Josh LeBlanc, right, sat in on trumpet with The Flying Balalaika Brothers, Thursday, April 28, 2022, in Day 2 of Festival International de Louisiane in Downtown Lafayette. DCross/photo
And in no time LeBlanc was asked to join his newfound, yet strangely familiar, musician friends on a Festival stage.
“I just randomly jammed with them,” said LeBlanc, an Abbeville native living in Lafayette. “The next day, they asked me to play with them at Festival. I even had less time to prepare the last time. It was literally the day after, but I just pretty much improvised over a lot of their stuff.
“(Zhenya Rock) was quickly showing me stuff back stage as best he could,” LeBlanc recalled, adding that his days with gypsy swing band, Vagabond Swing in 2009-2010, had helped in the endeavor. “And I was like, ‘I’m very familiar with these modes and scales and style.’”
Upon Festival’s 2022 return, it was this past Thursday evening that the Russian/Ukrainian/U.S. band and LeBlanc were reunited on Scene Laborde Earles Fais Do Do.
And this time around, it was smooth sailing.
“I’m just kind of looking at him, waiting for him to give me the signal,” said LeBlanc. “But I had a chance to chart-out everything and write charts for it — in-between other bands I’ll be playing with for Festival.”
‘It just felt like, immediately, I’d been playing with them forever.’
And come 7 o’clock Saturday evening at Festival, LeBlanc will sit in on a couple of songs with Delgres at Scene LUS Internationale.
It wasn’t a stroke of luck that LeBlanc, who also plays bass with the band, Givers, finds himself blowing his horn with international musicians, it was a choice (and, of course study, practice, practice and practice).
“I was a marching band geek. Whenever I discovered jazz, that’s when I changed. That was in college,” he said. “Once I discovered jazz, I was like, ‘Cool. I can improvise and make my own music.’ I tried doing classical trumpet for a while, but it wasn’t for me. It’s too rigid.
Josh LeBlanc, right, awaits the word from Zhenya Rock, with accordion, to take off on a solo. DCross/photo
“Thankfully, I studied jazz so I can do things like this and just improvise,” said LeBlanc, with a nod to the stage as Haiti’s Lakou Mizik set up, now that it was vacated by The Flying Balalaika Brothers. “Just tell me the key and then I’ll try to make up something that fits.”
So while Vagabond Swing, in some ways prepped LeBlanc for The Flying Balalaika Brothers, there was also a connection with the band members at that 2019 jam that defies description.
“There was something about meeting them, I felt like immediately I knew them somehow. It was like a weird thing,” LeBlanc said. “You know, Russian culture and then Louisiana culture, you wouldn’t think there’s an intersection there, but for some reason, it just felt like, immediately, I’d been playing with them forever.”
Festival, conceived as a multi-faceted cultural event of international scope and significance, continues through Sunday.
Cassandra jumps for joy and Clarence concurs on the news that they’ll miss Festival again this year. DCross/photo
We, the upright, two-legged mammal with opposing thumbs who actually enjoy loud music, tons of people we don’t know, and can traverse Downtown’s hot sidewalks and streets with ease without burning the pads off our feet, should use our status on the food chain and do right by our pets.
Festival International de Louisiane is underway in Downtown Lafayette, April 27-May 1, 2022. DCross photo from FIL 2019
by DOMINICK CROSS
LAFAYETTE, LA — It appears the planets are aligned for Festival International de Louisiane when it returns, live, to Downtown Lafayette this week after two years in pandemic postponement purgatory.
Festival, the well-earned, singular moniker given to the five-day international music, food and art spectacular, runs Wednesday, April 27, 2022 through Sunday, May 1, 2022.
Ordinarily the only concern, the weather, looks to hold rather nicely with pleasant sunny days and doable humidity with comfortably cool evenings — at least until possibly sometime Sunday.
An unusual concern and the reason behind the past two vacated years, covid (festivalus interruptus), in whatever version it finds itself as these days, is of low concern here, according to the CDC.
So, with weather and covid in the bag, coupled with the usual stellar music line-up, Festival should experience some hefty crowds.
