Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy & the Cajun Country Revival: The Right Combination

 

I have been thinking about this post for a couple of months now, never sure how to start it and never sure what I had to contribute aside from “It’s really good. You should buy it.” There is some Cajun blood down my mother’s family line, but it’s not a culture I was ever directly exposed to. I have always enjoyed the friendly, happy, highly danceable vibe of Cajun music whenever I’ve heard it, but, until this album, I never had it around for listening on a regular basis. I haven’t studied Cajun music. So, in considering this post, I have felt wholly adrift. But as Joel Savoy’s brother Wilson said in an NPR post about the current crop of Cajun string bands, talking about the audiences the Cajun musicians find when they play outside of lower Louisiana and southeast Texas, “Even if they didn’t grow up in that culture, they can tell if the music is real or fake.”

If the aforementioned NPR piece is correct about a coming surge in popularity for Cajun music, there’s going to be a rise in the fake (I’ve heard a bit of it coming out already, and it’s a sad experience). But even if you’ve never heard of multi-award winning accordionist Jesse Lége or his frequent collaborator Joel Savoy, you know from the first note that this is real. Savoy’s parents, Marc and Ann, are famed Cajun musicians in their own right. And Lége grew up in a one-room house in southwest Louisiana, where his family had no electricity and spoke Cajun French.

For this album, The Right Combination, Lége and Savoy threw a little twist in the mix by teaming up with Pacific Northwest musicians, the Caleb Klauder Country Band. Given the overlapping histories of Cajun and country music, the pairing of the two styles is seamless and results in a lively and varied album. As a starting point, think of Hank Williams playing “Jambalaya (On the Bayou)”, amp the fiddles way up, throw in lots of button accordion and place the unique Cajun shout-singing style alongside Williams’ Alabama drawl.

 

‘tit monde by Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy, and the Cajun Country Revival

 

Courville’s Fetish by Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy, and the Cajun Country Revival

 

The Right Combination can be downloaded via Bandcamp or purchased from Savoy’s label, Valcour Records.

Jesse Lége, Joel Savoy & the Cajun Country Revival @ Bandcamp

Valcour Records

Jesse Lége Official Website

Jesse & Joel Official Website

Caleb Klauder Official Website

July Video Challenge: Na Na Na, My Chemical Romance

This is My Chemical Romance, broadcasting from a post-apocalyptic California, in 2019. There’s lots of geeky details, fancy driving and things blowing up in a very satisfying manner. Every time this one comes up on shuffle I almost wish I had a car just so I could plug my iPod into the speakers and crank this one up while driving very fast. It’s also  the first video in a series, and served as a visual introduction to the concept and the world of their latest record, Danger Days: The True Life of the Fabulous Killjoys.

 

My Chemical Romance - "Na Na Na" (Official Music Video)

July Video Challenge: Phantom Planet, Do the Panic

You may recognize Phantom Planet, or at least singer Alex Greenwald’s voice, from The OC, as they sang the theme song for the show. (You might recognize his face from Donnie Darko.) This song is from Raise The Dead, their last record, released in 2008. The video should get some sort of prize for creepy, horror-movie inspired effects.

Phantom Planet: Do The Panic [OFFICIAL VIDEO]

July Video Challenge: Jail Weddings, The Spell Has Lifted

Jail Weddings, of Los Angeles, are in the process of an ambitious project: making a video for every single song on their new record Love is Lawless. This one, for The Spell is Lifted, is directed by Lauren Everett, and intersperses performance shots with vintage pictures of Los Angeles. Some of them evoke the glamor of Old Hollywood; others of them depict the far uglier and twisted flip side of that coin. It is a visual meditation on the lure of Tinseltown, and the way that lure can be dangerous.

 

Jail Weddings "The Spell Has Lifted"

July Video Challenge, Miss Derringer, Click Click (Bang Bang)

Here, fusing the genres of country, goth, and rockabilly, is Miss Derringer, with Click Click (Bang Bang) from Winter Hill. There’s a cake-fight in the first minute and a half or so, and it only gets better from there. Also notable: Liz McGrath’s epically fabulous hat.

Miss Derringer - "Click Click (Bang Bang)" Triple X Records / Nickel & Dime Records

Let the Wrong Light In: Kasey Anderson and the Honkies, Heart of a Dog

Kasey Anderson and the Honkies are from both Seattle and Portland, and are Kasey Anderson on vocals, guitar, percussion, Andrew KcKeag (Presidents of the United States of America) on guitar, vocals, Eric Corson (The Long Winters) on bass, and Mike Musburger (The Posies, The Supersuckers) on drums.

Heart of a Dog is the result of Anderson’s desire to move beyond being a solo artist and “just make a rock n’ roll record” and, dear readers: he, the band, and their all-star guest stars (Jenny Comlee of the Decemberists and Dave Harding of Richmond Fontaine, among others) have most definitely succeeded.

I’ve been carrying the songs around with me for a while now, and listening to them in all kinds of situations: while studying for exams, while on the train, and now, poolside, and they always improve both my mood and my day, whether I apply them directly or they float up on shuffle.

I can’t really isolate one or two favorites for you – the whole record is strong – but I can say that the slow dirty burn of Let The Wrong Light In was an especially fantastic contrast to the anodyne confines of law school. I’m also fond of My Baby’s a Wrecking Ball and Kasey Anderson’s Dream.

Here’s Let The Wrong Light In in video form so you can listen for yourself. Be sure to turn it up:

July Video Challenge: The Dollyrots, Brand New Key (The Rollerskate Song)

The Dollyrots, of Los Angeles, are also signed to Blackheart Records. They started out in Florida in 2000 and later moved to Los Angeles; Brand New Key (The Rollerskate Song) started out as a folk song in the early ’70s – it was originally sung by Melanie – and here is a pop-punk gem.

 

The Dollyrots - Brand New Key

July Video Challenge, Guns n’ Roses, Welcome to the Jungle

And now, on the other end of the glam metal / hard rock spectrum, here is Guns n’ Roses with Welcome to the Jungle. My favorite part of this one is the quick-cut between “Axel Rose, country boy getting off the bus chewing on an actual hayseed” (I never noticed this absurdity before) and “Axl Rose, teased-hair, leather-trousers-clad ROCK STAR”:

Guns N' Roses - Welcome To The Jungle

July Video Challenge: Nelson, (I Can’t Live Without Your) Love and Affection

These two gentlemen are Matthew and Gunnar Nelson, the twin sons of Ricky and Kristin Nelson. This song is from their first record, After the Rain, released in 1990. True confession: I totally bought it, and may even still have the tape somewhere.

This video is a thing of beauty and a joy forever for their outfits alone. There’s the matching artfully ripped jeans, in the beginning, which are followed by a series of epic costume changes. I spent at least a minute trying to decide if the one on the left – I think it’s Gunnar, but I can’t be sure – was wearing red legwarmers or especially fancy boots in the first several frames on the stage, and I’ve decided those are boots which look like legwarmers. In any case, they’re fabulous.

 

Nelson - (Can't Live Without Your) Love And Affection