Dopsie and John Delafose, and more recently Keith Frank, Chris Ardoin, Rosie Ledet, Thomas Fields and Zydeco Force have also been preserved in time in the recordings on the Maison de Soul label. The 1970s shifted Floyd Soileau into a new direction of the recording business when he built and opened Louisiana’s only phonograph record manufacturing plant. In his plant, Floyd filled the manufacturing needs of thousands of different record labels from all parts of the country as well as his own. Ville Platte Record Manufacturers, inc. even pressed records of Elvis Presley for RCA in the wake of his death when demand for the recordings overwhelmed the major plants. Floyd’s record plant was destroyed by arson in 1994.
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ccording to Larry Benicewicz in a two part story titled “The Last of the Mohicans: Celebrating Floyd Soileau” for mojoworkin.com (February 2019), in 1980 there were at least six major record producers in the southwest part of Louisiana. As you might surmise from the title, now there is only one: Flat Town Music Company. All produced major hits in the popular music markets, and as his story goes into detail, none of these companies could take a big hit to pop markets without partnerships with larger labels with much larger distribution capabilities. According to Benicewicz, “Having made hit records the old
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fashioned way, Mr. Soileau thinks that ‘it might take a miracle’ to again produce another such comparable smash of yesteryear in view of today’s arcane, inscrutable music market. Nonetheless, it doesn’t stop aspiring musicians and singers from signing up with him — not because he heads the only such operation left in the territory, but because his has always been their best option. This crusaders of Cajun culture prides himself on being a straight shooter in an occupation which had seen its fair share of villains. And it’s not by chance that over the years, he has commanded so much loyalty. ‘Any success I had in this business was through the relationship I had with my artists,’ he said in an interview. Indeed, as long as this ‘Last Mohican’ can hang on, there is no doubt that this personal code of conduct will remain his calling card. Though it may be true that he can no longer promise a gold record to newcomers, they can still count on one thing for sure — that he’ll always follow the Golden Rule.” In 1985, Flat Town Music Company became the distribution and music publishing division of the newly formed Swallow Publications, Inc. The Swallow Publications name was decided upon when the opportunity to publish books came about. The book publishing
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division was created under the new corporate name and books where published about Louisiana music, and later, the Cajun language. Unique books, like the late Rev. Msgr. Jules O. Daigle’s A Dictionary of the Cajun Language and Cajun Self-Taught as well as Raymond Francois’ Ye Yaille Chère! (a Cajun music encyclopedia), have been distributed throughout the world. In September of 2000, the Festival de Musique Acadienne (Cajun Music Festival) in Lafayette, Louisiana, was dedicated to Floyd Soileau and his contribution to Cajun music. In 2001, Offbeat Music in New Orleans honored Soileau with a Lifetime Achievement Award for his 40-plus years devoted to recording, producing, distributing and promoting Cajun French music.
