By DOMINICK CROSS
A cool thing about Sweet Cecilia’s 2020 Grammy nomination for their album, “A Tribute to Al Berard,” is that it has all the earmarks of good karma if only for its good intentions from the outset.
And that’s to say that all proceeds from its sales go the Al Berard Memorial Music Fund at Community Foundation of Acadiana.
“It was never about money, obviously,” said Laura Berard Huval, one of three women, who, with her sister Maegan Berard Rankin and their cousin, Callie Guidry, make up Sweet Cecilia. “It was just about how we can help the community, how we can honor dad, include some of his past Basin Brother members to be on the album.
“It was really like healing for us,” she said of the album of her late father’s songs.
Al “Pyook” Berard, who died unexpectedly at age 54 on February 26, 2014, was himself nominated for a Grammy in 1990 with the Basin Brothers in the Best Folk Album category. Berard, fiddler extraordinaire and master of the guitar and mandolin, and mentor to countless folks, was also known for his passion for all things Cajun and Creole.
“Our goal was to never do anything except to honor dad’s legacy and his great music and the songs that he wrote,” Huval said. “So, how awesome.”
“We’ve all been so emotional. We did it all for daddy, just like Laura said,” Rankin said. “It’s a really pure feeling. It’s the most amazing feeling in the world that we can honor his legacy.”
The Al Berard Memorial Music Fund at Community Foundation of Acadiana promotes Acadiana’s musical culture by providing instruments, master teachers, and music scholarships to students of all ages.
In addition, the Threadhead Cultural Foundation in New Orleans, helped fund the project.
The Grammy nomination on November 24, 2020, in the Best Regional Roots category, came as a surprise to the band.
“Well, I’ll be honest, I did not think we had a shot,” said Huval. “We were up against people that had been nominated before; big names in Cajun and zydeco music. We just thought, ‘Let’s just submit it and, you know, we’ll see what happens.’
“I can say that I was genuinely shocked that we got the nomination. And I think a lot of people were,” said Huval. “It was so unexpected.”
Rankin said the day the nominations were to be announced, “I forgot about it. Laura called like 10 minutes before they were going to announce our category.
“My little baby’s running around and I’m, ‘Oh, let me put the computer on,’” Rankin said. “It was so funny. In the back of my head, the whole scene. Look at this, you know, a mama. Us being mamas like that and just really, I don’t know,” she laughed. “We’re not rock stars. It was just funny. I was still in my gown at 11 a.m. with my baby and I just found out we got nominated for a Grammy Award.”
Sweet Cecilia, a country, rock, folk and Cajun-influenced trio, formed in 2011 and released their first recording, a self-titled CD, in 2015. Three more have followed, including “Sweet Christmas” where “Jingle Bells” will never be the same — and that’s not a bad thing, either.
All the women are vocalists and their three-part harmonies are not to be missed. Or, as music writer Dan Willging penned in OffBeat wrote in his 2017 review of “Sing Me A Story”: “…Sweet Cecilia’s collective, often breathtaking vocals that are really what’s on tap, sometimes with wall-pinning harmonies and other times with swirling, lush background vocals that submerge you into momentary oblivion.”
Huval plays mandolin and acoustic guitar; Rankin plays electric and acoustic guitars and bass; Guidry is on drums and percussion.
Lafayette’s two-time Grammy winner in the Contemporary Christian Music Album category, Lauren Daigle, made the announcement, much to Huval’s pleasure.
“Look. I’m obsessed with with Lauren Daigle, okay? So she’s the one who announced it so it was even extra special,” said Huval.
Three songs from the Basin Brothers’ Grammy nominated album, “Let’s Get Cajun,” are on ‘Tribute.’
“It’s so cool,” said Huval. “Like wow.”
The process of going through Berard’s vast genre-jumping repertoire and picking songs for ‘Tribute’ wasn’t an easy task.
“It was hard to choose songs,” said Guidry. “There were a few that were attempted, but, some of them didn’t quite work out. But what came out was a masterpiece, if you ask me.”
Huval said the chosen songs were recorded and they found some worked better than others.
“Eventually, it just all ended up to where it was all Cajun songs,” said Huval.
Rankin said her father’s guitar album, “his masterpiece guitar album, he had some songs on there that we wanted to try to play. One song is called, ‘Count on Me.’
