BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Joe Hall & The Cane Cutters

For four decades, BeauSoleil have been both preservationists and visionaries of Cajun music. The genre originated from the mid-18th century expulsion of French Canadians who developed their very own form of music in Louisiana. It is enhanced by the group around bandleader Michael Doucet with influences from New Orleans jazz, bluegrass, zydeco and other styles. While the two-time Grammy award-winning band gets people dancing with fiddle and accordion, Doucet is a skilled storyteller.

Proud to be a Creole is the name of the latest album by Joe Hall & The Cane Cutters. The virtuoso accordionist and singer may not have had to work in the fields, but he still feels a sense of belonging to population with French, Spanish, African and Indigenous ancestors and Catholic-influences. With fiddler Forest Huval, guitarist Mark Palms and an accomplished rhythm section, Hall brings Creole music, Cajun and zydeco together in energetic songs and performances with a sense of history.