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Traditional and modern country music has been dominant, creating its own country stars, like Tim McGraw, Jimmie Davis, Tony Joe White, and Andy Griggs from Northeast Louisiana, and Trace Adkins, Kix Brooks, and Hank Williams Jr. from Northwest Louisiana.
- Cajun Music
- Major Cajun Musicians
- Zydeco
- Summary
- Suggested Listening
By Joshua Caffery, 64 Parishes, (c) 2020. Text used with permission. Cajun music is an accordion- and fiddle-based largely francophone folk music originating in southwestern Louisiana. Most people identify Cajun music with Louisiana’s Acadian settlers and their descendants, the Cajuns, but this music in fact refers to an indigenous mixture with com...
Marc Savoy
Adapted from “Marc Savoy,” Wikipedia, 2022, CC BY SA 3.0 Marc Savoy (sah-vwah), born October 1, 1940, is an American musician and builder and player of the Cajun accordion. Born on his grandfather’s rice farm near Eunice, Louisiana, his grandfather was a fiddler who occasionally played with the legendary Dennis McGee, who was once a tenant farmer on his grandfather’s property. Marc Savoy began playing traditional music when he was 12 years old. Savoy holds a degree in chemical engineering, bu...
Dewey Balfa
Adapted from “Dewey Balfa,” Wikipedia, 2021, CC BY SA 3.0 Dewey Balfa (1927-1992) was an American Cajun fiddler and singer who contributed significantly to the popularity of Cajun music. Balfa was born near Mamou, Louisiana, and is best known for his 1964 performance at the Newport Folk Festival with Gladius Thibodeaux and Vinus Lejeune, where the group received an enthusiastic response from over seventeen thousand audience members. He sang the song “Parlez Nous a Boire” in the 1981 cult film...
BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet
By Roger Hahn, 64 Parishes, 2019. Text used with permission Formed during the Cajun revival of the 1970s, BeauSoleil and its founder, fiddler Michael Doucet, are among Louisiana’s most prominent ambassadors of Cajun music and culture. The band is particularly known and respected for emphasizing a wide range of Cajun musical traditions. Never content to re-create precise historical renderings of traditional Cajun music, BeauSoleil highlights the music’s inherent adaptability by incorporating e...
Adapted from “Zydeco,” Wikipedia, CC BY SA 3.0 Zydeco (/ˈzaɪdɪˌkoʊ/ ZY-dih–koh or /ˈzaɪdiˌkoʊ/ ZY-dee-koh, French: Zarico) is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers that blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. Although it is disti...
This chapter looked briefly at the history of the Louisiana Acadians, an ethnic group mainly living in the U.S. state of Louisiana who became commonly known as “Cajuns” starting with the British conquest of Acadia in 1710 and the Acadians’ refusal to sign an unconditional oath of allegiance to the Crown. This led to the Acadians being deported and ...
Balfa, Dewey, Marc Savoy, and D. L. Menard. Under a Green Oak Tree. Audio CD. El Cerrito: Arhoolie Records, 1993.Beausoleil. The Best of Beausoleil. Audio CD. El Cerrito: Arhoolie Records, 1997.LeJeune, Iry. Cajun’s Greatest: The Definitive Collection. Audio CD. London: Ace Records, 2004.McGee, Dennis. Complete Early Recordings 1929–1930. Audio CD. Yazoo, 1994.Cajun music (French: Musique cadienne), an emblematic music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Although they are two separate genres, Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole -based zydeco music.
What ties it all together is the music, whether it’s jazz, brass, heartbreaking blues or an energetic Cajun tune. Go ahead, tap your feet, jump up and dance or sing along. In three of the state’s most musical cities – New Orleans, Baton Rouge and Lafayette – they wouldn’t have it any other way.
Music is engrained in the soul of Louisiana. The birthplace of jazz, zydeco, Cajun and swamp pop, Louisiana has also inspired genres ranging from blues and country to hip-hop, gospel, rap and rock ‘n’ roll. And one of the best parts of Louisiana music — you can find it everywhere!
In recent years, Louisiana music has come to command large audiences around the world, especially the musical styles of New Orleans and South Louisiana. For the most part, when Louisiana musicians perform overseas, they play on the stages of concert halls or festivals.
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Louisiana Music Scene: Rhythms, Blues, and Cultural Beats. One of the many reasons Louisiana is so great is that music is everywhere. You'll find jazz, blues, country and zydeco spilling from nightclubs, performance halls, arenas, outdoor festivals and more.
