The Figs Friday, December 12,
at 6:00pm FREE ADMISSION
T-Bone Jones Friday, December 12, at 7:30 FREE ADMISSION
Deep in South Louisiana, many an old-time yard boasts a ountiful fig tree of the variety Celeste. Several gangly
trunks spread out from a central root,and the deep-lobed, dark green leaves bring to mind the predicament of Adam and Eve.
It takes the listering summer heat to ripen the brownish- violet fruits, their reddish insides pebbled with crunchy seeds.
These figs, at once commonplace and exotic, are delectable by themselves. But cooked together in a heavy pot over a slow fire, with some sugar for sweet and some lemon for zing, they make a local confection called fig preserves that is—well, celestial.
The fertile soil of Lafayette, Louisiana, has recently sprouted the all-girl group The Figs. The area is already home to such young powerhouse bands as the Red Stick Ramblers, the Pine Leaf Boys, the Lost Bayou Ramblers, and FeuFollet, ably filling the Cajun, zydeco, and swing niches. With this debut recording session, The Figs push the area’s musical margins farther afield into the old-timey tradition, though there’s nary a holler in sight.
The sisterhood came together with the unbridled enthusiasm of any self-respecting garage band, in order to hang out with friends and have a good time. They admittedly didn’t consider themselves “real” musicians, and there was some initial instrument-swapping as each member found her groove. Now the bottom end is held down by drummer Paige Pemberton (who occasionally blows the harp as well) and bassist Melissa Stevenson, while Sarah Gray and Caroline Helm man the electric and acoustic guitar strings. Claire Oliver grounds the group’s Appalachian feel with her claw-hammer banjo, and Jillian Johnson works a plucky tenor ukulele.
While the instrumentation supplies a toothsome biscuit, it’s the three- and four-part vocal harmonies that provide the sweet filling. At times bluesy or cheeky, at times levitating into the ethers, these women’s voices mingle like moon and shine. Their themes range from heartthrob to heartbreak in flavors sweet, sour, and salty, and their playlist includes a healthy helping of smart, sassy originals. Sarah’s aching 3/4, her lilting lament I’m So Tired, and her puckish Transcendental Baby are linchpins of the Fig style; Paige and Sarah collaborated on the regional yet country-tinged Spoonin’, and Jillian’s shuffling Rollin’ Down South shows off her Tennessee roots. Their repertoire also includes dynamic covers from such varied sources as the Carter Family, Mark Knopfler, and fellow local songwriters. From blues to rockabilly to straight-up old-timey and haunting a capella, these ladies make the vintage stuff sound fresh and the new stuff sound retro. A live show finds them all figged out in Depression-era outfits, looking anything but old-fashioned.
In his provocative poem Figs, D.H. Lawrence wrote:
What then, good Lord! cry the women.
We have kept our secret long enough.
We are a ripe fig.
Let us burst into affirmation.
Bursting with gusto and grit, this crop is at peak flavor. So spike your lemonade, prop your feet up on the porch rail, and let The Figs kick out your jams.
- Sharon Arms Doucet
Feufollet Friday, December 12 at 9:00pm FREE ADMISSION
Cedric Watson December 12, at 10:30 FREE ADMISSION
One of the most noted young talents to
emerge in Cajun or Creole music in the
past few years, Cedric Watson is a
fiddler, vocalist, accordionist and
songwriter of seemingly unlimited
potential. Born in 1983, Cedric grew up
in San Felipe, Texas surrounded by the
sounds of blues, old soul,country and
zydeco. Unlike his hip-hop focused peers,
Cedric was drawn to the old-style French
songs of Southwest Louisiana and the
greater Houston area. He soon made his
way to Lafayette, LA where he was
enthusiastically accepted into the musical community and immediately recognized as an important participant in the continuity of Creole music.
Cedric has played with some of the great family names in Creole music, including Dexter Ardoin and the Creole Ramblers and Jeffrey Broussard and the Creole Cowboys. With the Pine Leaf Boys, Cedric expanded his repertoire of Cajun songs while adding his Creole and zydeco foundation to the band's true-to-the-roots Southwest Louisiana sound. He plays old La-La French music (traditional Creole music) in a trio of accordion, fiddle
and guitar with his two musical godfathers, Edward Poullard and
James Adams, in Les Amis Creole. With accordionist Corey
"Lil' Pop" Ledet, Cedric turns to the more blues and R&B
influenced songs of Clifton Chenier, John Delafose, Canray
Fontenot, and Bebe Carrier.
