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<\/p>\n Michael Doucet formed BeauSoleil in 1975. The band is considered one of the greatest Cajun bands in history. BeauSoleil performs on Friday night at The Arts Campus at Willits.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n The term \u201cYeah You Right\u201d is commonly heard in the streets of New Orleans. It is a rallying cry. Someone says \u201cLet\u2019s Party!\u201d And another responds, \u201cYeah you right!\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n Similarly, in the streets of Lafayette and the swamps of the bayous, It\u2019s common to hear the refrain, \u201cEt Toi!\u201d which literally translated from French means, \u201cAnd You!\u201d It is also an invitation to come on and join the party.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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\u2019s Funky Nation brings the funk to the Paul JAS Center on Friday and Saturday.\u00a0<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n According to the band’s website, BeauSoleil\u2019s musicians \u201ctake 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.”\u00a0<\/p>\n BeauSoleil sings most of their songs in French but does sing in English.\u00a0<\/p>\n The band\u2019s name is a tribute to Joseph Broussard (1702\u20131765), also known as \u201cBeausoleil.\u201d He was a leader of the Acadian people who lived in the Maritime provinces of Canada \u2014 Nova Scotia<\/a>, Prince Edward Island<\/a> and New Brunswick<\/a>. Broussard fought the British, and after those lands were captured, he led the first group of Acadians to southern Louisiana.\u00a0<\/p>\n Many of the songs BeauSoleil plays even predate those days. \u201cThe music goes back to 1604,\u201d Doucet said in an interview with the Aspen Daily News. \u201cIt\u2019s not just a genre like bluegrass. It\u2019s the music of the people.\u201d<\/p>\n Doucet, now 75,\u00a0 was raised in Southwest Louisiana near Scott, just outside Lafayette. \u201cEverybody was a musician and we played all kinds of music,\u201d he said. \u201cWe didn\u2019t create categories.\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n As a boy, Doucet memorized Elvis songs and performed them dressed like Roy Rogers. His uncle T. Will Knight, gave him his first fiddle \u2014 now displayed in the Louisiana State Capitol museum \u2014 and taught him his first fiddle songs.<\/p>\n It was in 1974 that Doucet experienced the moment he now calls his \u201cAh-ha\u201d 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n There, he was stunned to hear the same traditionals his family sang back home in Louisiana. \u201cWe were so insular,\u201d Doucet recalled. \u201cWe never thought anybody outside Louisiana even knew our music.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same festival, a French filmmaker premiered a documentary shot in rural Louisiana \u2014 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n \u201cThat was when it occurred to me that maybe there was an audience for our music outside Louisiana,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n After 50 years of spreading the gospel of Cajun music all over the world, Doucet can\u2019t imagine stopping bringing the music to the people. \u201cI\u2019ve retired so many times it doesn\u2019t matter,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n He still plays 50 to 80 shows a year. \u201cI\u2019m still going to be playing till I can\u2019t move,\u201d Doucet said.<\/p>\n 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.\u00a0<\/p>\n Wherever Doucet and his band take the stage \u2014 whether at Jazz Fest\u2019s famed Fais Do-Do tent or at TACAW on Friday, his hope is simple: \u201cA smile,\u201d he said. \u201cA smile and an open heart.\u201d<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Sammie Williams, bandleader of Big Sam\u2019s Funky Nation, is shown at the 2023 JAS June Experience at The Sterling.\u00a0<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n
\n Courtesy of TACAW<\/span>
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\n <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nLaissez le bon temps rouler<\/strong><\/h3>\n
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