Just when you think singer-songwriter, poet, cultural activist Zachary Richard has done it all, along comes Danser le Ciel, where he reprises deep, career-spanning material with a chamber orchestra. The seeds of this project were planted five years ago when Richard performed a concert featuring his better-known songs with the Acadiana Symphony courtesy of Québécois musician and studio owner Boris Petrowski’s elegant arrangements. For Richard, the experience was not only another career highlight but the genesis of this recording.

Richard recorded Danser le Ciel in Petrowski’s Mixart studio in Montreal with a chamber orchestra. Petrowski’s brother Nicolas engineered the session. Listening to Richard revisiting “Cap enragé,” “Au bord du Lac Bijou” and “Sunset on Louisianne” brings the realization of how well these songs have withstood the test of time. The accompanying string orchestra accentuates Richard’s passionate performance, swelling, contracting and glistening as the songs emotionally ebb and flow. On “La ballade de Jean Batailleur” and “Pagayez,” the orchestra creates a layer of suspense with its zealous, hard-edge bowing. “Pleine lune en décembre” features David Torkanowsky’s masterful piano accompaniment.

While reverence and soulful tranquility are typically the prevailing mood, that all flies out the window with the boisterously clanging “L’arbre est dans ses feuilles,” a traditional folk tune popular in French Canada and sometimes heard in South Louisiana. On his 1978 rendition, Richard spun a catchy reggae lilt but this time he goes full blast New Orleans brass-band style for a joyous street-parade soundtrack.

Also of significance is “Travailler c’est trop dur,” an iconic song in the Francophone world, largely due to French superstar Julien Clerc’s number one hit that was inspired by Richard’s earlier, tender version. The song resurfaced again at the 2018 Festivals Acadiens et Créoles In Lafayette when the festival honored Caesar Vincent who recorded it in the ’50s for both educator Catherine Blanchet and LSU professor Dr. Harry Oster.

One thing Richard didn’t want to do was make Danser Le Ciel just a release of reprised material resembling an orchestra-powered greatest hits package. So, he wrote two beautiful new songs, “My Louisianne” (English) and “Danser le ciel” (French). Both are particularly moving, but the latter is dedicated to his mother, Marie-Pauline, who made her earthly departure last January at the age of 99. In the song, Richard poetically explains how she appears to him and continues to enlighten him. At the age of 71, Richard is as relevant and powerful as ever.