When the Grammy Award-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers became so successful, it was no longer impractical to play the small venues. So, fiddlin’ frontman Louis Michot formed alter-ego, electric stringband Michot’s Melody Makers in 2016. Unlike his Ramblers’ counterpart; which features his brother Andre on accordion and lap steel, Michot’s Melody Makers’ focus is completely fiddle-driven (read: no accordion) with an entirely separate repertoire focusing on fiddle tunes, since many have been lost with the advent of the accordion.
The Saturn Bar on St. Claude played a vital role in the band’s evolution by offering a Monday night residency in July 2018. During that same month, Michot’s Melody Makers recorded its studio debut Blood Moon with a finally stable line-up that now includes former Piety Street Recording owner Mark Bingham (guitar). It only seemed logical to record a live album there, for which Michot’s Melody Makers booked two nights last December. Though the first night was packed, it was the second night when the group really gelled, which resulted in this one-of-a-kind live recording.
Symbolically, Cosmic Cajuns From Saturn can be thought of as the rings around the sixth rock from the sun. The outer rings represent Michot’s Melody Makers progressive/avant-garde spirit with all the whirling intensity, hallowed echoes, and otherwise apoplectic spacey effects. Michot utilizes a double mic, one clean and one equipped with a space echo to give his vocals a hazy effect. At the very least, the proceedings could be thought of as a fais do-do broadcast from the other end of the galaxy or a soundtrack for a pending space invasion.
The inner rings represent how traditionally rooted Michot’s Melody Makers are, despite what it sounds like on the peripheral. The opening track “Ma jolie petite fille” is close to the way fiddler Leo Soileau played it. “Jolie joues roses” is an adaptation of a JB Fuselier tune while “T’as vole mon traîneau” was first recorded by Les Frères Breaux. “La jument de Michot” was a tune Louis’ Uncle Bobby Michot brought back from Breton and was a staple of Les Frères Michot’s repertoire. It tells the tale of a mare who eats too much in the summer, only to struggle in the winter due to its waning food supply. “Blood Moon” is the only original here, which is ironic since it’s the same title as Michot’s Melody Makers debut album. Yet, it was written on the spot with the lyrics explaining how fish swim on land and deer run in the sea underneath a blood moon.
Since Michot didn’t want to duplicate anything from Blood Moon (the album), there are only eight tracks. Still, it’s long enough, clocking in at a cosmic 47 minutes. The last track, the nearly 17-minute “Michot’s Melody Makers Medley” is a gamut of several tunes from Cajun musical cornerstones Varise Conner, The Balfa Brothers, Les Frères Michot and Ethel Mae Bourque.
It’s amazing to think how something so time-honored and staunchly steeped in tradition could be so psychedelic, sometimes bordering on the avant-garde (“Reveil Michot”). With one foot firmly planted in the future and the other cemented in the past, Michot’s Melody Makers couldn’t blend its universes any better.