And those crowds will no doubt swell to see and support DakhaBrakha (Saturday, 9 p.m., Scene Tito’s Handmade Vodka Lafayette), a group from Ukraine whose country is under attack from Russia. One might want to also check out the Flying Balalaika Brothers (Thursday, 6 p.m. Scene Laborde Earles Fais Do Do). The group consists of musicians from Russia/Ukraine/U.S. and that ought to show the world that we can get along.
By the way, look for a new release coming from Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas. Also, take note that Dennis Paul Williams, Cha Cha guitarist/artist, is illustrating a book on zydeco with Michael Tisserand.
Internationally speaking, the line-up also includes The Wailers (Jamaica), Locos For Juana (Colombia/Venezuela/Argentina/U.S.), Les Filled de Illighadad (Niger), Natu Camara (Guinea), Vieux Farka Toure (Mali), Cimafunk (Cuba), Lakou Mizik (Haiti), and Son Rompe Pera (Mexico) and others.
Louisiana is well-represented with Zachary Richard, Sonny Landreth, Julian Primeaux, Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole, Roddie Romero & Michael Juan Nunez, Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, Lost Bayou Ramblers w/79rs Gang, Dustin Dale Gaspard, The Daiquiri Queens, Boma Bango, Magnolia Sisters and Sou Express Brass Band, and others.
Opening ceremonies are Thursday, 7:30 p.m. at Scene LUS Internationale. Here’s the schedule:
Cassandra jumps for joy and Clarence concurs on the news that they’ll miss Festival again this year.
As a matter of public safety, animal safety and basic common sense, do leave your pets at home when attending Festival.
We, the upright, two-legged mammal with opposing thumbs who actually enjoy loud music, tons of people we don’t know, and can traverse Downtown’s hot sidewalks and streets with ease without burning the pads off our feet, should use our status on the food chain and do right by our pets.
LAFAYETTE, LA — When Tommy Comeaux died tragically in November 1997, the music community rallied around the fallen musician and pathologist and sought a way to honor his life.
And, as tradition has it here, the effort to raise funds was centered around music, which was done with annual Medicine Shows. It was the right thing to do for many reasons, but especially because Comeaux, a renowned multi-instrumentalist, had played with BeauSoleil, Basin Brothers, Coteau, the Clickin’ Chickens and others.
Come Friday, April 22, 2022, 7 p.m., the 16th in a series of these evenings is set for Angelle Hall, St. Mary Boulevard and McKinley Street, on the UL campus.
Opening the show will student bands, the Angelle Aces (Cajun), Ragin’ Steppers (zydeco), Saint Street Songsters (string band), Ragin’ & Blues Band (R&B), and Vermilion Express (bluegrass).
General admission to Medicine Show 2022 is $10.00 (free with UL I.D.); and $25.00, which includes admission to a post-show reception honoring the performers, as well as Mark DeWitt, Professor of Music, who was chosen for the inaugural position a dozen years ago and who is retiring this year. Advance tickets available here.
“I did the best I could to move slowly, at first, to get the lay of the land and to see where the demand was and where the low hanging fruit were in terms of what students wanted and what resources we had in the community which turns out we had a lot,” said DeWitt, who relocated from California to Louisiana for the position.
“We were going to do more than Cajun and Creole music all along. Although I feel strongly that that needs to be the core of the program.”
Mark DeWitt, Professor of Music, Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair in Traditional Music
The community resources were abundant and skilled and anxious to get to work and they all figured out the course together.
“The amount of musicians in the community who are so good at what they do and also interested in working in a university environment even if they had never done so before,” he said. “Some of them who hadn’t even gone to college themselves. It was cool.
“We kind of learned as we went. We learned things like teaching fiddle and accordion at one of those summer camps, which is like a one-week camp — as opposed to doing it for 15 weeks — it’s a whole different thing.
“There’s just more time to teach things. You can do it in a different order and do it in a different way,” he said. “So we learned some of that stuff together.”
The first course was Cajun music, something DeWitt was familiar with.
