To most Cajun-music fans under 30, the seminal avant-trad combo Coteau is as much a rumor as a legend. Despite blazing the trail for the likes of BeauSoleil and Mamou, the Lake-Charles-by-way-of-Lafayette sextet recorded zero albums before breaking up 20 years ago, therefore entrusting their legacy to the memories of Those Who Were There. That is until now. Highly Seasoned Cajun Music‘s 14 songs capture Coteau’s inspired eclecticism so faithfully that other groups might start waiting 20 years to record their debut albums just to see if lightning will strike twice.

Marked less by increased maturity than by increased confidence, musical details like Bruce “Weasel” MacDonald’s and Tommy Comeaux’s Allman – inspired twin leads (cf. “Acadian Two-Step”), Gary Newman’s and Kenneth Blevins galloping bass and drums (cf. “Arc de Triomphe Two-Step”) and Michael Doucet’s Jean-Luc Pontyisms (cf. “Zydeco Gris-Gris”) reveal a band in the full flush of reunion fervor. Marked more by increased audacity than by decreased diversity awareness, their Promise-Keepers-friendly version of Allen Toussaint’s “Basic Lady” proves that the last thing Cajun-based freewheeling country-jazz- rock exists to perpetuate is cultural boundaries.

On the other hand, the barbed country-rock of “Cold-Hearted You,” the slow minor-keyed doomy balladry of “Balfa et Grand Bois,” and the fast minor-keyed doomy balladry of “Mardi Gras” suggest that the last thing Cajun-based freewheeling country-jazz-rock may exist to perpetuate is Cajun-based freewheeling country-jazz-rock itself. Of course, one can also forego fancy analysis altogether, think “two-thirds BeauSoleil, one-third Mamou,” and enjoy this long-overdue album’s ever-shifting textures for the thrills they deliver and the frequency with which they deliver them.

–Arsenio Orteza