Category: Culture

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Tommy Malone’s got a ‘hankering’ and he’s bringing it to NuNu Arts Thursday in Arnaudville

Tommy Malone

by DOMINICK CROSS

ARNAUDVILLE — Tommy Malone has always wanted to do what he’s doing now — and that’s his own material.

“It’s something I’ve dipped my toe in all along, even during the subdudes and in-between all the break-ups,” said Malone, frontman of the legendary Americana band out of New Orleans. “It’s just been sitting there and rarely do I get to play any of it.”

Of course the singer/songwriter/guitarist has always written songs. He’s also made three solo records and had solo projects: The Batture Boys comes to mind. Malone has recorded with Rosanne Cash, Keb Mo’, Bonnie Raitt, Shawn Colvin, and Anders Osborne. His songs have been recorded by Joe Cocker, Orleans, and many others.

“So I’ve always had a hankering — always liked that word, hankering — to do this other material,” Malone said. “It’s just been sitting there and rarely do I get to play any of it.

“So, I’ll be bringing stuff that I’ve had for sometime, honestly, but haven’t had much of a chance to play for people,” he said.

And he’s bringing it to NuNu Arts and Culture Collective, Thursday, May 12, 2022. There’ll be a culinary pop-up by 5 Mile Cafe at 5:30 p.m. Music begins 7:30.

NuNu’s is located at 1510 Bayou Courtableau Hwy. Tickets are $25 and available here.

“I’ve got this kind of hybrid guitar that’s somewhere between an acoustic and a baritone,” said Malone. “It’s what I use when I go on the road.”

The pandemic did a lot of things to a lot of people and most of it did not so good. For Malone and the subdudes, it brought an end to the band and a new beginning for the musicians.

“The group finally laid it to rest,” said Malone, who began charting a new, personal route for himself when covid hit the U.S. in March 2020. “And then simultaneously, the ’dudes just broke up.”

Malone said the split was something everyone agreed on.

“It just wasn’t fun anymore. It wasn’t creative. It wasn’t fun,” he said. “It seemed like everybody was interested in doing other things. It was kind of like the perfect time.

“It was mutual with everybody,” said Malone. “I’ve made peace with my fellas. Everybody’s doing fine and doing things they love; creative projects and stuff.”

Malone’s 2022 tour schedule takes him to Oklahoma, Chicago, Ann Arbor, Richmond and and he’s working on other shows in Annapolis, Philadelphia, Texas and the West Coast.

“I want it to be fun, creative and simple and I want it to make sense.”

Tommy Malone

Time and wisdom has Malone taking a different approach to performing, and keeping it to two gigs per outing figures prominently into it.

“I keep it simple. I limit my shows to two. I’ll go out, I’ll do two and I’ll come home,” he said. “I want it to be fun, not terribly difficult or draining. Even my voice, it won’t hold up like it used to.

“Simpler and easier is how I approach it, where it’s fun again. I feel like we used to always try to pack too much in. By the end of it, you’re just beat and worn out. Everybody’s in a bad mood.

“I want it to be fun, creative and simple and I want it to make sense,” said Malone. “And I want to go where people really are interested.”

In other words, the veteran musician is past the days of building an audience.

“I mean, that’s silly,” Malone said. “I have to take advantage of what I have now, or have done in the past, and work with that.

“But it is a young man’s game, you know?” he said. “But I’m happy to just go where people want to hear it.

“Like I said, do two shows on the road and then come home. And that is my approach,” Malone said. “Get a good night’s rest, eat well, take care of business, and that’s it, man. No delusions of grandeur.”

Come October, Malone hopes to be in Northern California “to do some recording,” with a full band, he said. “It’ll be my project, so I’m excited about that.”

Looking back on his music career, Malone pretty much jumped in the deep end and learned to swim.

“No plan,” said Malone. “Like Van Morrison said, ‘No plan B.’ I didn’t have any frickin’ plans. I was flailing around like a mongoose. I don’t know, you know what they say, stuff happens like it’s supposed to, I guess.

“But I feel very lucky. Very lucky that. I’m able to do this, still,” he said. “I don’t know if that sounds hokey or cheesy, but I’m amazed.

“I wasn’t real sure when the pandemic hit. I was going through some other stuff. It was good, but it was difficult and it kind of put you into some soul-searching mode like, ‘Man. What am I doing?’

“I almost wanted to quit,” Malone continued. “I almost just wanted to quit music and putter around the house ’til I’m 67 and get my social security and Medicare.

“Just write songs and just sit in my little space, play for myself,” he said. “But a friend of mine who was in the last version of the subdudes — Tim Cook — he’s a dear friend and he really was inspirational in getting me wanting to play again. He really was. So I’m grateful for that, too.”

Cook now manages Malone, who lives in Metairie.

