ABOUT THE ARTIST:
BEAUSOLEIL AVEC MICHAEL DOUCET
For the past 50 years, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet has been making some of the most potent and popular Cajun music on the planet. Born out of the rich Acadian ancestry of its members, and created and driven by bandleader Michael Doucet’s spellbinding fiddle playing and soulful vocals, BeauSoleil is notorious for bringing even the most staid audience to its feet. BeauSoleil’s distinctive sound derives from the distilled spirits of New Orleans jazz, blues rock, folk, swamp pop, Zydeco, country and bluegrass, captivating listeners from the Jazz and Heritage Festival in New Orleans, to Carnegie Hall, then all the way across the pond to Richard Thompson’s Meltdown Festival in England.
Their most recent album and the 25th in their 45-year career, was titled “From Bamako to Carencro,” alluding the cultural and migratory connection between Bamako, in Mali, West Africa, and Louisiana (symbolized in name by the Lafayette, LA suburb of Carencro), a connection that draws a sonic bloodline back to BeauSoleil’s roots. Since becoming the first Cajun band to win a GRAMMY with “L’amour Ou La Folie” (their Traditional Folk Album – 1998) and then a second Grammy in 2010, “Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival”, BeauSoleil has garnered many accolades, including twelve GRAMMY nominations. They are regular guests on Garrison Keillor’s NPR show A Prairie Home Companion, where Keillor has dubbed them as “the best Cajun band in the world,” and their music is so integral to the Cajun culture that they have been featured on the New Orleans–based hit HBO program Treme. Critics unanimously agree that it is “bon temps, every time they play,” (The New York Times).
FELIX Y LOS GATOS
The Gatos have traveled around the country, playing at big blues festivals and special events. The two core members are Felix Peralta (guitar and vocals) and D.B. Gomez (button accordion). This duo of music masterminds has a distinct sound and an expansive repertoire that they have been building since 1998. Felix y Los Gatos are a nationally renowned group steeped in the rich heritage and culture of the desert Southwest. Combining more than two decades of live performance experience, their improvisational style is as distinct as it is impressive. The music they call "Green Chile Gumbo Blues" is a melodic mixture of Latin rhythms, blues, Tejano, country, and New Orleans swing, creating a sound that is sure to leave a smile on your face.
