To anyone who grew up in a small town in Louisiana, the mention of a 1960s dancehall conjures up images of smoky bars with dirty floors and wood-panelled walls, awful lighting, rough characters in coveralls, quiet musician’s wives across the room from beer-swilling broads, cars the size of boats parked on gravel in front, hand-painted signs warning customers to behave themselves, and, most importantly, one of the most important and inspirational eras of Louisiana music.
With her Hell-Raising Hayride, Sarah Savoy combines these images with those of the Louisiana Hayride, a radio show out of Shreveport, Louisiana, which broadcast from 1948-1960 and featured many of her other major musical influences including Elvis Presley, Hank Williams, Patsy Cline, and more. Savoy herself has been referred to as a “Louisiana singer with hell-raising credentials” and in this band she holds true to that style, singing and playing the Acadian accordions handmade by her father. Backing her are Thomas Bailey (USA) on fiddle, Manolo Gonzales (FR) on electric guitar, Marius Pibarot (FR) on electric bass and Marty Vickers (CA) on drums, and together they create beautiful vocal harmonies to counter-balance the heaviness of the music–a little saturated, getting a little dirt on with bass-y accordion, reverb-heavy electric guitar, wild fiddling, and drums. kick ass cajun !
Jump on for the ride!
Cajun Roosters (UK/D/B/F)
The Cajun Roosters are a five piece band with musician from UK, Belgium, France and Germany, specialising in the music of SW Louisiana, deep in the South of the USA. Formed eight years ago by some of the most respected musicians of this genre they quickly established a reputation as the band most likely to bring this music to a wider public. They have produced five award winning CDs. They were picked up by Mark Lamarr and invited to be in session on his BBC show for Radio 2 “Gods jukebox”. Previous to this UK based accordion player and vocalist Chris Hall was invited to record with the likes of Kate Bush and Bill Wyman and also recorded and appeared on TV with ex Beatle and rock god Sir Paul McCartney. Mark Lamarr said on his show “there should be revival of this music” ………. If any band are placed to ignite this revival it’s the Cajun Roosters” Over the last few years they have headlined major festivals all over Europe whilst at the same time collaborating with US musicians on recordings and tours.
In 2012 the band was invited to a worldmusic festival to Indonesia.
Cajun Roosters CD 'Hell Yeah' was released as their sixth CD in october 2013. In August 2014 the band wins the CFMA Award in Louisiana for 'Best CD from a band not from Louisiana or East Texas'. The Cajun Grammies !
It's all in a name. The Ur-Blues has Eddie "Son" House, Nehemiah "Skip" James, Tommy Johnson, and Charlie Patton. The generation after has Muddy Waters (McKinley Morganfield), Howlin' Wolf (Chester Burnett) and Elmore James. Today, we have Joe Bonamassa, Ronnie Earl, and Kenny Wayne Shepherd. Add to this latter group the Southern-fried, bona fide name of Shreveport-native Buddy Flett. He emerges as a compelling answer to Delbert McClinton and Roy G. Rogers, perhaps more authentic with his feet firmly planted in the musical myth of northwest Louisiana. He was nominated for a GrammyBest Contemporary Blues Albumin 2011 for his work on Kenny Wayne Shepherd's Album Live! in Chicago. In 2007, while on a blues cruise with mentor Hubert Sumlin, Flett contracted a viral encephalitis requiring a medically- induced coma and a month in the hospital followed by extensive rehabilitation. What appears in Rough Edges, his first recording since recovery, is a Buddy Flett transformed by the experience. What began with a competent and capable blues musician on Mississippi Sea emerges a fully formed artist (from the liner notes), one where a superior blues voice passes into the sublime.
All twelve selections on Rough Edges were recorded live in various small venues in Little Rock, AR, Shreveport, LA, and Waterman, MS. Since his recovery, Flett has remained close to home, but that should not be for long. This is a talent not to remain beneath a basket. These songs, save one, have Flett playing guitar while keeping the beat on a bass drum, making him a light- traveling minstrel in the truest sense. The is no flash here, only honest, sometimes corrosive music making of an intensity and white- hot nature that the listen can expect a sunburn is too close.
Flett favors open-tuned slide guitar playing for sure, but incorporates derivations such as his percussive "Train" and a most beautifully and strangely transformed "Lil Martha" (Duane Allman) on record. Flett does not require roman-candle guitar technique. He uses his conservative and informed talent to seek out only what is necessary in his play to convey his blues universe. Buddy Flett is brand new fresh air in a genre long locked in reverent worship and stagnant strict constructionism. A superb recording by any measure.