“You know what, I never dreamed of living in Metairie. I was kinda like, ‘Metairie? Oh, lord,’” said Malone with a laugh. “But we’ve got this beautiful little house, nice backyard, and I’ve got a music space in a separate building.

“It’s quiet. It doesn’t flood, big plus,” he said. “Crime is honestly not an issue. I kinda like it. Kinda like it.”

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From jam session to intangible connection to Festival stage, local horn player LeBlanc sits in with international band(s)

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

by DOMINICK CROSS

LAFAYETTE, La. — It was the before times, 2019 to be exact, at a jam session just steps away from Festival International de Louisiane in Downtown Lafayette, when Josh LeBlanc and his trumpet met The Flying Balalaika Brothers.

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.’

Josh LeBlanc

LeBlanc had a gig later that evening with Malentina & the Lafayette Latin All-Stars at the Grouse Room, Downtown Lafayette.

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.

The remaining schedule:

Friday

Saturday

Sunday

For Dogs’ sake

As a matter of public safety, animal safety and basic common sense, do leave your pets at home when attending Festival.

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.

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Festival returns front, center, and live in Downtown Lafayette; Ukraine’s DakhaBrakha set for Saturday night

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.

But it all begins Wednesday at Scene Laborde Earls Fais Do Do when father-son zydeco bands hit the stage. Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas open at 6:30 p.m., to be followed by Lil’ Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers.

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:

Wednesday, 4.27.22 Thursday, 4.28.22 Friday, 4.29.22 Saturday, 4.30.22 Sunday, 5.1.22

For dogs’ sake

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.

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Medicine Show returns for 16th event; DeWitt, set to retire from Tommy Comeaux Chair, takes a look back at program

by DOMINICK CROSS

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.

While it resulted in the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair in Traditional Music at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette, funds were needed to make it so.

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).

Instructors, including Chad Huval, Blake Miller, Megan Constantin, Chas Justus, Gina Forsyth, and Lee Allen Zeno, with special guest Jimmy Breaux on drums, will also be on hand.

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.”

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Dana Cooper reflects on ‘Facing the Truth,’ his latest, with a CD release event at NuNu’s Arts on Wednesday; Renée Reed opens

Dana Cooper

by Dominick Cross

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 also has an interview/performance prior to his NuNu’s gig, noon, Wednesday, on KRVS 88.7 FM on Cecil Doyle’s Medicine Ball Caravan.

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.

“It was just a process, it took a while.”

Cooper and co-producer and multi-instrumentalis, Dave Coleman, enlisted songwriters, singers, and musicians from the US and Ireland for the CD. Collaborators in the studio include Tom Kimmel, Kim Richey, Jonell Mosser, Maura O’Connell, Brother Paul Brown, David Starr, Rebecca Folsom, and Gillian Tuite.

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.”

penDana Cooper is touring behind the release of “I Can Face The Truth.” A CD release event is Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at NuNu’s Arts & Culture Collective in Arnaudville. Renée Reed opens the show.

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.”

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A look at the ingredients of Neustrom’s ‘Jambalaya’ urged on by the pandemic with a side of her Swedish culture

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.

Artists featured on the record include Viator, Tif Lamson, Chris Stafford, Leah Graeff, Marie-Isabelle Pautz, Michael Doucet, Chris French, Peter Dehart, Josh Leblanc and Julia Price.

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.”

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‘Transfixed and totally in the moment; heart poured in every note’ — Sonny Landreth lauds Bruce MacDonald

Bruce MacDonald’s red Gibson 335 and Bassman Amp.

by Sonny Landreth

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.

Bruce MacDonald, guitarist extraordinaire, and, quite the character

‘He played with such a fierceness and tons of soul’

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.

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Roger Kash on fellow Cat Head, Bruce MacDonald: ‘He played with such a fierceness and tons of soul’

Bruce MacDonald, left, with Roger Kash. Olivia Perillo/photo

by Roger Kash

My dear friend and musical compadre, the inimitable Bruce “Weasel” MacDonald, soulful guitar slinger and Louisiana musical legend caught the bus to the great beyond this morning (Sunday, March 27, 2022) after a long and protracted illness.

He was a musical force in both Lafayette and New Orleans and will be dearly missed by all who had the pleasure of sharing the stage with him.

He was in countless legendary bands – from Rufus Jagneaux (who doesn’t remember “Opelousas Sostan?”), the first Cajun rock outfit Coteau, The Song Dogs, Hard Heads, Little Queenie & The Percolators…and many others. He formed Runnin’ Pardners with George Porter of Meters fame and was the late David Egan’s longtime guitar slinger.

I had the pleasure of being his band mate in the Cat Head Biscuit Boys for over 10 years. He taught me so much and encouraged me to sing when I didn’t even know I had a voice.