Now Cedric continues to explore the roots of Louisiana’s Creole
music with his own band, Bijoux Creole. Playing a variety of old- school zydeco styles, original material and Creole traditionals,
the polyrhythmic and syncopated sounds of Africa and the
Caribbean are unmistakable in this ensemble of talented
musicians.
Cedric has been making a name for himself reviving the old Creole fiddling styles of Canray Fontenot and Bebe Carrier, injecting a healthy dose of his own personality and ingenuity, and bringing them to an ever-broadening audience. He has played across the United States as well as in France, Nova Scotia, Haiti and Spain, and French Caribbean. He has a keen interest in connecting Louisiana Creole music back to its homelands. "I want to present the Creole Nation of Louisiana to the Creole Nations in other parts of the world, to make these Creole cultures aware of the one in Louisiana, and vice versa."
Cedric's creative style and obvious joy in playing make him an engaging and exciting performer. Moving with ease between fiddle and accordion, his natural playfulness on stage makes him just plain fun to watch.
His soaring, soulful vocals, all in French, remind us of a time long ago. And his interest in reconnecting with the varied roots of the music in other parts of the world will make for an interesting ride. It will be nothing short of exciting to see what he does next.
Although Feufollet has often been hailed as the future of Cajun music, a more current assessment must admit that they are now the present of Cajun music. Once idolized at at early age for their precocious musicianship and sent all over the world as youthful emblems of Acadiana’s cultural resurgence, the members of Feufollet have, in the meantime, grown into the music as young adults. While Feufollet remains central to the neotraditionalist brush fire they helped ignite as youths, their latest album finds the band coming into its own and pushing the envelope, leading the way once again as Cajun music extends itself into a new century.
Rawness and passion are often confused with rockabilly or punk rock influences, when in fact these uncontainable energies were present in the Cajun
repertoire long before the first hotrod laid rubber on Main Street or The Ramones eyed their first black leather jacket. Still, while LBR may not need amps, their intensity and talent goes up to 11, a sound that makes dyed in the wool seem like an iron-on decal. ”
- -Nick Pittman, The Independent,
Lafayette, LA January 2007
Over the past 300 years, a cultural amalgam has been percolating in south Louisiana. The resulting cultural distillate gave rise to both Bayou Country's world famous cuisine and a musical concentrate that conveys the passions, tribulations, and elations of the Cajun people. At the dawn of the twenty-first century, the Lost Bayou Ramblers are the keepers of the flame, champions of Cajun music's cultural past.
The Lost Bayou Ramblers have recently captured the essence of the place they call home in a newly released CD entiltled Vermillionaire.
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Lost Bayou Ramblers
Saturday, December 13 at 10:30
Admission at door
Carol Fran
Saturday,
December 12
6:00 pm
Admission at door
From jump blues to soul blues
and all the R & B in between,
Carol Fran has been singing it for nearly fifty years. Her career started when she was still in
her teens with the Don Conway Orchestra and continues to this day. After moving from Lafayette, Louisiana to New Orleans she married a sax player named Bob Francois. Abbreviating her married name to simply Fran, she became a constant presence on the Bourbon Street club circuit before mounting an extended tour of Mexico. In 1957, she cut her first sides for the R&B label Excello, scoring a regional smash with her debut single Emmitt Lee and backing several excellos artist in studio including Slim Harpo, Lonesome Sundown and Lazy Lester. Though she recorded extensively for Excello, only three more singles were released during Fran's abbreviated tenure with the label and she soon signed on as a featured vocalist with blues legend Guitar Slim. She continued touring with the group in the wake of Slim's 1959 death, appearing alongside various substitutes, including Nappy Brown, Lee Dorsey, and Joe Tex (By the late 60s, Fran was on the road with the Joe Tex revue where she served as an opening act and played keyboard with the band.).
