Set for release on March 10, ‘A Tribute to Austin Pitre’ features original members of the
Evangeline Playboys Allen (T-Lan) Ardoin on fiddle, Eston Bellow on
drums, Junior Martin on steel guitar, and a former drummer of
Pitre’s band, Mike Tate, playing accordion in the late bandleaders’
place. Bobby Michot, joins the Evangeline Playboys on guitar and vocals.
Austin Pitre and the Evangeline Playboys represent a golden age of Cajun music, when dancehalls were packed every weekend, and bands were electrifying the generations of repertoire passed on in Cajun and Creole households, giving new life to old melodies, and making new songs that are still standards today. Born in Ville Platte, Louisiana, Pitre drew from diverse influences; traditional dances and tunes, the blues, and nursery rhymes, and popular music of his time.
Mike Tate’s accordion style is as close as one can get to that of Austin Pitre himself, and that is no coincidence, as Tate was hugely inspired by his late bandleader’s mastery of the instrument. As recounted by Fred Charlie: “Mike's love of Cajun music was easy to see, growing up with him. His idol of course was, Austin Pitre. The ones that knew Mike, could hear it in his accordion playing”.Though Eston Bellow was the main drummer for the band, Mike Tate is featured on the famous recording of ‘Les flammes d’enfer’ (The Flames of Hell) recorded in the late 1960s by Ralph Rinzler for the Newport Folk Foundation.
Recorded in 1999 at T-Lan’s outdoor kitchen in Opelousas, LA, The Evangeline Playboys’ “Tribute to Austin Pitre” not only brings Pitre’s music back to life, but is also a rare true representation of a Cajun musicians house jam, often cooking for his musical friends, while playing hours of tunes with no audience, just for themselves. A typical host will keep starting song after song, while the musicians grow hungrier, and perhaps more buzzed, as he knows once he serves the meal the music may be done for the evening. It takes hours to make a good sauce piquant or a courtboullion, so the jam can last hours before the meal is ready. This record was made during a few such occasions.
BACK COVER
Evangeline Playboys
Mike Tate – Accordion
Allen “T-Lan” Ardoin – Fiddle
Eston Bellow – Drums
Junior Martin – Steel
Bobby Michot – Guitar, Vocals
Recorded by Bobby Michot in 1999
at T-Lan’s outdoor kitchen in Opelousas LA
Mastered by Kirkland Middleton
TRACK LISTING
01 Evangeline Playboys Special
02 Opelousas Waltz
03 Bayou Teche Two Step
04 Lakeview Special
05 Jungle Club Waltz
06 Tante Adele Two Step
07 Valse d'Arc-en-ciel
08 China Ball Blues
09 Renee Special
10 Grand Mamou
11 Les Flammes D’Enfer
12 Evangeline Playboys Special (trio)
COREY LEDET ZYDECO became the 2nd GRAMMY® nomination for Corey Ledet on his 2021 self-titled release. The album was nominated in the Regional Roots category for the 2021 awards, marking the first nomination for Nouveau Electric Records, and the second nomination for Corey Ledet after his 2012 nomination for “Nothin' But The Best" as Corey Ledet and his Zydeco Band. The 64th GRAMMY® Awards will be held on January 31.
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Working towards promoting the cultural heritage of his family’s
hometown of Parks, Louisiana, he studied and incorporated Kouri-Vini, a
regional dialect spoken by family members into songs on this album.
Corey Ledet Zydeco was produced by Ledet and Louis Michot, recorded
at Dockside Studios, Maurice, Louisiana, June 2019 with Justin Tocket
engineering and mixing. It was mastered by Mark Bingham at Nina Hwy
Studio, nearby in Henderson. Corey is featured on lead, harmony and
background vocals, accordion, drums and washboard. He was joined in the
studio by Cecil Green on Hammond B3 organ, bassist Lee Allen Zeno,
harmonica player Grant Dermody, Julian Primeaux on rhythm and lead
guitar and backing vocals, and Gerard Delafose on drums and washboard.
Tiny Island was recorded and filmed by firelight on the night of March 6 on – yes, a tiny island -- in a small pond on Michot's home in Prairie Des Femmes, Louisiana. Played entirely live, the performance was put together for a tour stop on Ned Sublette and Ariana Hall's NOLA Reconnect, a virtual visit to Louisiana with attendees from all over America and Europe. Featuring a deep sonic collaboration with the tiny island’s frog and insect population, the set captures a more intimate and acoustic performance than the higher-decibel, psychedelic shows the Melody Makers are known for.