Bruce MacDonald, guitarist extraordinaire, and, quite the character

‘Heart poured in every note’

I’d seen him wipe the stage with guitar players who were much more famous than he…he played with such a fierceness and tons of soul, wrote great songs….most of all, he was a great pal and I’ll miss him dearly. He was so unique, there’ll never be another quite like him.
Thanks buddy for all the laughs and inspiration. Love ya to the moon and back.

Roger Kash, musician/Freetown Radio program host on KRVS/88.7 FM, played with Bruce MacDonald in the band Cat Head Biscuit Boys. Kash granted Bayou Hack Press permission to use his facebook post about Bruce MacDonald.

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OPINION Festivals Acadiens et Creoles: Take this break we’re given and revel in it

By DOMINICK CROSS

After two years, Festivals Acadiens et Creoles returns to the familiar surrounds of Girard Park for a weekend celebration of Cajun and Creole cultures in music, food and arts and crafts.

Yee-the-hell-haw!

And yet, the pandemic that dropped in on the world in March 2020 and which appears to be ebbing in the U.S., is, sad to say, on the rise in Europe and China.

And if all goes the way it has the past two years, the U.S. will probably again get the COVID en masse.

So the never-ending roller coaster ride continues.

This is way past exhausting. It’s been way too long and it’s way past on my last nerve which may be found in the crumpled mask I last wore in public nine days ago. It’s on the floorboard, passenger side.

Goodness gracious, I’m so tired of the pandemic. I’m tired and saddened by the unnecessary sickness and death of friends and countless strangers.

I’m especially over the obtuse chunk of citizenry who’ve been misled about the virus (and the election and the insurrection) by cynical politicians and their ilk whose platform of misinformation is peddled by certain media outlets.

You may know of these people. The ones who couldn’t be bothered with the simple task of wearing a mask, or getting the vax for not only themselves, but also their fellow Americans. Medical exemptions duly noted.

And now these same people are riding around the country in a convoy protesting any and everything designed to help put this pandemic to bed.

If I may, WTF?!

And there’s also the fresh pain of the War on Ukraine and where it may lead. I’m not a masochist, so I’ll not go there.

I’m so sick of it all. I’m worn down and nearly out.

I, we, all of us need a break from the insanity and inanity of the past two years before all meaning is lost and tossed, not unlike a book pulled from our public library shelves by the self-righteous.

So just in time, a hero emerges in the form of this upcoming festival weekend and it’s right here and it’s right now and it’s knocking on our door.

With tears of joy, I swear I can hear Monte Hall exclaim as only he could: “Festivals Acadiens et Creoles! C’mon down!”

Ah, yes. A reprieve. A respite. A revival, even. A weekend where we’re all sure to see, converse, hug and dance with friends we haven’t seen in two years.

We can still be cautious without being paranoid; Festivals Acadiens et Creoles is held outdoors. And our hearts can still go out to Ukrainians without being on our sleeves.

Take this break we’re given and revel in it.

Monday and the woes of the world will be here soon enough.

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At long last, Festivals Acadiens et Creoles returns live and in-person under the great oaks of Girard Park

The late Courtney Granger will be honored Saturday, March 19, 2022, 1 p.m. on Scène Ma Louisiane.
DCross photo

By DOMINICK CROSS

LAFAYETTE — In this much needed pause between calamities — a waning pandemic and the possibility of WWIII — make the best of the opportunity to indulge in Festivals Acadiens et Creoles, this weekend (March 18-20, 2022) in Girard Park.

The springtime version of the festival that’s usually held in the fall marks the 48th running of the music, food, arts and crafts extravaganza celebrating the Cajun and Creole cultures. One doesn’t have to go back in history to recall that COVID-19 put a halt to life as we knew it this time of year in 2020, and the virus kept most of us off-balance through 2022.

Virtual festivals became the rule of thumb everywhere and got us by, like decaf coffee, until the real deal that’s about to go down in two days and upcoming months. So, bring on the caffeine, the great outdoors, dancing shoes and an appetite for food, fun and frolic in all of the usual ways. Almost.

“We’re celebrating finally getting back together again, live in the park,” said Barry Ancelet, president of the board of Festivals Acadiens et Creoles. “We want people to please be responsible. Let’s not get carried away, careless at this point to undo the good things that are happening.

“Hopefully, as many people as possible will be vaccinated and just be responsible in how we gather. If anybody feels sick or symptomatic of anything, really, not just COVID, but anything, you know, they’ll stay home.

“Let’s just be safe. Let’s be smart,” he said. “If you’re coughing or running a fever, stay home.”

Festivals Acadiens et Creoles will again return to its normal time in October — yep, we’re getting a two-for-one this year — sans hurricane, pandemic or another world war.

