bums with the strictly traditional Savoy-Doucet Cajun band. One sure sign that the band has reached acritical mass of "Ten years ago we decided, 'Okay, we'll give it achance. notoriety is the number of established musicians who want If we're gonna jump, let's jump. It's never been done before.' to guest on their albums. Bonnie Raitt wanted to be on this If you want to make aliving playing music in Louisiana, you disc, but couldn't fit it into her schedule. Even without her, go to Nashville or somewhere else first. But that was bull- the guest list on L'Amour ou la Mie is solid. First is Richard shit. That wasn't us. We wanted it on our terms. Thompson, who also played on Cajun Conja. Texas Tornado "The point of Beausoleil is to show that you can have tal- Augie Meyers plays piano and sings on his original, "Can't ent, you can have national appeal, and still remain true to the You See." Jazz clarinetist (and longtime Doucet pal) Dr. source, still put your energy into the songs that matter" Michael White sits in on two cuts. A former Coteau mem- That energy and appeal was put to the test when, in 1984, ber, Bessyl Duhon — whose father Hector was aCajun fid- the hand signed with —of all labels —reissue specialists dle pioneer who taught Doucet — guests on lap steel and Rhino Records. According to Doucet, it took Rhino "five electric guitar. Harry Simoneaux, who played sax on Bobby minutes" to decide to sign them. As Rhino's Gary Stewart Charles's 1955 hit "See You Later Alligator," also sits in on remembers, it took days. Even then, "It almost didn't happen." one cut. "I can't think of an artist that's better to work with than The band and their label want this anniversary year to be Beausoleil," says the always-entertaining Stewart, who had special, and , who began producing known Michael previously and was directly responsible for Beausoleil's albums in 1982, thinks L'Amour ou la Mie may signing the band. "They have arealistic sense of ambition. be their strongest effort yet. Still, after 20 years what Doucet They have ambition without entitlement, and graciousness remembers most is what inspired him in the first place. without passiveness. How's that for aquote?" "It's something that's happened sort of in spite of us. Our Doucet on the band's relationship with Rhino: "Hey, basic philosophy was just to play the music we love, pay we're on alabel with the Monkees — what can Isay? But attention, and adhere to some of the examples we learned actually, it's been great. We do what we want to and hand from. We are at agreat place now because we were there them the finished product." when this music wasn't that popular. You can coin the term No pressure to commercialize? "Oh, I'm sure Rhino would like something they could get on the radio. Over the years sever- al people have mentioned it, and we've talked "The point oe et/ace/eel- e about sort of getting to that hot spot in English. At times Sharon urges me to do atune in English. te show that 9oef eaet have talemt, But no, Rhino has not tinkered with us." 9teet eaft have national appeal, and Beausoleil albums are always apredictable but mixed bag: fast two-steps, afew waltzes, acouple tdI eieenale eme to sowee." Doucet originals, an old tune rediscovered by the band —and, if you're lucky, acurveball. To cele- brate Beausoleil's 20th anniversary, the band and Rhino `original observer' for those who saw what was happening, have released anew disc, L'Amour ou la Folie, that's even more what should be happening, and what will happen. Iwas for- of amixed bag than their Rhino debut, Cajun Conja. Here tunate enough to sit one-on-one with alot of these great the old tune is the jazzy New Orleans standard, "It's aSin to musicians, like Dennis McGee, who actually made the Tell aLie (C'est un Péché de Dire un Menterie)," originally music and first recorded it back in 1929, and do research on recorded in French by Cleoma Breaux in New York in others and bring them and their music out. 1936. Two tunes from the '30s by black Cajun "So when we perform, we still have that remembrance pioneer Amede Ardoin are given new arrangements, and of those people. That's what I'd like to bring to an audi- then there's "Boudreaux," a traditional tune arranged by ence, people who don't know, just to show how great it David Doucet. The wild pitch here is the opener, "Newz was. It's simple music, but there's something very special ," afiddle tune currently being used as anews theme by about it." the ABC-TV affiliate in Lafayette. Four Doucet originals, Yeah, but what about the late-night etouffé orgies, the ranging from the percussive "Danse Caribe" to the sad waltz wild Cajun groupies, the many Motel 6maids who "Ma Vie S'est Arrêteé," are all new songs written in atradi- could have knocked and didn't? To get the real dirt on any tional style. band, let alone a20 year-old one, you have to move from "For me to write asong, Itry to make it as original as pos- the front of the stage to the back You have to talk to the sible. That's really adifficult thing, because when you hear drummer. After an unprintable saga about ahard-drinking Cajun and Zydeco, it's the same melodies with new words. ex-bandmember who once, mid-retch, accidentally flushed That's okay, because that continues it and kind of brings life his dentures down the toilet, Beausoleil drummer Billy to it, but to come up with an original idea or an original Ware recounts his favorite tale: thought and meld it into atraditional song... now that's "We were at ahorse racetrack, in South Dakota, Ithink. something that stands alone." Michael announced to the crowd that we were going to play Does Doucet, who has played other kinds of music, find our national anthem, and would they please stand. The tune traditional music confining? he was talking about was pie Blon,' which is sometimes "The keys on the accordion are confining. But then, called `The Louisiana National Anthem.' Expecting `The Dennis McGee has asong that's one chord. My approach is Star Spangled Banner,' the entire crowd got up and put their to stick within the genre, because that's what we grew out hands over their hearts. Even after they realized it wasn't the of. There's got to be more there. It's not all done, by any national anthem, they still very earnestly and sincerely stood means. The trick is to push something ahead, but at the through the whole thing. It was surreal — hilarious — but same time forget where you came from." beyond belief." S

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