“So I started with Cajun music because that was my interest when I came here, and it also seemed like an obvious thing to start with,” said DeWitt. “And then we also found out there’s also student interest in other types of music too.”
“So we we added bluegrass and that was real popular for a while,” he said. “One of the things I also learned was that the students like something that’s new. So they go for the new thing and then it’s not so new anymore and then you have to do a little more persuading.
After Cajun music came bluegrass “and then we added zydeco band and then some blues and it just kind of grew over time. And now it’s all I can keep up with, it’s about as much a one person can do,” said DeWitt. “So I feel like it’s a good time to hand it over to the next person, whoever that turns out to be. I’ll do my best to share with them tips or secrets or things to remember.”
“We were going to do more than Cajun and Creole music all along,” he said. “Although I feel strongly that that needs to be the core of the program.”
While it was a new program at UL, DeWitt knew it was no secret how the area’s traditional music had kept going all these years and he responded accordingly.
“I knew pretty well we weren’t going to lead with music theory,” he said. “People learn music by ear, right? They learn by hanging out with other people and jam sessions are a relatively recent thing in Cajun music, but it’s still a way for folks to get some reps and get the music in their ear which is really important.
“I knew that going in that music theory was something to teach second, not first,” he said, adding, “or second or third.”
“We have a few traditional music majors, but it hasn’t been as popular a major as I would’ve liked. But then there’s always hope for the future on that,” said DeWitt. “Nonetheless, we’ve had a few and I had taught them a music theory class that was kind of tailored toward traditional music as part of their major.
“And they also got to learn how to read music a little bit in the same classes that the music business majors take, keyboard musicianship classes and so they get exposed to it, but it’s not like a prerequisite coming in. It’s not like they’re getting a sight reading test and they’re auditioning.”
DeWitt returns to California in June and he’s grateful for the opportunity the Comeaux Chair afforded him and all that came with living in South Louisiana.
“I certainly got to meet a lot of great musicians and work with them. Some of those were students, too,” DeWitt said. “But, certainly, the faculty we had and just the chance to actually live here in the middle of all this great music and kind of experience how it all fits together.”
DeWitt, an ethnomusicologist, paused, then continued.
“I’m not sure I can put it into words, even, how the cultural environment that nurtures the whole musical scene here is really interesting to be a part of and try to understand,” he said. “I’m still not sure I could really explain it, but I’m a lot closer than if I never lived here.”
If Kennedy’s vote had been in the majority, Louisiana would’ve missed out on an incredible opportunity of improved roads and safe bridges for those who live here and not in Washington, D.C.
Kennedy didn’t just poke President Joe Biden in the eye. Nor did he only put it to the Libs.
Sen. John Neely Kennedy (R) apparently is not aware that registered Republican voters also drive these same roads and over the very same bridges.
In no small way, Sen. Kennedy told his constituents that they, too, are simply fodder and a contemptible means to his ends.
And it’s at those ends you’ll find his blind fealty to Donald Trump.
The Republican senator couldn’t even hold the former president accountable for his role in the January 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
“Other than being entertaining sometimes, he does very little for us,” Chambers said of the senator. “John Kennedy needs to be challenged by somebody who is not going to play with him.”
Chambers also said that this same somebody is one who need not “pretend that they care so much what the Democratic Establishment says that they cannot move people that are non-chronic voters to show up to vote.”
Chambers, a Baton Rouge native and social justice advocate running for the U.S. Senate, spoke to about 40 area residents Thursday, April 14, 2022, evening in downtown Lafayette at a gathering billed as Backyard Conversations with Gary Chambers.
Chambers motto is Do Good, Seek Justice. He’s been leading the fight for a better, more just Louisiana.
During his talk, in the Q&A that followed, and in general conversation, it’s readily apparent that Chambers also walks the walk.
“They talk about cannabis being a ‘gateway drug.’ I do think it’s a gateway drug — to better roads, better schools, better bridges and better opportunities for people.”
Gary Chambers
“When you look at where we are as a state, roads are not red or blue. Roads are not Democrat or Republican. Roads are for everybody, ok,” said Chambers. “And the man voted against the Infrastructure bill.”
