Hunter Hayes

 

   Born 1991 in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana is a Cajun musician and songwriter who began performing at the age of three. He plays over 11 different instruments, including the diatonic accordion, guitar, keyboards, bass, drums and more. He appeared on America's Most Talented Kid but lost to singer Tori Kelly. He has written many songs, and at least half of the songs on his album 'Make a wish' are his own original compositions. His next album, 'songs about nothing' is expected to be released in 2007.

 

Travis Matte B

and the Zydeco Kingpins

 

Travis has the number 1 Zydeco

cd in the nation

He calls his group the Zydeco Kingpins.. But, even though the title of the group’s first CD proclaims, “dis ain’tcha momma’s zodico,” the liner notes make it clear that Matte is not trying to reinvent himself as the next Keith Frank: “Influenced by several genres of music such as Cajun, Zydeco, Swamp Pop, Rock, Country, and Alternative, Travis just doesn’t just like one style of music. Instead he just appreciates good music played well!”

 

Lee Benoit

&

The Bayou Stompers

 

Lee, his wife and daughter are keeping

Cajun music traditional.

The Bayou Stompers are one of the most active Cajun bands in South Louisiana performing six nights a week at some of the most popular Cajun restaurants from Breaux Bridge to New Orleans Louisiana and occasionally take their music on the road and perform at festivals and special events.

   They are proud of their Cajun heritage and truly devoted to performing traditional and contemporary Cajun music with dignity and professionalism.

 

Jamie Berzas

&

The Cajun Tradition Band

Traditional Cajun music is not something they do, it's their way of life and they have established a tradition of excellence in performance of Cajun music

 

The Cajun Tradition Band has established a tradition of excellence in performance of Cajun music as demonstrated through the electric reception given them wherever they play.

 

Jamie Berzas Accordion Musician.  has lived in Mamou, Louisiana since his birth in 1958. He is married to Madeline and they are both practicing Roman Catholics and professed Cajuns.

Ray Abshire

 

Ray Abshire is this years poster person for the Mamou Cajun festival.

 

Ray is the best kept secret in

traditional Cajun music.

 

One of Cajun music's purest accordionists and vocalists and a living link to it's very roots. A member of one of Louisiana's legendary musical families, Ray grew up surrounded by Cajun music's pioneer artists. He has performed with most all of the old masters whose recordings now form the texts for students of today. In 1975, while at the pinnacle of Cajun music as accordionist with the legendary "Balfa Brothers Band" and helping to open windows for Cajun music in the nation's musical consciousness, Ray left the bandstand. Abshire's return to the stage has been hailed by both critics and fans alike. He is once again at the forefront and sharing his knowledge and skills with a new generation. Recognized as a master musician and one of the resurgence leaders of Cajun music, Ray now enjoys conducting workshops, teaching at music camps and performing at major festivals both nationally and abroad. Ray's music is unfiltered and has it's own wholesome electricity. He plays it the way it was handed down to him and understands the importance of preserving one of this nation's great "folk" musics. Each and every time you attend a Ray Abshire performance you are guaranteed the "real deal"!

 

Lafourche Cajun Band

We are the Lafourche Cajun Band, based in Lockport, LA, in the heart of Lafourche Parish, approximately forty five minutes south of New Orleans. We play traditional and contemporary French Cajun Music (with a dash of zydeco) and have been proudly doing so for the past 16 years. We play somewhat regularly throughout the southeast Louisiana region for both public and private functions and do occasionally travel outside of our beloved homeland to various festivals to treat some of our neighboring states to a taste of "La Joie de Vivre".

 

Papillion

A Louisiana musician and storyteller for children and their families. A mix of Cajun and Zydeco music created especially for young children.  National Award Winning Performing and Recording Artist!

 

Harry Lee LaFlleur & Cajun Strings

 

    Harry Lee LaFlleur was born on October 23, 1933 in the community of Swords, Louisiana.  At about the age of six or eight, he was inspired by his grandfather, who was a fiddle player.  His brother,  Raymond, also played music with the legendary Ira LeJune and Harry would often watch them play; this is when he became interested in the guitar.  Harry played the guitar for many years before switching over to the fiddle.

    Over the years, Harry has performed with such musicians as Dennis McGee, Ira LeJune, Lee Manuel, Nathan Abshire and many others.

    In the 1950's, Harry had his own radio show on KSLO radio in Opelousas, Louisiana.  He also led his own band "Harry and the Louisiana Aces".  In the 1960's, Harry opened his own body repair shop and became so involved with making a living, he no longer had time to play his music.

    Many years later, his wife Kathleen, convinced him to start playing music again and Harry hasn't slowed down since.  He has performed all over the United States, at the World's Fair and various Universities and Festivals.  Harry is great song writer.  My all time favorites are "The Last Minute, in Cajun French La Dermiere Minuit" and Harry's version of Amazing Grace.

    Harry's beautiful wife Kathleen passed away two year ago and in her honor Harry wrote and recorded "Kathleen's Crown of Roses".  Harry is the founder and father of the Cajun French Music Association which now numbers about 2,000 family members.

 

 

Goldman Thibodeaux

 

Goldman Thibodeaux Cajun / Creole accordionist and vocalist from Lawtell, LA; former farmer and construction worker took up music at age 52.