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Their joint repertoire of Cajun and Haitian, Créole and Kréyol songs
-- both original and traditional -- coalesced in 2016 when Leyla joined
String Noise for a special set at Louis's residency at The Stone in NYC
in 2016 (released in 2020 on Nouveau Electric as Le String Noise
under the L.E.S. Douze collection). Leyla first joined Michot's Melody
Makers at New Orleans’s Music Box Village for a socially distanced show
in November of 2020, and the outfit continued working together on
outdoor shows at the Broadside Theater throughout the months of canceled
touring.
Tiny Island is set for release September 25 as a video EP and as a digital audio EP on on Louis Michot’s own Nouveau Electric Records.
The package was executive-produced by Ned Sublette, produced by Louis
Michot, recorded by Kirkland Middleton, and mixed by Mark Bingham. The
film was made by Connor Reever and Samuel Aguirre-Kelly for Fast Friends
Productions. NOLA Reconnect was produced by Ned Sublette and Ariana Hall for Postmambo Studies and Cubanola Collective.
Featuring Cassie Watson
Francillon on concert harp, Smith on drums and electronics and Webre
(Lost Bayou Ramblers and Michot’s Melody Makers) on bass and
electronics, Shakespeare & the Blues makes instrumental experimental music
drawing on Jazz and Hip Hop influences.
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The songs on e.g,rhapsodic are uninhibited explorations of genre
blending, tied together by futurist grooves and virtuosic syncopating.
They are composed around a startling selection of samples and soundbytes
enmeshed in the trio’s visionary instrumental experimentation.
Shakespeare & The Blues originated from an improve performance in
New Orleans, and found it's way to Piety Studios at Nina Hwy in
Henderson, Louisiana, where the band self-produced this instrumental
sonic submersion of an LP.
Set for release on June 19, Creole House Dance, featuring 101 year-old
Creole fiddler Willie Durisseau (1918-2019), is a voyage back in time to
the 1930s, in Lebeau, Louisiana, when Creole house music was played
every weekend at a different house on fiddle and guitar, no accordion.
Though the recordings were made in 2019, in the last months of Willie's long life, the songs came straight from the memories of he and his late brother Jimmy, and the many nights they spent playing music for the community by lantern light. Creole House Dance features two tracks, each comprising three small songs, some of which represent a pre-WWII Creole fiddle style that has never been recorded before. These performances were captured by Louis Michot (singer/fiddler of Grammy winners Lost Bayou Ramblers and founder of NER) on a Zoom stereo recorder at the Durisseau home in Spring of 2019. Creole House Dance will be released as a 45RPM vinyl 7,” digital download and via streaming platforms.
As Willie and his wife Irma recounted their memories of the Creole house dances of the 1930s to Michot, Durisseau would pick up his fiddle and allow his fingers to recall the songs he and his late brother, Jimmy Durisseau, played back then in their native, Lebeau, Louisiana. In their community, musicians performed exclusively on fiddle(s) and guitar, with no accordion. Creole House Dance provides 21st century music lovers with a vivid snapshot of those celebratory weekly affairs.
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The Rayo Brothers' second release with Nouveau Electric Records is a
single titled ‘Undead’. It is the story of a love-sick soul stuck in
limbo after a relationship has ended, unready or unable to move on. The
song’s cheery, almost-surf-folk vibe provided by the strumming guitar,
rolling banjo, and grooving rhythm section is offset by beautifully dark
lyric imagery, lush melancholic strings, and a haunting far-off voice
whistling the hook. It has a unique feel for these Americana folk
rockers both lyrically and musically. ‘Undead’ was recorded, mixed, and
mastered by Grammy-winning engineer Tony Daigle at Electric Comoland
Studio in Lafayette, Louisiana.
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For his 14th album, Corey Ledet gives his musical brand and band a new name: Corey Ledet Zydeco.
On this first self-titled release, Corey Ledet Zydeco pays homage to Ledet’s family and musical heritage which are inextricably combined. His great-grandfather, Gabriel Ledet, played professionally with the colorful early Jazz legend Bunk Johnson as an upright bassist. Grandfather, Buchanan played drums with Clifton Chenier and Rockin’ Dopsie, as Zydeco’s first drummer and invented the twice-pumped bass drumming pattern called “double clutching” that’s been an integral part of the genre ever since. Numerous members of this extended French speaking Creole family followed in their footsteps, playing professionally and non-professionally in the decades that followed. Corey’s rise to Zydeco royalty in the 21st century was a fait accompli.