Whether one is a fan of Biden or not, “At the end of the day, he had a plan that was going to bring $7B to Louisiana that was going to fix roads and bridges,” he said. “And (Kennedy) voted against it.
“I promise you, you will not agree with everything that I do if I’m your U.S. Senator,” Chambers continued. “But you will not have a problem with me voting for roads and bridges. That just doesn’t make sense and I don’t think that it makes sense to most of us.”
“I believe that where we are as a country is a very tricky place and that if we are not careful, our children will inherit a world that is much less democratic, or democracy is much less abounding for our children than it is today,” said Chambers. “There are people that are working in every corner of this country — from Ohio to Georgia, to here — to restrict people from access to the ballot.”
“Black people make up 34 percent of the state of Louisiana,” he said. “But there’s one Black congressional district for this state.”
The contender said the issue matters because “that means there’s one Democratic congressional seat for this state. There’s one democrat going to D.C. to fight for all the other democrats in this state — not just black people — but people who want to see our state have a fighting chance.”
Louisiana goes to the polls in November where along with Chambers, two other Democrats, Luke Mixon and Syrita Steib, seek to unseat Kennedy.
In January, Chambers rocked the political world with an ad of him smoking a blunt in order to get a new conversation going about marijuana, and, “how do you get people to pay attention to what’s happening in Louisiana without a little bit of ‘shock & awe.’”
Chambers wants to get the word out on the injustices that has befallen many people who smoke pot, the business potential, tax revenue and related industry in direct relation to the plant.
“But talking about the data, a man named Kevin Allen, right now, in this state, is sitting in Angola Penitentiary serving a life sentence,” said Chambers. “He has been there since 2013 for less than a blunt of weed.
“While, currently, Colorado, with the fourth-ranked education system in the country, is breaking records in tax revenue and sales, improving their infrastructure, improving their education system,” he said. “While Louisiana ranks 50th.”
Chambers said the state’s commitment to the oil and gas industry “like that’s the only jobs we can find in this state,” needs to be reexamined.
“The truth is, we’ve got a lot of land that we’re going to drive by,” he said. “Why can’t we get some agriculture going there and not just cannabis for recreational use, hemp, and all of the things that go along with this industry.
“You guys know that they build houses out of hemp, now? That they make clothes out of hemp? That this is not just about people smoking, this is about a product that can be used to create thousands of jobs.”
“So, yes, I smoked a blunt to make us have a conversation about the inequity that surrounds that issue and the opportunities that surround it,” said Chambers.
“They talk about cannabis being a ‘gateway drug.’ I do think it’s a gateway drug — to better roads, better schools, better bridges and better opportunities for people.”
U.S. Senate candidate Gary Chambers Jr. DCross/photo
Chambers reminded the crowd of the $2B deficit left to the state after Republican Bobby Jindal sat in the governor’s chair for two terms and what it took to right the state’s ship.
“We figured out how to tax the hell out of us to get the money out of the hole,” he said. “But the way we continue to make sure that this state doesn’t end up in that situation again is, we build a diversified, thriving economy.”
And to be able to do that means having everybody on the same page.
“That means that every partner in every branch of government has to be working together. You guys can imagine that John Bel and John Kennedy don’t work together too much. That doesn’t benefit our state. That doesn’t benefit working class people,” said Chambers.
A partner of the same party on the federal level is one way to make it happen.
“And so, I may be a little loud, I may be a little unorthodox, but I think that’s what’s going to win this election,” Chambers said. “I don’t think you beat Kennedy by running to the center and hoping that you get a bunch of Republicans to switch over.
“I think you run on the values of supporting a woman’s right to choose. I think you run on the values of providing green opportunities and new jobs in communities,” he said. “I think you run on the values of democracy and protecting the right to vote and you touch the percentages of people that don’t show up to vote.”
Getting people to the polls is key to victory, especially those who don’t vote, both registered and those who need to, but have not.