In 1962, Fran signed to Lyric and released a pair of singles, including a swamp pop rendition of The Great Pretender; she spent two more years on the road before catching on with the Jubilee subsidiary Port for a 1964 cover of the Orioles' classic Crying in the Chapel. Crying in the Chapel had such a good response that Port/Jubilee owner Jerry Blaine moved it over to his Josie label for wider distribution. Unfortunately, another version soon appeared by some guy named Elvis that took all the steam out of Frans hit machine. Carol says that when she later ran into Mr. Presley in California and told him he had done her wrong, he blamed RCA, but wrote her a check for $10,000 on the spot!.
Undaunted, Fran remained with Port for a series of smoldering soul sides spotlighting her crystalline vocals to magnificent effect. While the follow-up You Can't Stop Me featured a Sammy Lowe arrangement, her third effort for the label, the lovely A World Without You, was penned by Bobby Darin. Sadly, both failed to make any commercial headway; however, and after one more single for Port, Any Day Love Walks In, Fran returned to touring. She did not re-enter the studio until 1967, signing to Roulette for a cover of Brook Benton's So Close. Despite cutting a surplus of good material during her Roulette stay at the High Studio, the sessions remained in the can (until their released in 1999 on Westside: Bluesoul Belles: Betty Lavette & Carol Fran) -- embittered by her label experiences and stung by years of ill-informed financial dealings, she returned to Louisiana and spent over a decade confining her activities to small clubs. .
In 1982, Fran was reunited with Clarence Hollimon, a noted studio guitarist (Bobby Blue Bland, Charles Brown, Lavelle White, Solomon Burke, Marcia Ball, Junior Parker) she briefly dated a quarter century earlier; the couple eventually married and relocated to Texas, recording together for various labels such as Black Top, JSP & Tradition & Modern until Clarences unpredictable death in 2000.
In 1995, Carol was nominee at the 16th Annual W.C. Handy Awards as the female artist of the year and as the female vocalist of the year. 2001 saw Carol nominated once again as the Female artist of the year at the W.C. Awards. Her first solo album since the time she teamed with Clarence was released that same year: Fran-Tastic.
Carol appears in the movie Absolution released in 2005. She also appears along Dr. John, Eddie Bo, Randy Newman, Irma Thomas, The Dirty Dozen Brass Band, The Preservation Hall Jazz Band, Allen Toussaint on Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album For The Gulf Coast Hurricane Victims, which was released in December 2005.
David Egan and Twenty Years of Trouble Saturday, December 13 at 7:30 Admission at door
He was born into a musical family in Shreveport, Louisiana – a city whose cultural richness is often overlooked. While Jim Crow dragged on like a bad drummer, BB “Bird Brain” Davis kept the blues/R&B records spinning at KOKA. From the Municipal Auditorium KWKH blasted the Louisiana Hayride out to the entire nation. There were scores of record and music shops and there were hundreds of bands fuelling the neon brazen Bossier Strip, all beholding to their “Pappy” Hogan, the colorful pistol packing president of Musician’s Local 116. If you buy David a plate lunch and a cup of coffee he’ll fill you in on his memories of the musician’s union and the Bossier strip of his youth - many of these events and people have appeared in David’s songs through the years.
Growing up in a “symphony family” there were always singers, conductors, and other international performers coming through the Egan household and David credits this early exposure to the opera and musical theater for his love of a great melody. It is most likely also the root of his love for big meals served at 3am and his little known ability to sing the love duet (both parts) from ‘Madame Butterfly’, in made up Italian, without one shred of irony.
During these early years David spent many Sundays in church doodling band logos, stage plots, and song lyrics with his good friend Buddy Flett; both their mothers sang in the church choir. This was an important lesson in songwriting – David learned that although he might not ever be accused of being a multi-tasker he could, however, write a song just about anywhere at any time. David and Buddy’s most well known partnership is probably as members of the almost famous and certainly infamous, never-will-die Shreveport band “A-Train”. They competed against one another in creating songs for the group’s superlative singer Miki Honeycutt. Of course Buddy Flett is now an accomplished guitar player and songwriter and David’s most frequent writing partner.
After a short, unsuccessful stint at LSU as a freshman, he returned to Centenary College in Shreveport and it is there that an honest professor told him that his ambitions as an actor might be overly optimistic but that he had a real gift for music. David soon made the move to the prestigious music department at North Texas State in Denton, Texas and truly found his place. The study of jazz theory and composition in Denton would give David’s work a depth and sophistication that has lasted his entire career.