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ationally-advertised Floyd’s Record Shop was a main attraction for tourists of Ville Platte and Evangeline Parish for decades. In December of 2012, Floyd’s store closed during its 56th year of retail music. Today, Floyd’s caters to fans of South Louisiana music worldwide through its mail-order catalog and internet website, FloydsRecordShop.com. Floyd’s Records re-opened a retail record boutique to the public in 2016 located at 700 S. Chataignier Street, Ville Platte, Louisiana. The store is not open on the weekends. Store hours are Monday – Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Local indie artists and labels sporting South Louisiana roots music have their CDs wholesale distributed to music retailers throughout
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the U.S. by Flat Town Music Company. And the record label divisions of Swallow Publications, Inc. continue to operate as independent, regionally oriented roots music labels in an age of media giants. The Swallow, Jin, and Maison de Soul labels continue to issue and re-issue numerous Cajun, zydeco, and swamp pop recordings annually in CD or digital music formats, while additionally the publishing division of Flat Town Music owns and manages the copyright to over 3,000+ songs. Flat Town Music Company represents the largest single collection of Cajun, zydeco and swamp pop recordings in the world. Led by Floyd Soileau, the company has remastered, curated, and repackaged older music in new collections, bringing the music of the old masters to new audiences. They help, too, bridge artists to films and advertising usage of their music. They house Grammy winners such as Rockin Sidney’s “Don’t Mess With My Toot Toot” and Gulf Coast favorites that certainly should have achieved Grammy status such as Wayne Toups’
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“Take My Hand.” There are THE LAST OF THE dozens more internationallyknown recordings, such as CELEBRATING what’s widely considered the FLOYD SOILEAU true Cajun national anthem, PART II: LOOKING FORWARD D.L. Menard’s “La porte d’en arrierre” (The Back Door), Zydeco King Clifton Chenier’s “Hot Tamale Baby,” and swamp pop legends Johnnie Allan’s and Tommy McLain’s hit versions of “Promised Land” and “Sweet Dreams,” respectively. And, more recently, unique tracks, like Nolan Cormier’s early Google the title of this article for 70s hit “Hee Haw Breakdown” .pdf versions of both Part 1 and which was featured in a 2012 Part 2 of the Benicewicz story. commercial in the U.K., expose a new generation to “hip” Cajun tunes. Floyd Soileau remains as president of Flat Tow Music Company. At the age of 81 and as he approaches retirement, his son Chris has taken an active managing role, continuing in his father’s footsteps in doing their part to preserve the integrity of such a vital part of south Louisiana Cajun culture — the music.
MOHICANS
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t’s not that Floyd Soileau did not issue some fine CDs in the 90s. Two excellent releases by Swamp Pop exemplars come to mind—Warren Storm’s Night After Night (JIN 9036-2) in 1992 and in 1997 Johnnie Allan’s Ultimate Louisiana Experience (JIN 9052) in which the latter tackles a veritable potpourri of musical styles for which this region is famous. It just seemed that this batch was just a trickle compared with the torrent of new albums seeing the light of day after the debut of the new millennium. It’s as if Mr. Soileau not only faced with the task of not only preserving his own legacy, a catalogue of hundreds of singles, cassettes, and LPs, but also of continuing to record new talent, rolled up his sleeves and went to work after finally making the unequivocal commitment to this format.
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Floyd Soileau.
Photo: Bart Bragg Photography
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LOUISIANA DANCE CLUBS
Lafayette Area
Artmosphere 902 Johnston St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 337-233-3331. Web: artmosphere.vpweb.com Bayou Teche Brewery 1094 Bushville Hwy., Arnaudville, LA 70512. Ph: 337-754-5122. Blue Moon Saloon 215 E. Convent St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 877-766-2583. Web: bluemoonpresents.com Buck and Johnny’s 100 Berard St., Breaux Bridge, LA 70517. Ph: 337-442-6630. Web: buckandjohnnys.com Cajun Country Bar 9708 Church Point Hwy., Church Point, LA 70525. Ph: 337-684-9101. Cowboy’s 207 N. Ambassador Caffery Pkwy., Scott, Louisiana 70583. Ph: 337-232-3232. Web: cowboyslafayettela.com Dat Dog 201 Jefferson St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 337-366-6794. Web: datdog.com El Sid O’s Zydeco & Blues Club 1523 N. Saint Antoine St., Lafayette, Louisiana 70501. Ph: 337-237-1959.