“(When) John Bel became governor, 50 percent of Black New Orleans did not go vote; 45 percent of Black Baton Rouge did not go vote. About the same in Shreveport,” said Chambers. “Kennedy was elected with 536,000 votes. There’re 900,000 registered Black voters and about 30 percent of White voters in this state who are going to vote Democratic when they go vote.
“The math is there. Also, there’s 1.2 million eligible Black voters in the state of Louisiana. So, there’s another 250-300,000 voters that are not registered that could be mobilized that agree with you and I on policy.
“I thought Build Back Better was a great plan. Do I think that there needs to be more in it, be more inclusive? Yeah. But I think that you don’t let perfect get in the way of good.”
Gary Chambers
Chambers has a theory why the Democratic Party have not pursued such voters in earnest.
“Real simple. The Party wants a centrist, the people don’t,” he said. “If we are going to change this state, we’ve got to be bold like other states have been. We have got to organize and raise resources. One of the things you’re going to find out in the next few days is that we’ve raised a lot of money in the first quarter.”
Money is paramount for victory in politics these days and Chambers said he and his team have been “been darting all over the country raising money to make this a national race so that we can have the resources to be competitive, but I can’t win without people like y’all.”
In addition to fund-raising, a successful political run requires organization and reaching out to voters.
“I’m one man and this is one team, but it’s going to take thousands of us organizing around the state and knocking on neighbor’s door and telling them the numbers so that they can know what’s possible.
“The reason people don’t go vote, or don’t participate in the process is simply because they don’t know their power; that nobody’s ever told them these are the numbers and it’s that simple.
“(Louisiana Governor) John Bel (Edwards) was elected with 700 and 40-something thousand votes; 450,000 of them were Black voters. Why (hasn’t) anyone told you that before now?
“Because they don’t want you to know that there’s another 500,000 of them that didn’t go vote. And that if we get those people to go vote, then all of our children end up living up in a more prosperous Louisiana, a more equitable Louisiana, a more diverse and inclusive Louisiana.
“And I think that that’s a Louisiana that gives all of our babies a future worth living,” he said. “I don’t want my daughter to leave Louisiana to live out her wildest dreams.”
“We have an opportunity to draw those people in, draw those jobs in, diversify the economy,” said Chambers. “But you’ve got to have a partner at the federal levels that says, ‘You know what, I want to go out and talk to people about what Louisiana really is and how we can bring people to the table.”
“A U.S. senator has the ability to hold up a president’s agenda, or advance it,” he said. “When we talk about the things that are important to us, the John Lewis Voting Rights, making sure that everybody can have access to the ballot — if you’ve got a senator that would do the same thing that they would to to leverage their vote to ensure that that would pass, you’d get it. Right?
“Now they’re leveraging their vote for things that are not beneficial to us.”
Chambers is a supporter of Biden’s Build Back Better plan that was stymied by the Arizona and West Virginia senators, both Democrats.
“I thought Build Back Better was a great plan. Do I think that there needs to be more in it, be more inclusive? Yeah,” he said. “But I think that you don’t let perfect get in the way of good.
“There was enough in that bill that would’ve touched working class people,” said Chambers. “That child earned income tax credit where people were getting $300 a month per child, that was helping bring people out of childhood poverty. That was helping eradicate poverty.”
Chambers said as a result of building stronger families, “we build stronger communities and we solve some of these problems in these communities,” he said.
“Everybody wants to talk about violence and all of the crime that happens in all of our communities,” said Chambers. “All the folks who think we can put more police on the ground to solve the problems — we have had a wave of mass policing that has produced nothing but mass incarceration.”
“Let’s talk about jobs and opportunity,” he said. “When we create more jobs and opportunities for people, then they aren’t left with choices that allow them to be in an environment that creates the violence that we see.”
ARNAUDVILLE, La. — Of course he was driving his car when we talked.
Dana Cooper, singer/songwriter, was heading to Arnaudville from Nashville for his 7:30 p.m., Wednesday, April 6, 2022, show at NuNu’s Arts & Culture Collective, 1510 Bayou Courtableau Hwy.
Local talent and singer/songwriter in her own right, Renée Reed, opens the program.
