{"id":2249645,"date":"2026-01-25T13:54:56","date_gmt":"2026-01-25T13:54:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/?p=2249645"},"modified":"2026-01-25T13:54:56","modified_gmt":"2026-01-25T13:54:56","slug":"louisiana-crossroads-music-series-overview-entertainment-life","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/louisiana-crossroads-music-series-overview-entertainment-life\/","title":{"rendered":"Louisiana Crossroads Music Series Overview | Entertainment\/Life"},"content":{"rendered":"

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“Keep taking deep breaths,” I kept telling myself. “It\u2019ll slow my heart rate.”<\/p>\n

Usually interviewing musicians on stage is as easy as eating cake and ice cream. But this interview was with Irma freakin\u2019 Thomas. In my decades as a music writer, I never met the Soul Queen of New Orleans, easily one of my favorite artists.<\/p>\n

Four songs into her set at Louisiana Crossroads in Lafayette, topped off by the hand-holding, belly-rubbing classic, \u201cIt\u2019s Raining,\u201d Queen Irma was ready. My shaking legs brought me to her side, as she sat center stage before a sold-out audience.<\/p>\n

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Mick Jagger thanks Irma Thomas after they sang her song “Time Is On My Side” during the Rolling Stones’ performance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Thursday, May 2, 2024. (Photo by Chris Granger, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

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I turned into a full-fledged fanboy. I begged friends in the audience\u00a0\u2014 anyone\u00a0\u2014 to take our picture.<\/p>\n

I thanked Queen Irma for her music, her voice and quipped, \u201c\u2019It\u2019s Raining\u2019 is responsible for my children!\u201d The audience roared. Queen Irma even blushed. And Nov. 14, 2024, will forever reign as a career highlight.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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I promise not to turn into a fanboy again in the new season of Louisiana Crossroads. This music and conversation series with homegrown music legends takes place at the Acadiana Center for the Arts in downtown Lafayette.<\/p>\n

This year kicks off my third season as host. There\u2019s no Irma Thomas encore, but the lineup remains stellar.<\/p>\n

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John Boutt\u00e9 performs during the unveiling of the Allen Toussaint Black Heritage stamp at the George and Joyce Wein Jazz & Heritage Center in New Orleans, Thursday, Jan. 30, 2025. (Photo by Sophia Germer, The Times-Picayune)<\/p>\n

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There\u2019s more New Orleans flavor in the Jan. 29 opener with John Boutt\u00e9. The Crescent City singer carries the soul, jazz, gospel and blues music of his hometown in his voice, which the world experienced in the HBO series \u201cTreme.\u201d<\/p>\n

Guitarist Chris Thomas King, still enjoying fame as bluesman Tommy Johnson in the hit movie \u201cO Brother, Where Art Thou?,\u201d visits Feb. 20. King, son of Baton Rouge blues icon Tabby Thomas, raised some eyebrows regarding the music\u2019s origins in his 2021 book, \u201cThe Blues: The Authentic Narrative of My Music and Culture.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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\u201cThe Medicine Show Legacy\u201d on March 19 celebrates the 15 years of the Tommy Comeaux Chair in Traditional Music at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Slide guitar wizard Sonny Landreth and friends, who helped establish the fund in a series of legendary concerts, return for the anniversary.<\/p>\n

On May 14, the Atchafalaya Reunion assembles original members of the legendary Cajun rock band. In its heyday, Atchafalaya entertained legions of fans from Thibodaux to Turkey.<\/p>\n

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Besides winning two Grammys, Terrance Simien has also played zydeco music in 45 countries and performed at President Bill Clinton\u2019s inaugural ball.<\/p>\n

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After a summer break, Crossroads returns Oct. 1 with \u201cThe Creole Continuum: Transcending Tradition,\u201d featuring Terrance and Marcella Simien. Terrance is a two-time, Grammy-winning zydeco musician whose daughter Marcella performs her own spiritual and cultural interpretations.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

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Crossroads wraps up Nov. 19 with \u201cTwenty Years of Valcour Records,\u201d at musician Joel Savoy\u2019s studio near Eunice. Savoy turned the spot that held his grandfather\u2019s outdoor kitchen into a recording destination with multiple Grammy nominations, including the heralded \u201cA Tribute to the King of Zydeco.\u201d<\/p>\n

Again, I pledge no fanboy behavior this year. But I can\u2019t wait to eat more musical cake and ice cream at Louisiana Crossroads.<\/p>\n

Herman Fuselier is executive director of the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission. A longtime journalist covering Louisiana music and culture, he lives in Opelousas. His \u201cZydeco Stomp\u201d show airs at noon Saturdays on KRVS 88.7 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n

\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n

\u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theadvocate.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Keep taking deep breaths,” I kept telling myself. “It\u2019ll slow my heart rate.” Usually interviewing musicians on stage is as easy as eating cake and ice cream. But this interview was with Irma freakin\u2019 Thomas. In my decades as a music writer, I never met the Soul Queen of New Orleans, easily one of my […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2249646,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2249645","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/Louisiana-Crossroads-Music-Series-Overview-EntertainmentLife.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249645","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2249645"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249645\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2249647,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2249645\/revisions\/2249647"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2249646"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2249645"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2249645"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2249645"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}