In Acadiana, business is a tradition and tradition is a business – often the family business. There’s a long heritage of musical families around here, dynasties of fiddlers and accordion players handing down the tools and tricks of the family trade to generation after generation. Here our Acadiana musical families are household names, every bit as famous and respected for their talent as dynasties in other states maybe be revered for wealth and power.
In Acadiana, music is one of our greatest exports. Lafayette practically pumps out ranks of acclaimed Zydeco and Cajun musicians and most of them are carrying on something they learned from their parents and their parents’ parents. Throw a rock in any direction. You’ll probably hit a Grammy nominee. Throw another, you’ll hit her momma.
Christiaan’s guests on this edition of Out to Lunch Acadiana are both internationally celebrated musicians from famous Cajun families. Virginia-born Ann Savoy married into the Savoy family of Eunice and has toured internationally with her band the Magnolia Sisters which explores the feminine side of the Cajun tradition — they’re not actually her sisters. Ann is a writer and will soon publish the second volume of her archival work Cajun Music: A Reflection of a People.
Louis Michot grew up in a big, sprawling Cajun music family. Since 1999, he’s toured internationally with Lost Bayou Ramblers, a band he started with his brother Andre 20 years ago. Lost Bayou won a Grammy for their 2017 record Kalenda. Recently, Louis launched Nouveau Electric Records, a label that puts out experimental artists rooted in Louisiana French musical traditions.
Out to Lunch is recorded over lunch at The French Press in downtown Lafayette. Photos by Lucius Fontenot.
Hear more tales about Acadiana music over lunch with Wilson Savoy, Joel Savoy, and Andre Michot.