On site will be a culinary pop-up by Five Mile Café. Tickets are $20; door opens 5:30 p.m. Music at 7:30 p.m.
Cooper is touring behind the release of “I Can Face The Truth,” his latest of 29 recordings since he started his music career in 1973.
“I was kind of reflecting on that, you know, my life and my own faults and choices I’ve made in life and stuff,” said Cooper. “The funny thing is, is the chorus, ‘I can face the truth, but please not today.’ Human nature, you know, how we kind of put it all off ’til later.
“It’s not always easy to face up to all that stuff.”
Cooper started on the CD before the COVID pandemic, “but it took a couple of years to work on it because of COVID,” he said. “I started a few months before and then I went out on the road.
“I was out on the road on the West Coast when COVID really hit us full force,” said Cooper. “And I came home, and then we’re all isolated for seven, eight months and then we went back in occasionally, Dave Coleman and I, worked together with our masks on and built what we could out of it until we could actually safely get people in there again.
Like many singer/songwriters, Cooper is put in the Americana category. And, like his brethren, well, it is what it is.
“They kind of lump me in in with Americana, you know, but I really feel like I,” he paused, then continued. “As a songwriter, I’ve always kind of written all over the place.
“So I write things that are bluesy and country and folk and rock and pop and just whatever I want because I like all kinds of music,” said Cooper. “So I try to incorporate it all in what I’m doing.
“But, yeah, it’s Americana what I’m doing right now.”
When a song comes to Cooper it could be anytime, anywhere.
“I never know when they’re going to come. They show up pretty much unexpectedly when they happen, the ideas I get,” Cooper said. “It’s changed over the years. Pretty much everyday I come up with some kind of a rhythmic idea or a melody or a lyric and I’ll jot it down or hum it in in my recorder.
“I collect these ideas and then every week or so I kind of go back over what I’ve been coming up with and see if there’s anything worth pursuing,” he said. “Sometimes, I will just get an idea and I’ll have time to sit down and actually just start working on it right in the moment.
“That’s become rare these days. I’m busy doing so much traveling and ad man work on a computer and all, I don’t have as much creative time available as I would like.”
So, yeah, portable recording technology comes in handy for Cooper.
“I’ll get a lot of ideas on the road when I’m driving and that’s when I’ll just hum them or sing them into my recorder,” said Cooper. “And after gigs a lot of times, I’ll sit around for a while and play the guitar, come up with some ideas that way, too.
“But they can come from the guitar, from a music idea; they can be a rhythm idea,” he said. “That’s where most of my things start, from one or the other of those. And then I’ll start working on lyrics.”
While some of Cooper’s songs can comment on social or political issues, they’re not in your face tunes.
For instance, take the title song of his latest ‘Face the Truth’ release.
“That’s kind of reflective of the times we’re in, when it’s hard to know what the hell the truth is these days,” said Cooper. “That’s kind of one of the underlying themes in that song, without it really getting political or anything.”
Other songs, “Summer in America” and “Walls” said Cooper, are some of the more “topical songs” on the release.
“So, yeah, I tend to write about the things that concern me and I try to do it in a way that is not confrontational or divisive with people,” he said. “I like to maybe make people just kind of reconsider, sometimes, maybe their viewpoint.
“I try not to shove anything down people’s throat,” Cooper said. “I’ve found you don’t really get much anywhere that way.”
Cooper is rather familiar with Cajun music.
“Like I said earlier, I love all kinds of music and Cajun music has always fascinated me. I’ve listened to quite a bit of it,” he said. “I’m not any kind of an expert on it, but I do love it.
“I’ve leaned on that a little bit with some of my songwriting,” he said. “I’ve got a few things that were inspired by Cajun music.”
One of those songs is “Acadian Angel,” he wrote with Shake Russell.
“I’ll probably be playing a couple of those in my show,” he said. “Like I said, I’m kind of all over the place.”
Despite the the splash MTV made a splash on the music scene, Cooper keeps the music video in its place when it comes to songwriting.
“Not when I’m writing something usually. I mean it might occur to me that something might look cool some way visually,” he said. “But that’s usually after I’ve written a song and then I’ll consider what to do with it visually.”
