My Night with BeauSoleil at the Rhythm Room
I’ll put it this way: when I grow up, I want to be like Michael Doucet. And I want to be like the overwhelming number of older folks I spent time with last night. For the first time in thirteen years, traditional Cajun & zydeco virtuosos BeauSoleil came to Phoenix for a packed show at the Rhythm Room. Packed, that is, with smiling, dancing men and women in their 50’s, 60’s, and beyond. On a Wednesday evening.
Led by the charming Michael Doucet, his ever-present violin in tow (and favoring a broken right leg), the boys from BeauSoleil did not disappoint one bit. Michael has a calm, sage and zen-like presence, and good Lord can that man play the violin and sing like an angel. The band is in their 35th year together, and their high level of musicianship was on display as they tore through two sets of old favorites like “Zydeco Gris Gris” and “Jole Blon” (the Cajun national anthem”), and a bunch from their latest album Alligator Purse
– including “I Spent All My Money Loving You,” dedicated to the late Bobby Charles (who just passed away in January).
It was the first time I’d seen BeauSoleil up close. The only other time was from a distance a couple of years ago in a sweat-soaked tent at Austin City Limits Music Festival. The Rhythm Room is a small, intimate, box shaped blues club – and the perfect venue to enjoy BeauSoleil (and my favorite venue in Phoenix).
Being so close, you get the opportunity to study the characters in the band: accordion player Jimmy Breaux was a personal favorite. Short in stature, but playing those large & joyous accordion riffs, his legs locked in rhythm. Fiddle and bass player Mitch Reed was also in the zone, accompanying Michael on some fantastic joint fiddle/violin moments – and when on his standup electric bass, I’d watch him concentrate on Michael – completely in synch with every nook and cranny of Michael’s violin playing.
And who doesn’t love a little washboard? Billy Ware held it down on the ol’ washboard, and worked in some triangle as well. Tommy Alesi on drums, and Michael’s brother David Doucet on guitar rounded out the band.
It’s hard to convey how nice it felt to be among some of the older set last night. Just to look around and see 50, 60, even 70 & 80 year olds smiling and fully enjoying live music. An older gentleman – clearly in his 80’s – spent at least half of the show out on the floor, dancing with his partner. It warmed my heart.
It reaffirmed my faith in humanity a bit, and made me realize where my musical tastes are based. I have an extremely eclectic taste in music – but I realize there’s a theme that runs throughout the songs and artists I love: it’s vitality. Life. The joy and celebration of being alive.
BeauSoleil exudes that quality – that Joy. As short and sweet as life is, the important thing is to celebrate. And my older friends and I at the Rhythm Room last night did just that – with just a little help from BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet. And it’s clear to me – at forty years old this year – that I’ll be celebrating with music for the rest of my days, as my older friends showed me last night.
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Visit BeauSoleil’s Site.
Buy BeauSoleil’s music.
Stream BeauSoleil on Lala.
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Music nerd Pete needed a photo avec Michael Doucet.
Ick’s Pick (Week III): Beausoleil’s Alligator Purse
The great thing about cajun music is that you know it’s going to raise your spirits and it’s gonna shake your rump. As the torchbearers of traditional Cajun music since their inception in 1975, Michael Doucet and Beausoleil accomplish this with every album. Cajun and zydeco barn burners are a staple of their work. But interspersed always are some surprising gems that stray from the mold.
This week, Beausoleil released Alligator Purse, their first album for Yep Roc. The fun traditional stuff is represented in songs like “Reel Cajun (451 North St. Joseph St.)”, “Theogene Creole”, and “Marie”. But the new territory is just as fun to explore. Like their reworking of Bob Dylan’s cover of Muddy Water’s “Rollin’ and Tumblin'” (yes, a cover of a cover) – they cajunize it and sing it in French: “Rouler et Tourner”; their version of J.J. Cale’s “The Problem” is a creole roots-rocker, with Doucet reaching down into his lower vocal registers for a sweet whiskey-soaked sound [By the way, why is it that I like every J.J. Cale song I hear, yet I don’t have ANY of his stuff? I need to fix that.].
The band brings in some special guests: Garth Hudson (The Band) on “I Spent All My Money Loving You”, Natalie Merchant on “Little Darlin'”, and Lovin’ Spoonful’s John Sebastian, among others.
The album is a journey through American music, southern Louisiana style. It’s rich, tasty, zesty, and genuine. I’ve been eatin’ it up like a big ol’ hot bowl of jambalaya baby. Week III delivers!
Beausoleil will be all over the country this year, including April 3rd here in Arizona at the Chandler Jazz Festival. Come on down and join me.
- Listen to previews of all the tracks over her Yep Roc’s site.
- Buy Alligator Purse
Chez Seychelles
So my wife and I are sitting in the Glendale Arena a few weeks ago, waiting for Bruce Springsteen to take the stage. The pre-show music that’s piping over the PA is great stuff, most of it I don’t recognize. One in particular gets my wife’s attention. She remembers hearing it as she grew up in Seychelles…. an old traditional folk tune.
So the other night, I’m checking out Bruce’s web site, and lo and behold, he mercifully has provided us with a list of the pre-show ‘walk-in’ music! It turns out the name of the tune is “Chez Seychelles”, as performed by the keepers of the Cajun sound, Beausoleil. It is indeed a traditional song, and Michael Doucet (of Beausoleil) gets writing credit on the tune (just wondering, does a person get composition credit by offering a new arrangement of a traditional song?).
Ah, the power of music. The way one song can take you back in time.. it’s an amazing thing. My wife hadn’t heard this song in years, and suddenly, waiting for a Springsteen show to start in the middle of the Arizona desert, she suddenly finds herself back in her homeland, a beautiful tropical island in the Indian Ocean.
Beausoleil: Chez Seychelles (mp3)
- Beausoleil’s Web Site
- Buy Beausoleil’s Music on Amazon
- Geography Lesson: Where is Seychelles?