“I had this idea that I wanted to play it on piano and have it sung like an acoustic Lady Gaga style,” said Rankin. “That’s how it started off. He had so many beautiful songs, but exactly like Laura said, the best ones ended up being all Cajun.”
“That was really important to us growing up,” Huval said. “Some people may not know that about us, but Cajun music fed us. Literally. I mean, my dad toured, he played Cajun music his whole life. So, I think it honors that as well.
“That’s who we are. We may not play Cajun music all the time, but it’s who we are. It’s in our blood,” she said. “And I think it was just daddy, definitely his spirit, guided all those choices that we made.”
The project began in 2018 and there was no question that Berard’s studio at his home in Cecilia would be ground zero.
“I was still in my gown at 11 a.m. with my baby and I just found out we got nominated for a Grammy Award.”
Maegan Berard Rankin
“We definitely wanted to embody his spirit there,” said Huval. “And, also, logistically, because our kids, you know, our moms could help us. It was like the whole family helping out during the recording.”
And there was some really big help in having Tony Daigle, six-time Grammy Award winning recording engineer (with some 22 nominations), on the boards. His wins came in the form of three B.B. King recordings, and one each for BeauSoleil, Jo-El Sonnier and John Cleary.
Daigle has worked with the band over the years as well as Berard.
“Tony Daigle,” said Huval. “God bless Tony. He’s the bomb. He’s the best.”
The feelings are mutual.
“They’re amazing. The music inside their bones is just immense,” Daigle said of Sweet Cecilia. “They’re humble and they treat their music with a lot of respect. And I just love that about them.”
Daigle brought his gear to Al Berard Recording Studio because the late musician’s equipment wasn’t up to date and pretty much obsolete. The bulk of the album was recorded there.
“It was a great thing recording at Al’s studio,” Daigle said. “At first it seemed like a bit of overkill to haul all that stuff over there. But when we were there, we all realized, like, wow, this is just…,” he paused. “It brought our spirits up, man. It made us think about the cause, what we were doing.
“It was great,” he said, adding that rice and gravy by Karleen Berard “was the best rice and gravy ever, man.”
“Without him, this would not have happened,” Huval said of the album, the nomination. “And his saying ‘yes’ to this project. He was in it just like we were. His heart and soul was in it and we are blessed to have him in our lives. He’s amazing.”
The rest of the recording was at Electric Comoland (or Comoland), Daigle’s studio in Lafayette, La. It is named after the late multi-instrumentalist and physician, Tommy Comeaux, who was accidentally killed riding his bike in 1997.
“Right before Tommy died, we were getting ready to probably do a studio together,” said Daigle. “We’d become partners in the studio world and were thinking about it.
“Man, about two weeks before died, we were sitting around: ‘What are we going to name it?’” Daigle said. “And he made a joke about naming it Electric Comoland, like, you know, Jimi Hendrix’s Electric Ladyland (Hendrix’s last studio album in his lifetime).
“And we left it at that,” he said. “And then he got killed.”
Daigle bought some of Comeaux’s studio gear from his father, “and from that point on, I said, ‘Well, I’m just going to name it Electric Comoland.”
At first, Daigle tangled with some mixed feelings about the name because of its similarity to Hendrix’s Electric Lady Studio.
“But,” said Daigle. “I said, ‘Aw, screw it. This is for Tommy.’ That’s going to be how I’ll remember Tommy and how the spirit stays with me through all this.”
Surprisingly, or not, Daigle is up for two Grammy Awards as he also mixed and mastered Cameron Dupuy’s self-titled nominated album which is also in Regional Roots. It was recorded by Brian Brignac (a drummer for Sonny Landreth) in Gonzales.
“My involvement was sort of 50 percent there, maybe a little less,” Daigle said. “Cameron’s the real deal. Ain’t no doubt, man. He’s a young prodigy on accordion. The band is stunning, it’s just a great band.”
But with Sweet Cecilia, “It was absolutely fully all done by me,” he said. “It’s kind of my baby.”
Daigle said he felt good about Sweet Cecilia’s ‘Tribute’ nomination, “because I thought that record is worthy of a nomination,” he said, adding that sometimes name recognition alone can net a win.
“A few months ago, I dreamed about it when I was awake,” said Daigle. “When the Grammys start approaching, you start thinking, ‘What do I have that might have a chance?’ And that record was one of them.