Cooper said while most of his music vids are selfie videos, he calls on friends to help with the others, including “Bluebird,” which is on “I Can Face The Truth.”
“I’ll go out there and put it together the best I can,” he said of the selfies. “But I’ve worked with some friends, too, in Nashville. In ‘Bluebird’ (with Tom Kimmel), it was like, ‘Hey, this would be great, obviously, to have some aerial footage.’
So Cooper contacted friends in Texas who do just that and the Lone Star countryside, shot from above, is in the music video.
“I asked if they would contribute some stuff and gave them some ideas of what I was looking for,” said Cooper. “So they sent me a whole lot of aerial footage that I had to comb through and cull from.”
Cooper rarely tours with a band.
“I’ve been doing the solo thing for a while and economically and logistically, it’s just easier,” he said. “But I do occasionally. I’ll be playing in Nashville, I’m doing a show in May with a band there, some of the people who played on the album with me.”
And while on tour in Texas, “I’ll do a pick-up band down there sometimes because I know a lot of people there,” he said. “But it’s pretty much a solo show.”
“I Can Face The Truth” is charting on five radio charts. It ranked- #8 FAI Folk Chart Album, #8 Folk Chart Artist for February. It debuted on NACC Folk Chart at #17. Also on Alternative Country, Roots Music & Americana Charts.
“All these shows I’m doing right now are being billed as CD release shows,” he said. “I’ll do the songs off the new record, plus a collection of songs from my other 29 records.”
“I’ve been doing a lot for a long time,” said Cooper. “Some of (albums) were with other folks. I’ve played with a couple other people over the years, we put out records together. They weren’t all solo projects, but most of them are.”
Emily Neustrom brings her record release party to the Blue Moon Saloon, Saturday, April 2, 2022. submitted artwork
by Dominick Cross
LAFAYETTE, LA — The pandemic gets a lot of blame for a lot of things and nearly all of it deservedly negative.
There’s probably not another side to this COVID coin, you know, where some good would ordinarily be found, so perhaps one should zoom in along its edge.
And it’s here, during the past two years of downtime, that some people examined their lives, or looked at their own mortality, or even pursued a long-sought goal.
Emily Neustrom, a Lafayette native living in New Orleans, is all of those people.
“I’ve been dreaming of making a record for 20 years,” said Neustrom. “I think the pandemic made us all question our lives and death and what do we want to do and what haven’t we done.”
This thought pattern resulted in Neustrom’s debut CD, “No More Jambalaya,” a solo effort and genre-bending recording that’ll make its Lafayette debut Saturday, April 2, 2022, at the Blue Moon Saloon, 215 E. Convent St.
“And so, for me,” Neustrom said. “This was the biggest thing I wanted to make sure I did before I died.”
The lively program gets underway at 7:30 p.m., and features, in order of appearance: Band Practice, Yates Webb, Neustrom and Pinecone Brothers.
Neustrom’s all-original release does not neatly fit into any particular music category.
“It doesn’t matter to me, but apparently the Internet wants you to define it,” said Neustrom, addressing the issue as only she can. “I did put non-binary country. But I don’t even consider myself country. Maybe non-binary Americana. I don’t know.
“Sometimes I describe myself as singer/songwriter, sometimes it’s like country/folk, or just straight up folk,” she said. “Some of songs, to me, feel more like indie pop.
“So, it’s kind of a combo,” said Neustrom. “If Americana is a catch-all, then that’s fine.”
No matter the style of music, the subject matter of the songs will be familiar.
“I would say they range from death to dancing to love, or ex-boyfriends or something,” Neustrom said. “The name of the album is ‘No More Jambalaya,’ a feminist rant, or just a song for the ladies.”
‘When you share your own story, whether it’s heartbreak or joy, I feel like that’s what people connect to. It’s stories that are true to me.’
Emily Neustrom
While the pandemic may have spurred Neustrom to take care of business and get the recording out, she also got a nudge from her Swedish heritage.
Neustrom said the release of the album is a part of the “Swedish Death Cleaning of my soul,” she said.