Corey Ledet was born and raised in Houston, Texas, and spent his Summers with relatives in small-town Parks, where he was exposed to their Kouri-Veni language and Creole traditions. This molded and shaped Corey’s world in a profound way. This culture has its roots in Louisiana, but eventually spread across the country, including into neighboring Texas. When he returned home after summer, Corey was able to remain immersed in the Creole culture he learned to love.
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Ryan Scully has been a vital voice in the vibrant New Orleans music scene for multiple decades now, working on everything from writing children's records/books, throwing community based block parties and promoting eclectic NOLA artists at BJ’s over the last three years.
His most recent endeavor finds him capturing the current Covid lockdowns early daze with his first truly solo album New Confusion on Houma/Nouvea Electric Records 11/20/2020. The self-recorded and produced album addresses lingering questions and unstable emotions with oddball gallows humor and the rage that has been percolating in our collective societal mind during 2020.
A veteran of chronicling the debauched nightlife of New Orleans with the cult party punks Morning 40 Federation before turning to the gutter gospel rock redemption of The Rough Seven, and the country/Americana tinged Ten Gallon Tinfoil Hat, Scully has weathered the storms figuratively and literally. Shifting dive bar drunken babble, late night epiphanies and the emotional weightiness of coming clean in a dirty world into song, Scully possesses an interpretive eye, an open soul and a raconteur wit that serves him well during these tumultuous times.
While locked down during the early days of Covid quarantine Scully shut himself off in his Bywater attic, writing and recording his most personal songs to date, surprising even himself with the 10 tracks presented on New Confusion. Regarding the writing and recording process he stated, “Once I started working on this album, everything just flowed out”.
Michot’s Melody Makers’ sophomore release, Cosmic Cajuns from Saturn is set for release on Nouveau Electric Records on July 17, 2020 on CD, cassette, download and streaming services. The album was recorded live on Dec 9, 2019 at Saturn Bar in New Orleans’ 9th Ward engineered by Chris Bloch and produced by the band’s guitar player, Mark Bingham (Allen Ginsberg, Glen Branca, Ed Sanders). Bingham is no stranger to “cosmic” music, having co-produced Sun-Ra’s version of “Pink Elephants on Parade” with Hal Wilner, and played in the Cosmic Krewe in the early 1990s; Mark also mixed and mastered the release.
Cosmic Cajuns from Saturn comprises eight numbers, none of which appear on the band’s debut studio release, Blood Moon. These performances capture their unique, atmospheric, avant-garde reconstruction of age-old Creole and French songs at its most visionary and puissant. The Melody Makers reinvigorate these historic compositions, introducing sublime new melodies, while evoking the raw, exhilarating feel of the music Cajuns made when they first got their hands on electric guitars and drums. Also included on the album is improvised original the group titled “Blood Moon” in honor of their debut album. The song rhapsodizes over Avoyelles, Louisiana’s Red River and Bayou Noire, fish swimming on land, deer swimming in the sea… all under the light of a red moon that appears to be bleeding onto the earth.
From Goldman Thibodeaux's facebook:
Today, we would have met in Opelousas early in the morning after Goldman tended to his sheep, and made the drive to New Orleans to play Jazz Fest on the Fais do-do stage at 11 a.m. There, we would have announced the release of the first album we’ve recorded in 20 years. Part of that plan has obviously been thwarted. But not all of it!
We have an important announcement to make! On Friday, May 29, 2020, our new album "La Danse à St. Ann’s" will be available on cd and digital download on Nouveau Electric Records. The album is available for pre-order now and includes a free track off the album "Je T’aime Autant" to hold you over until the release date.
Nouveau Electric Records is excited to be releasing La Danse à St. Ann’s by Goldman Thibodeaux and the Lawtell Playboys. The 15 tracks on this album capture Goldman performing both traditional Creole repertoire, as well as his own improvisations, and comprise his first new album release in 13 years. La Danse à St. Ann’s will be released on CD, digital download and available for streaming on all major platforms on May 29.