“In my opinion, that’s the perfect record for the Regional Roots category,” he said. “It’s just a perfect record. It’s all original songs, it’s got a special value about it in terms what it’s all about. And it’s pretty cool.”
Daigle said he put some time into “Saute La Barriere” (“Jump the Fence”) and he did so “with absolute total passion because I love it so much.”
The original version of the song “is a basic Cajun kind of tune,” said Daigle. “We changed it to more of a kind of hard blues groove.” He then brought Berard’s original into the process “and I made it fit our new groove. So you’re hearing Al’s original recording inside of there, but it’s totally not the same groove as the original.
“Then we expanded on it, we built onto it and made it just a completely different element, but still having Al in there playing fiddle,” he said.
And the later, Usie’s drum work on “Jump the Fence” was recorded at Dockside Studio in Maurice.
In fact, “Saute La Barriere” (Jump the Fence) is Rankin’s favorite on the recording.
“We did some crazy stuff with it. I think it’s the most unique track on the record,” said Rankin.
Guidry agrees and adds another.
“I love ‘Saute.’ It’s rockin’,” said Guidry. “But I’ve always loved “Dans La Louisiane” because of the harmonies and because it’s so heartfelt.
“I can just feel him through that song; his love for his local community and the place he was born.”
Huval’s fave is “Fais Do Do Waltz.”
“That was recorded, originally, back in the mid-90s. My dad and Errol Verret did an album and my mom actually sang that song with him,” said Huval. “So it’s always been my favorite growing up; remembering that experience when they were recording it.
“And the song is beautiful. I mean…” she sighed. “It makes me happy to hear it and how we changed it.”
On “Sing Me a Song, Dad,” the trio is reunited with Berard.
“We sing with him. When I hear it, it just gets me every single time,” said Huval. “It’s like, wow, we get to sing with our dad again that way. It’s so special. It’s amazing.”
The 63rd Grammy Awards January 31, 2021, will probably be another event that falls victim to the coronavirus/COVID-19 pandemic and go virtual.
“Well, I’ll say this because I’m the oldest. I’m over 40 and I’m not mad,” said Guidry as her first cousins couldn’t quite suppress their laughter. “I’m not mad about not having to go buy a dress and look pretty and be presentable and wear heels.
“I’m not mad,” she said. “But, of course, I would love to go. But this is the circumstances and we’re fine with it either way.”
After regaining their composure, Huval and Rankin concurred.
In the Best Regional Roots Album category, Sweet Cecilia is joined by Cameron Dupuy and the Cajun Troubadours/“Cameron Dupuy and the Cajun Troubadours” and the New Orleans Nightcrawlers/“Atmosphere,” both out of New Orleans; Black Lodge Singers/“My Relatives ‘Niko Kowaiks” and Na Wai ‘Eha/“Lovely Sunrise.”
Guest musicians on Sweet Cecilia’s ‘Tribute’ include Huval’s husband, Adrian Huval, Kyle Hebert, Dwayne Brasseaux, Keith Blanchard, Karleen Berard, Laura Huval’s and Rankin’s mother; Gary Usie, Shane Guidry, Ronnie Eades, and James Spells.
Brasseaux and Blanchard were members of the Basin Brothers with Berard. They appear on “La Valse de Cecilia” (“Cecilia Waltz”).
“It really was a family affair,” Huval said. “It was beautiful. There was no pressure to do anything except this was going to be a fundraiser for the Al Berard Foundation.”
All three women are well aware of who put them on the music road and map.
“We have Al Berard to be thankful for. He put us together, really,” said Rankin. “We were his backing band for his guitar band. That’s how it started.”
“I have to say, Pyook took a big chance on me,” Guidry said. “I had a drum set in my room, but I would just play for fun. I never played in front of another human being. And he put me on stage with him as the drummer of his guitar band.
“So that’s how much faith he had in me. And that’s what I feel as a music teacher; I want my students to feel that I have that much faith in them,” Guidry continued. “Because that’s all it takes is somebody to believe in you and you can do amazing things.”
Huval added, “That’s exactly how daddy was,” she said. “So many people have said, ‘If it wasn’t for him, I wouldn’t be playing music.’”
“So that’s how much faith he had in me. And that’s what I feel as a music teacher; I want my students to feel that I have that much faith in them.”
Callie Guidry