“Swedish Death Cleaning is you live and keep your house and your things with death in mind,” said Neustrom. “So, imagining someone is going to come into your house after you die and have to deal with all of your shit. So it would be better if you just deal with your shit before you die.
“That’s what I’m trying to do on a soul level,” she said.
And the outcome?
“I feel amazing. It’s so liberating. It’s so scary, but it’s so liberating,” Neustrom said. “For me, it was like a weight on my heart and mind not having put my songs on an album to share with people publicly. So, this debut record is accomplishing my goal of sharing myself.”
While she shares herself through her songs, they story they tell should be familiar to everyone.
“When you share your own story, whether it’s heartbreak or joy, I feel like that’s what people connect to. It’s stories that are true to me,” said Neustrom. “There all either happy times or sad times. It’s just life.
“So for me, it’s sharing my stories through song and I hope people resonate with the emotions and feel comfort maybe by connecting through music and hearing someone else’s story.
“I think it makes us feel less alone,” she said. “That would be my goal if someone can feel less lonely.”
The CD was recorded at Chad Viator’s home studio and where Neustrom recorded demos over the years.
“Chad Viator is so talented and thoughtful as a producer. In the studio, you can make things sound ways that really bring them to life in a new way,” said Neustrom. “I showed up with just my guitar, lyrics and melodies. I mean, songs that I had written and were complete, and some were not complete and we finished in the studio.
“He just was able to add a lot of emotion and support the lyrics and the sentiment of a lot of songs,” she said, referring to the production and arrangements and instrumentation or ornamentation of the songs.
Neustrom had one word for Lamson’s contributions on drums and vocal harmonies.
“Incredible,” said Neustrom, who also gave a shout-out to “my old college roommate and Swampblossoms bandmate, Marie-Isabelle Pautz.
“I had a blast making this record with friends that I love and who are so supportive and that makes all the difference in the world,” she said. “It was a beautiful experience.”
Neustrom has enough songs written for a second release. But she’s got plans in the meantime.
“I’m going to start gigging more in New Orleans and Lafayette,” she said. “I’d like to play a bunch locally in Louisiana and get to know Louisiana dancehalls in that way.
“I’d love to go on a tour,” added Neustrom. “But you kind of need to be better known, or partner with other local bands.”
Bruce and I first connected and started hanging out in the early ’70s when he was playing with the band Rufus Jagneaux. They had burst on to the local scene like a force of nature with their big hit, “Opelousas Sostan,” and were playing everywhere.
Those were fun and formative times for a lot of musicians, artists and friends, and Bruce and I were right in the middle of it all with our mutual bands like a gathering tribe. Though he and I never officially formed a group, we sure jammed a lot, played gigs together and encouraged each other with equal parts admiration, sympathy and humor.
There was a lot of creativity in the air back then, and that required some trial and error on a regular basis. I honestly don’t remember whose idea it was, but I once traded a brand new Fender Twin Reverb combo to him for his older, ’60s Blackface Bassman amp head. Now, of course, it’s well known that his amp is a highly coveted model that is still sought after by players and collectors alike. Back then? Not a clue. I just knew it was the best sounding amp I’d ever played.
But after only a few days, Bruce called in a panic and asked if we could reverse the swap so that he could get his amp back.
It was kinda sweet, really, because it made me realize how much it meant to him, and I knew why. I said, “Sure, man, it’s still really your amp and always will be.” And it was true. He played his red Gibson 335 through that Bassman from then on and had his sound that only he could get.
In fact, some of my favorite memories of playing music are of Bruce onstage and on fire. Eyes closed, not so much as a glance at the fretboard, he would become transfixed and totally in the moment, pouring his heart into every single note. It seemed like a sudden force was at his back hurtling him through space. It was a joy to behold and to hear, and I’ll never forget that feeling.
Soar on, brother. The tribe will miss you greatly.
Sonny Landreth, Louisiana singer, composer and renown musician known for his slide guitar playing and advanced technique. Landreth and fellow guitarist, Bruce MacDonald, go way back. MacDonald died March 27, 2022.
