Music
Jim Pharis, Having a Ball (Independent)
Lafayette’s Jim Pharis’ debut album consists of seven originals and two covers, all adeptly finger picked on a steel-body resonator guitar. Overall, the disc has a live feel, as if […]
Buddy Flett, Rough Edges (Honey Bee Entertainment)
Quite frankly, this was almost the recording that never happened. Sometime after Buddy Flett’s splendid 2007 release Mississippi Sea, the Shreveport guitarist/”A” Train alumni contracted viral encephalitis, which nearly left […]
Ganey Arsement, Le Forgeron (Salty Bayou Music)
Formerly of the Lake Charles-based Lakeside Gamblers Cajun-folk trio, Ganey Arsement steps out here with a 15-track (nine original) affair that’s the best composite sketch of his musical persona to […]
J.J. Caillier & the Zydeco Knockouts, I Can Give You What You Want (Caillier Records)
On his seventh album, J.J. Caillier demonstrates how he is a master of developing an idea into a densely layered track that oftentimes feels like a night in the club. […]
Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, A New Road (Cha Cha Records)
It’s been seven years since Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas’ last album, Hang It High, Hang It Low, a startling fact that even surprises accordionist Nathan Williams. It’s also […]
Walter Jr., Doorway to Heaven (Gatortone Music)
Without the cover art and photographs of religious icons in a country church, the spiritual overtones may not be immediately obvious on Walter Jr.’s latest concept album. It’s a happy […]
Gregg Martinez: Creole Soul, Surreal Power
At the corner of East Grolee and North Oak―in a historic, tree-lined neighborhood that Gregg Martinez jokingly refers to as Opelousas’ Garden District―stands a white, wood-frame 1903 Colonial house surrounded […]
La Récolte, Who’s Gonna Fill Their Shoes… (Independent)
The concept is an excellent one: an upstart Cajun band adopting the French word for harvest, which fits in sowing, cultivating and reaping tradition. Labeling its debut disc Who’s Gonna […]
Cajun Iron Horse: Milton Vanicor, 95-year-old Rock Star
At age 95, Cajun fiddler Milton Vanicor is having an unexpected career renaissance. In July he released his first-ever album, Un Souvenir de Milton Vanicor, and made his second consecutive […]
Smithfield Fair Stick, Brick & Mortar (Stevenson Productions)
Stick, Brick & Mortar marks Smithfield Fair’s 28th album of a 40-year career as a family band that started with Charmer in 1973 and its current name, changed in ’89, […]