 

 

Jay Cormier & the Country Cajuns

 

Jay Cormier was born in 1952 and brought up on his father's cotton farm noth of Scott, Louisiana. Jay's home was a bilingual Cajun/English household where both his father and grandmother played Cajun accordion. there was an old accordion aroound the house that the very young Jay "used to mess with," as he put it. "My mother and father bought me my first good accordion when I was about eight, Hereditary," he said of his early exposure to the instrument. As Jay gained proficiency singing and playing accordion, guitar, pedal steel, bass, or "almost anything I could get my hands on", his reputation solidified over time as the area's sideman of choice.
Visitors to the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival have seen Jay perform as a side player with swamp pop guests Johnny Allan and Warren Storm. Has has appeared on the recordings of Ed Gary and Breaux Bridge Playboys, and many others. He also holds the distinction of having entertained four U.S. presidents.

 

Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. & The Zydeco Twister

 

Rockin' Dopsie, Jr. & The Zydeco Twisters are the greatest living practitioners of the genre. Dopsie, Jr. presents Zydeco with the conviction and authenticity of its rich heritage. His earliest musical memories are of his father's accordion playing. Dopsie, Jr. was given a basic accordion by his father at the age of nine. He taught himself to play, as had his father, by listening to and playing along with the radio

 

 

Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys

 

 Steve Riley grew up in the prairie town of Mamou where French is spoken on the street, the national holiday is Mardi Gras, and a poor family is one without a fiddler or accordion player. American popular culture was stealing Mamou’s children away when Steve took up the accordion and became his hometown’s favorite son. He plays a single-row diatonic instrument made by his cousin, famed accordionist Marc Savoy. Steve concentrated on learning Savoy’s fiery, intricate style and the music of the Balfa Brothers. At age 15, this young prodigy was noticed by Dewey Balfa, who invited Steve to join his band. Under Dewey’s guidance, he grew as a performer, learning hundreds of French songs and how to sing them in Balfa’s singular hurts-so-good style, and taking up the fiddle as well. In 1988, he and David Greely formed the Mamou Playboys, which rapidly gained prominence on the international folk scene without sacrificing the allegiance of Louisiana fans. In a land where accordion is king, Steve has inspired countless young men and women to follow him and keep Cajun music’s royal instrument alive.

 

The Bone Tones

 

The Bone Tones, a Cajun dance band, hail from Minneapolis-St. Paul, Minnesota, an unlikely spot, perhaps, for a band that plays the French music of southwest Louisiana. The Bone Tones use diatonic button accordion, twin fiddles, steel guitar, bass, guitar, drums, triangle and French vocals to produce an authentic Cajun sound. 

The members of the band have played different styles of traditional music with other groups and individually for many years and have long shared an interest in Cajun music . Performers traveling through the region to play for festivals and workshops - musicians such as Dewey Balfa, Tracy Schwarz, D.L. Menard, Charlie Terr, and others - helped stir up this interest. Trips to record shops and to Louisiana provided more inspiration. Since 1987 The Bone Tones have played to the ever-increasing crowd of Cajun music and dance enthusiasts at dance halls, festivals and taverns in the Upper Midwest. 

High-energy dance music, including two-steps, waltzes and blues, makes up The Bone Tones repertoire. The music is a synthesis of many musical styles and influences reflecting the unique cultural history of over 200 years in French Louisiana. Blues, country, and honky-tonk, together with the traditional sounds of the fiddle, accordion, and French vocals, have been incorporated into Cajun music to produce its distinctive sound. The Bone Tones derive their inspiration from this tradition. The band name is a play on words - from "Bon ton rouler" (as in "Laissez les bons temps rouler") and the name of Gary's old band, "The Dry Bone Road Gang."

 

Jack Fine

 

 

 

Chip Wilson Blues

 

“I have been playing blues since before I knew it was called blues,” Chip Wilson said in the liner notes of his CD Mostly Blue.  Like blues masters before him, Wilson can knock out a popular tune on his guitar, but blues is always the heart of his music.

 

Drawing inspiration and material from people like Robert Johnson and Lightnin’ Hopkins, Wilson works with an extensive catalogue of blues, both classic and original.  Whether it is Delta blues, urban blues and Louisiana blues, with its irresistible rhythms drawn from the Caribbean, Wilson plays blues with a feeling.

 

Wilson is working on a new blues CD, mostly recording solo like so many of his favorite players.  Playing classic slide guitar, fingerpicked Piedmont style, or tricky uptown fancy fretwork, Wilson’s “high, ghostly voice” (Offbeat Magazine) sings stories of hard times, lost and found love, and the good times rolling on despite it all.

 

Chip Wilson plays songs from Mississippi John Hurt, Leadbelly, JB Lenoir, Lonnie Johnson, Skip James, Muddy Waters, T-Bone Walker, BB King, Albert King, Willie Dixon, Mose Allison, Reverend Gary Davis, Blind Blake, Bo Diddley, John Lee Hooker, Mississippi Fred MacDowell, Robert Johnson, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Snooks Eaglin and many more classic blues artists, along with his own original blues.

Performance and recording credits include shows with Smithsonian Fellow Howard “Louie Bluie” Armstrong, Grammy Winners Leroy Preston, Charles Neville, and Michael Ray, and W.C. Handy Nominee Mem Shannon; New Orleans blues, funk and R & B stars George Porter, Jr., Oliver “Who Shot The La La” Morgan, Tommy Ridgely, Eddie Bo, Little Freddie King, and Ernie K-Doe; Paul Asbell (worked with Muddy Waters, Otis Rush, Paul Butterfield, Esther Satterfield); “Big Joe” Burrell, formerly with BB King; also, the Portsmouth Blues Festival, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, French Quarter Festival, Discover Jazz Festival, Champlain Valley Festival, and the Umbria Jazz Festival.