Ancelet said that the original event that became this festival was held in the spring in Blackham Coliseum. But there are no plans to return to this time of year on a regular basis.

“We’re going to have the festival in October,” Ancelet said. “This spring festival is to make up for the one we didn’t have last October. In October, we’re still dealing with hurricane season, but I think it’s become our home, become our time.”

While bad weather may be an issue, it should take place when we’re all tucked away for the night. As of Wednesday, there’s “the chance for some severe weather as the front moves through, which is expected to be in the early morning hours of Friday,” according to KATC Weather, noting that the weekend outlook is good.

Music to your ears

The festivals’ line-up includes the usual Grammy-noms and Grammy winners, standard bearers of years past, envelope pushers of the present, and new bands with familiar names.

There is a tribute to the late Courtney Granger, Saturday, March 19, 2022, 1 p.m., on Scène Ma Louisiane. Granger, who left us way too soon at 39 in September 2021 , played Cajun fiddle and Cajun sang with The Pine Leaf Boys and Balfa Toujours. He sat in with everybody and would make the hair on your neck stand up knocking off a country crooner classic. Granger released Beneath Still Waters in 2016 and if you order it now, you should have it in your collection by next week.

Over the weekend, there’s the golden opportunity to listen and dance to Sheryl Cormier & Cajun Sound, Chubby Carrier & the Bayou Swamp Band, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys, Wayne Singleton & Same Ol’ 2 Step, Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars, Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie, Bonsoir, Catin, Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble, Balfa Toujours, Joe Hall and the Louisiana Cane Cutters, Feufollet, Savoy Family Band, Cedrick Watson & Bijou Creole, Riley Family Band, The Potluck Band, Jesse Lege, Lil’ Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers, Jourdan Thibodeaux et les Rodailleurs, Wayne Toups & ZydeCajun.

MUSIC SCHEDULE HERE

Chris Ardoin and NuStep Zydeco, opening night, Friday, March 18. DCross photo

The Bayou Food Festival will give you a taste of the Cajun and Creole cultures, and the Louisiana Crafts Fair artists and craftspeople will have their wares to marvel over and purchase.

Looking ahead

Ancelet said the board will meet in early April to plan the fall festival, in which the week of will coincide with an ethnomusicology conference in Lafayette.

“We’ve got some interesting plans for the next one,” he said. “None of this is in stone, but what we’re discussing right now is celebrating Louisiana as an international Francophone crossroads, examining the connections Louisiana has to the rest of the French speaking world.

“Part of that is going along with the likelihood that we’re going to have a major, international Francophone Ethnomusicology Conference in Lafayette the week of the festival in October,” Ancelet said, adding, “all of this is in the planning stages, but this is what we’re shooting for.”

Look for scholars and performers from the Francophone areas “that we’re examining to see the connections,” said Ancelet. “Not only to ponder them, but hear them.”

Joshua Clegg Caffery, director of the Center for Louisiana Studies at University of Louisiana-Lafayette, and Ancelet have been is discussion with Roger Mason, musician/ethnomusicologist who worked with Claudie Marcel-Dubois, the French ethnomusicologist about the conference.

A similar ethnomusicology conference was held over Zoom last year.

Who knew?

As it happened, Mason had a major impact on Ancelet’s life during his collegiate years, and, as it so happens, anyone who has ever enjoyed Festival Acadiens et Creoles.

Mason came to Louisiana in the early 1970s “and met with and learned from and recorded with the Balfa Brothers, Nathan Abshire, the Ardoins — a lot of the founding members of that generation — so he’s very well connected and a long-time, not only fan of, but very knowledgable of Cajun music and zydeco.”

While in Nice, France, when Ancelet was on his academic year abroad in 1972-73, Mason was playing “Crowley Two-Step” in a coffee shop, “And it changed my life,” said Ancelet.

Ancelet introduced himself and said he was from Louisiana and that the song eased his homesickness.

“And he said, ‘You must know all of the people I learned from, Dewey Balfa, Nathan Abshire…,’ and I said, ‘I don’t know any of those people, but I need to know who they are.’”

Roddie Romero & the Hub City All Stars, Saturday, 3:45 pm, Scène Ma Louisiane. DCross photo

Mason told Ancelet that when he gets back home, go to Basile, get directions to Dewey Balfa’s house and introduce himself. So, in the summer of 1973, he knocked on Balfa’s door.

“I said, ‘Are you Dewey Balfa?’ And he said, ‘Yeah, I am.’ I said, ‘I’m Barry Ancelet and I’m from here and I was in France and I met Roger Mason,” recalled Ancelet, who said in his nervousness, his response got faster and faster before Balfa urged him to slow down and invited him inside.

“I went in and that’s how I got involved in all of this,” Ancelet said. “And it was in part due to Roger Mason.”

And nearly 50 years later, here we all are.