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Feed & Seed 106 N. Grant St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 337-330-4860. Web: feednseedlafayette.com Fred’s Lounge 420 6th St., Mamou, Louisiana 70554. Ph: 337-468-5411. Web: facebook.com/Freds-Lounge-111528505553446/ Holiday Lounge 1212 Brud Ln., Mamou, LA 70554. Ph: 337-468-7177. Web: facebook.com/pages/ Holiday-Lounge/1679752672260354 La Poussiere 1301 Grand Point Ave., Breaux Bridge, LA 70517. Ph: 337-332-1721. Web: lapoussiere.com Liberty Theatre — Rendez-Vous Des Cajuns 200 W. Park Ave., Eunice, LA 70535. Ph: 337-457-7389; Web: eunice-la.com/liberty-theater My Place Bar & Grill 811 Foreman Dr., Lafayette, LA 70506. Ph: 337-484-1182. O’Darby’s 827 Hector Connoly Rd., Carencro, LA 70520. Ph: 337-896-0166. Pat’s Fisherman’s Wharf Restaurant 1008 Henderson Levee Rd., Henderson, LA 70517. Ph: 337-228-7512. Web: patsfishermanswharf.com
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Pont Breaux Cajun Restaurant 325 W. Mills Ave., Breaux Bridge, LA 70517. Ph: 337-332-4648. Poppa Joe’s Hole in the Wall 503-L Provost Rd., Scott, LA 70583. Ph: 337-408-8040. Randol’s 2320 Kaliste Saloom Rd., Lafayette, LA 70508. Ph: 337-981-7080 Web: randols.com Rock’n Bowl de Lafayette 905 Jefferson St., Lafayette, LA 70501. Ph: 337-534-8880. Web: rocknbowl.com Route 92 2600 E. Milton, Youngsville, LA 70592. Ph: 337-857-5025. Web: route92livemusic.com Smiley’s Bayou Club 2206 Veterans Memorial Dr., Erath, LA 70533. Ph: 337-937-4591. Web: facebook.com/Smileys-Bayou-Club-882989335049200/ Tante Marie’s (formerly Joie de Vivre) 107 N. Main St., Breaux Bridge, LA 70517. Ph: 337-442-6354. Web: jamsandbiscuits.com Toby’s Lounge 132 Tobys Ln., Opelousas, Louisiana 70570. Ph: 337-948-3800. Vermilionville 300 Fisher Rd., Lafayette, Louisiana 70508. Ph: 337-233-4077. Web: vermilionville.org
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
Need a place to stay in the Lafayette area?
Former Floridia dancer Trish Gowl provides modestly priced “AirBnB” accommodations for visitors to Louisiana’s Cajun and Creole communities. She can advise you on who is playing where. You can view her accommodations at https://www.airbnb.com/rooms/21433064, or shoot her an email at pgowl92@gmail.com.
New Orleans Area
Maple Leaf Bar 8316 Oak St., New Orleans, LA 70118. Ph: 504-866-9359 Mulate’s 201 Julia St., New Orleans LA 70130. Ph: 504-522-1492. Website: mulates.com Rock’n Bowl 3016 S. Carrollton Ave., New Orleans, LA 70118. Ph: 504-861-1700. Website: rocknbowl.com Tipitina’s 501 Napoleon Ave, New Orleans, LA 70115. Ph: 504-895-8477. Website: tipitinas.com
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FESTIVAL-O-RAMA
OCTOBER 2019 Oct. 3-6, 2019 — Fall Shaker Hills Grassroots Festival of Music & Dance (Hadley, North Carolina) Lineup includes Preston Frank, Donna the Buffalo, Galactic, Swamp Kids, Roosevelt Collier Band, Ryan Montbleau Band, Harley Jane, and others. https://shakorihillsgrassroots.org
Photo by David Simpson
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Florida Cajun Zydeco Update!
