Bringing Bayou State spirit to the valley | Arts & Entertainment

The term “Yeah You Right” is commonly heard in the streets of New Orleans. It is a rallying cry. Someone says “Let’s Party!” And another responds, “Yeah you right!” 

Similarly, in the streets of Lafayette and the swamps of the bayous, It’s common to hear the refrain, “Et Toi!” which literally translated from French means, “And You!” It is also an invitation to come on and join the party. 

The spirit of Louisiana will be well represented this weekend in the Roaring Fork Valley when the legendary Cajun music outfit BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet performs at The Arts Campus at Willits on Friday and Big Sam’s Funky Nation brings the funk to the Paul JAS Center on Friday and Saturday. 

Laissez le bon temps rouler

Founded in 1975 by fiddle player Michael Doucet, BeauSoleil has been paying homage to and building on the musical traditions of the French Cajun and Creole people of Louisiana for over 50 years.

According to the band’s website, BeauSoleil’s musicians “take the rich Cajun traditions of Louisiana and artfully blend elements of zydeco, New Orleans Jazz, Tex-Mex, country, blues and more into a satisfying musical recipe.” 

BeauSoleil sings most of their songs in French but does sing in English. 

The band’s name is a tribute to Joseph Broussard (1702–1765), also known as “Beausoleil.” He was a leader of the Acadian people who lived in the Maritime provinces of Canada — Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island and New Brunswick. Broussard fought the British, and after those lands were captured, he led the first group of Acadians to southern Louisiana. 

Many of the songs BeauSoleil plays even predate those days. “The music goes back to 1604,” Doucet said in an interview with the Aspen Daily News. “It’s not just a genre like bluegrass. It’s the music of the people.”

Doucet, now 75,  was raised in Southwest Louisiana near Scott, just outside Lafayette. “Everybody was a musician and we played all kinds of music,” he said. “We didn’t create categories.” In the country parishes west of Lafayette, French ballads, soul music, zydeco and swamp pop blended with fiddle tunes dating back to the old country. 

As a boy, Doucet memorized Elvis songs and performed them dressed like Roy Rogers. His uncle T. Will Knight, gave him his first fiddle — now displayed in the Louisiana State Capitol museum — and taught him his first fiddle songs.

It was in 1974 that Doucet experienced the moment he now calls his “Ah-ha” moment. He had gone to France for a two-week festival with his cousin, the singer-songwriter known as Zachary Richard (born Ralph Richard), and jammed with young musicians from across Europe. 

There, he was stunned to hear the same traditionals his family sang back home in Louisiana. “We were so insular,” Doucet recalled. “We never thought anybody outside Louisiana even knew our music.”

At the same festival, a French filmmaker premiered a documentary shot in rural Louisiana — images of the very communities Doucet had grown up in were projected onto a sheet strung between trees. Watching it in France, he realized that people all over the world valued his culture and were interested in Cajun life and music. 

“That was when it occurred to me that maybe there was an audience for our music outside Louisiana,” he said.

After 50 years of spreading the gospel of Cajun music all over the world, Doucet can’t imagine stopping bringing the music to the people. “I’ve retired so many times it doesn’t matter,” he said. 

He still plays 50 to 80 shows a year. “I’m still going to be playing till I can’t move,” Doucet said.

BeauSoleil is a family affair of sorts. Michael is joined in the band by his younger brother and longtime band member David Doucet on guitar and vocals, son Matthew Doucet on fiddle/percussion, Chad Huval on accordion and Bill Bennett on bass. 

Wherever Doucet and his band take the stage — whether at Jazz Fest’s famed Fais Do-Do tent or at TACAW on Friday, his hope is simple: “A smile,” he said. “A smile and an open heart.”

The Funky Nation 

Big Sam’s Funky Nation has been a frequent flier in the RFV over the last few years, playing several JAS gigs at The Sterling both during the winter and at the 2023 JAS June Experience.

BSFN lays down a jazzy roux, stirs in some funk, rock ’n’ roll and hip-hop, then Willliams spices the concoction with some dance moves that would fit in with the 1970s TV show “Soul Train.”

Sammie Williams began his musical career playing trombone in church in New Orleans. He helped found the Stooges Brass Band and played with the Soul Rebels Brass Band, immersing himself in the city’s living brass tradition. The Dirty Dozen was his favorite group.

At a friend’s birthday party, Williams  learned her father was Efrem Townes — “ET” — one of the Dozen’s members. Williams didn’t hesitate. 

“I said, ‘If you ever need a trombone player, call me,” Williams told the Aspen Daily News in a 2024 interview.

About a year later, the phone rang. It was Townes. “ET said, ‘You want to go out on the road with us?’ I said, ‘When?’ He said, ‘Tomorrow.’”

The tour would last three months. Williams was still a teenager, enrolled at UNO. He went to his mother for permission. “I said, ‘Mom, I’m going to school for music, basically to do what I’m being asked to do right now.’ She said, ‘I’ll let you go if you promise that if it doesn’t work out, you’ll go back to school.’”

It worked out. Williams stayed on the road for four years. 

Even before joining the Dozen, Williams had been fronting his own group. They held a standing gig at the Funky Butt in New Orleans.

 “‘Where is Big Sam?’ was kind of a joke,” he said. When he was in town and showed up, “It was a big party.” By 2004, he was ready to focus on his own band full-time — Big Sam’s Funky Nation. He took what he calls a leap of faith.

Then the phone rang again. This time it was an invitation to join the band of legendary New Orleans songwriter, producer and pianist Allen Toussaint. “That’s not a gig you turn down,” Williams said.  

He stayed with Toussaint until the icon’s death in 2015. Because Toussaint toured less heavily than the Dirty Dozen, Williams was able to keep building Funky Nation simultaneously.

“As I was playing with these legends,” he said, “my name was getting out there.”

For the last decade, BSFN has brought the party from the streets of New Orleans all over the world. Williams tours less frequently these days but Colorado is a frequent stop on the tour docket when he does hit the road. 

“Being on the road a lot less is pretty cool,” he said. “That way, when we come to your city, it’s extra special.”