After listening to my copy of Allons Boire un Coup, I wanted to share my impressions.
First off, I admit to owning alot of cajun and zydeco compilation discs. You know the ones, you can find them in any local record,music and department store in the cut-out or discount bin. I usually purchase them because they contain one or two tunes that I want--but the rest are just fluff and often skipped over when listening. These compilations usually claim to represent Saturday Night in Louisiana, Dancehalls in Louisiana, The Hot-Pepper sounds of Louisiana, etc.. However in my experience they never deliver the goods. These discs are simply tunes brought together without intention and without theme.
Valcour Records release of Allons Boire un Coup IS NOT another release of famous artists in this genre brought together without intent. This IS intentional. The first cut brings you into music through the door of a southwest Louisiana bar and keeps you in place drinking in the music, ordering another round with the first bar of each tune. This disc strikes me as an example of the living culture still found all around the prairies, coves and coulees in Acadiana.
The artists are performing their living- interpretations of the old tunes. I have a recording of Canray Fontenot singing le Table Round on a Beausoleil disc. Hearing young Cedric Watson sing the same tune on this disc and making it his own brings frissons up from some deep emotional place in my body and mind. That tune is back-stopped on the disc by the Pine Leaf Boys doing the most unexpected but perfectly natural intro to Nathan Abshire's Pine Grove Blues...
Each track stands on it its own merit for being what it is. Each of the artists got their point across in word and notes. The most striking of these is the tune Mon Bon Vieux Mari sung by Anna Laura Edmiston. The dialogue between her and her wandering mate is as powerful and moving as any aria written by Bizet ot Mozart. It is alive, clever and certainly modern.
I also need to note that the performance of Joel Savoy on theis disc as a supporting player is astounding. His fiddle, bass guitar, octave violin and lap steel is prominent on many tunes. His fiddle lead on Drunkards Waltz supported by a single 'ti fer is spot on.
This is not a museum-piece recording. This is traditional music presented in a way that is fresh and vibrant for todays use in southwest Louisiana. These are the some of the top performers in the cajun, creole and french music genre playing for the home town folks in a way that is appealing to the outsiders such as me. One drawback to the disc is the lack of liner notes that includes the lyrics.
I rate this disc the top: four accordions on the Griff scale.
Great review Griff, havent got mine yet but still sounds like a must buy for me. I agree with you about Cedric. My first passion is traditional Cajun, but I love that old Creole sound also, and Cedric does it great justice with his own flavor, as does the Savoy boys with traditional Cajun.
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
Use ACTIVE link #3 (above).