Goldman, aged 87, is a living legend and one of the last musicians performing in the traditional French Creole "La La" style. La Danse à St. Ann’s was recorded by Mark Bingham (Marianne Faithfull, John Scofield, Dr. John, etc.) at the Thibodeaux Family Reunion, November 2019 in Mallett, Louisiana. The Playboys’ line-up at this performance was: Goldman Thibodeaux - accordion and vocals; Brock Thibodeaux – frottoir; Louis Michot - fiddle and vocals; Courtney Jeffries - acoustic guitar; Justin Leger - electric bass; Barry Cormier - drums and vocals. Produced by Bingham and the band’s fiddle player Louis Michot (co-founder of Lost Bayou Ramblers), the album is snapshot of the band at its most comfortable, in its natural element, surrounded by hundreds of family members in a church hall.
Thibodeaux first began playing with his brother-in-law’s band at age 14, and in 1966 he began sitting in with the Lawtell Playboys along with Delton Broussard and Calvin Carriere. The band was originally started in 1946 when brothers Bébé and Eraste Carriere combined their talents to form The Lawtell Playboys. Bébé, known as the “King of the Zydeco Fiddle”, made his first fiddle from a cigar box and a broken window screen, and played alongside his brother Eraste, on accordion, for many years. Over time, Eraste passed the accordion position on to Delton Broussard, and Bébé passed the position of fiddle player to Eraste's son, Calvin Carriere. Goldman learned to play accordion in his 50's, following a heart attack. Calvin (Goldman's cousin) and Delton played with him often to help him learn. When Delton became ill, he passed the accordion position to Goldman. Calvin and Goldman played for several years before recording their first cd in 2001 titled 'Les Miseres dans le Coeur'. Just before Calvin died, he asked Goldman to take over the band and continue using the name “Lawtell Playboys”.
One of the last living musicians to practice traditional Creole music -- often referred to as “La La” music -- much of Goldman’s inspiration comes from seeing Amédé Ardoin play at a house dance in the Lawtell area. Perched up in a tree as the now-legendary Grandfather of Zydeco arrived on horseback from another dance 20 miles away, Goldman was thrilled when Ardoin offered to let the young boy carry his accordion to the house for him. Goldman watched every second of Amédé’s performance intently, an experience that inspires him to this day. Thibodeaux is likely the last living person to have seen the great Amédé Ardoin play a house dance.
As a champion of Creole culture, Goldman has been inducted by the Acadian Museum into the Order of Living Legends and received a Folklife Heritage Award from Louisiana Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne. In 2015, he was featured at the Louisiana Endowment for the Humanities Bright Lights Literacy Awards. He has performed at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival for the last 20 years straight, and was asked to return in 2020; his plan was to release La Danse à St. Ann’s in conjunction with that appearance. When the festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thibodeaux chose to release the album anyway to offer his fans and music lovers internationally something to keep their spirits up in these trying times.
The second release from L.E.S. Douze, a series of 12 live recordings made during Louis
Michot’s residency at The Stone on the Lower East Side of Manhattan in 2016, Le String Noise is a collaboration between violinists
Pauline Kim and Conrad Harris of String Noise, cello player/vocalist
Leyla McCalla, and fiddler/vocalist Michot.
This line-up melded the sounds of downtown NYC’s avant garde with the
folk traditions of Louisiana and Haiti, addressing a wildly eclectic
repertoire that mixed String Noise’s minimalist compositions with
McCalla’s Haitian Creole tunes and Louis’ traditional Cajun fiddle
numbers.
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Nouveau Electric Records is excited to be releasing “Trois Rangs,”
the recording debut of Southern Louisiana Creole Zydeco group, Soul
Creole. The band is fronted by Grammy nominee Corey Ledet, Ashlee Wilson
Michot, and Louis Michot of the Grammy winning Cajun band Lost Bayou
Ramblers.
“Trois Rangs” was recorded by Mark Bingham at Nina Hwy studios, and co-produced by Korey Richey (LCD Sound System, Arcade Fire) and Louis. Coupled with a dub mix, “Trois Rangs” is being released as a 45RPM vinyl 7”, digital download and will be available for streaming on all major platforms on April 10.
Written and sung by Ashlee in Louisiana French, the song features Louis on fiddle and guitar, Corey on accordions and drums, and a guest appearance on bass by Richey. The track melds Creole, Zydeco, and Cajun musical traditions together with contemporary pop influences to create a determinedly modernist sound. The B-side, “Trois Rangs Dub” is a ground-breaking blend of Zydeco and Dub genres that is both danceable and meditative.
Limited Edition 7" vinyl will be hand signed and numbered, even hand labeled (picture below is the art, but the labeling was photoshopped, actual product will be be hand labeled and numbered by Ashlee or Louis with a permanent marker).
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