Next came the move to Nashville, where David was briefly the crankiest and most directionally challenged tour guide in the Music City. Thankfully, many tourists were spared his company when he joined the band of famous Cajun musician Jo-El Sonnier. This period on the road touring with Jo-El gave David the time to add to his songwriting catalog as well as a much deeper, invaluable knowledge of Cajun malapropisms.
It is at this time that David was signed with Bug Music and his first big “cut” happened. His song “Please No More (co-written with Greg Hansen) appeared on the Joe Cocker record “Night Calls”.
While traveling the Cajun music circuit David met a group of bearded musicians from the Lafayette area who had a band called Filé. Liking the easy-going attitude of these performers and loving the dance hall scene of South Louisiana, David moved back to his home state and joined the band. In Lafayette David felt immediately comfortable and inspired. Filé toured the world and David honed his piano-pounding, roadhouse chops and adopted a style of singing, meant to carry over a crowd of rowdy dancers, which he likens to a “field holler”. A high point for David during this time was touring with Creole fiddle legend Canray Fontenot.
While with Filé, David continued to add to his songwriting catalog, garnering cuts by artists like John Mayall, Percy Sledge, Irma Thomas, and Johnny Adams. He is also a member of that most elusive of mythical creatures, Lil’ Band ‘o Gold.
In 2001, encouraged by his songwriting success, David left Filé to write full time and pursue his dream of fronting his own band, playing his own songs. His songs have been on multiple Grammy-nominated records and in feature films. He was awarded a Louisiana Division of the Arts Fellowship, the state’s highest juried arts honor. He is now considered one of the country’s premier contemporary soul/blues songwriters.
David continues to live with his family in Lafayette, Louisiana - the center of the universe.
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Live Music Friday night on the Frederick Stage at Town Market Rural Arts Center/NuNu's is free thanks to the Arnaudville Chamber of Commerce. Saturday, the live music continues with a $10 admission
Joe Hall and the
Louisiana Cane Cutters
FEATURING
Mitch Reed
Saturday, December 13
at 9:00pm
Admission at door
Joe Hall and the Louisiana Cane
Cutters have released two CDs in
the span of less than a year, one in
mid-2006 that also features two
other Creole musicians, Nolton
Semien and Mary Jane Ardoin
Broussard, and the other in May 2007 with a new band, the Louisiana Cane Cutters. Born and raised in Eunice, Hall also learned from the late Bois Sec Ardoin and has been influenced by other Creole musicians, including Nolton Semien, whom he met when Nolton was playing in 2005 at the Blue Moon Saloon in Lafayette. Nolton has passed along some of his knowledge of old-time music, including help with the Creole version of “La Cucaracha” that Hall plays as the first cut. On the CD, Nolton plays and sings “The Seventy-Three Special” and his accordion is featured on “Acadian Breakdown.” Fire and Water would not be complete without the explosive Creole sound of Joe Hall's accordion! Mitch Reed joins Joe and the band in what is sure to be a foot-stomping, hard-dancing heck of good time!
Bring your dancing shoes!
What started out as a bunch of friends from various classic Louisiana based bands who simply enjoyed playing music together, soon solidified into a versatile blues influenced band specializing in down home “feel good” music traversing many genres, including hints of Cajun, C&W, R&B, Folk, Swing, Hillbilly, Gypsy and Rock n’ Roll.
The band is fronted by Louisiana guitar legend Bruce MacDonald (Beausoleil, Coteau, Bad Roads, Rufus Jagneaux, George Porter’s Joyride, David Egan’s Twenty Years Of Trouble etc.), and journeyman fiddler and keyboardist Ben Shank (of the notorious Clickin’ Chickens) and features the sterling rhythm section of drummer Jerry LeJeune (Rufus Jagneaux, Blue Mary’s) and bassist extraordinaire Steve “Big Daddy” Morrow (Boogie Kings, Bad Roads etc.).
In lieu of a horn and string section, the band is aided and abetted by city slickers Nick “The Monk” Kempf of the Black Leg Blues Revue on mouth harp and Roger Kash on mandolin.Click here to add text.