October 10-13, 2019 — Festivals Acadiens et Créoles (Lafayette) (See story beginning on page 36.) Festivals Acadiens et Créoles in Lafayette, LA. Celebrate the rhythm of Cajun and Creole life at Festivals Acadiens et Créoles Dance to a traditional waltz. Two-step to the upbeat rhythms of accordions, fiddles and ti-fers (triangles). Step back in time as traditional crafters demonstrate their artistry. Festivals Acadiens et Créoles pays tribute to the Cajun and Creole cultures with a combination of free festivals. Festival held each year on the second weekend in October. http://www.festivalsacadiens.com
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October 10-13, 2019 — Suwannee Roots Revival (Live Oak, FL) Lineup includes Donna the Buffalo, The Traveling McCoury Band, Sam Bush Band, Verlon Thompson, The Grass is Dead, and Samantha Fish. Spirit of the Suwannee Music Park is pleased to announce the 4th Annual Suwannee Roots Revival featuring some of the finest in Americana, Bluegrass, Newgrass, Zydeco, Blues, and more! With multiple stages (Amphitheater Stage, Porch Stage, Dance Tent, Music Hall, and Music Farmer’s Stage) Suwannee Roots Revival is jam-packed with stellar music and dance! A handful of bands will perform multiple sets and some artists will be participating in workshops throughout the weekend. This family-friendly festival includes four days of music, camping, yoga, a Kids Tent, as well as campground pickin’ sessions hosted by Sloppy Joe at Slopryland and Quartermoon at Bill Monroe Shrine as well as throughout SOSMP! Set in the midst of 800 acres of Spanish moss-draped oak and cypress trees along the Suwannee River, the venue is a playground for endless activities such as swimming, canoeing, kayaking, disc golf, and biking. Tickets: www.suwanneerootsrevival.com/tickets/
Florida Cajun Zydeco Update! Oct. 24 through Nov. 9, 2019 — American Cajun, Blues and Zydeco Festival (Germany) Bands include Dwight 'Black Cat' Carrier, Joe Hall and the Canecutters, and Michael Juan Nunez. Since 2001 the festival is on the road and it will tour throughout Germany to bring authentic music from Louisiana to the fans and friends of Cajun, Blues and Zydeco. The festival honors these particular genres from Louisiana with artists from USA and Europe. Contact info@magnetic-music.com. Website: http://www.americancajunfestival.com
Oct. 24-28, 2019 — Zydeco on the Seas Weekend Cruise Getaway (Galveston, TX) Cruise to Cozumel, an island off the Yucatan Peninsula of Mexico. Dance to Lil Nate and the Zydeco Big Timers and Brian Jack and the Zydeco Gamblers. Cost starts at $548 per person based on double occupancy. Contact Ms DeVine, The Travel Team @ 713-417-5409 or 832-434-9917.
October 26-27, 2019 — South Louisiana Blackpot Festival and Cookoff (Lafayette, LA) South Louisiana Blackpot Festival and Cookoff in Acadian Village, Lafayette, LA. Information on the music lineup and camping options: blackpotfestival.com
Yes! You want to plan your trips to out-of-state festivals farther in advance. This is just a sampling. Many more festivals listed through end of 2019 at FloridaCajunZydeco.com/festivals.html
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Atlanta Cajun Zydeco Association Dances Sat., Sept. 14 — DJ Dance Party and Potluck 7 – 10 p.m., Garden Hills Rec Center. Dance lesson at 7 p.m.
Sun., Oct. 20 — Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble 8 – 10 p.m., Vista Room, 2836 La Vista Rd., Atlanta, GA
Fri., Nov. 22 — Chubby Carrier & Bayou Swamp Band 8 – 10 p.m., Vista Room, 2836 La Vista Rd., Atlanta, GA
Dorothy Benson Center, 6500 Vernon Woods Drive in Sandy Springs Concert and Dance from 8-10 pm. Free dance lesson from 7-8 pm with admission. $20 / $5 Students / $14 ACZA members & active duty military NOTE: ACZA uses for than one venue for their dances. Confirm location and time. https://aczadance.org/
Philadelphia Cajun Zydeco Dances Sat., Sept. 7 — C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band Website for additional information: allonsdanser.org
San Diego Cajun Zydeco Dances Sat., Sept. 14 — Cedric Watson and Bijou Creole These dance events are held at Balboa Park War Memorial Building. Website: icajunzydeco.com
Houston Cajun Zydeco Events zydecoevents.com/texaszydecoevents.html
