Beausoleil: 30 Years ... and counting!

Few bands, or solo artists, for that matter, have been around for 30 years. The Rolling Stones, The Who, The Grateful Dead, The Allman Brothers, Los Lobos, The Radiators, The Hackberry Ramblers, Dennis McGee & Sady Courville and Canray Fontenot & Bois Sec Ardoin come to mind. The members of BeauSoleil learned firsthand from the latter dearly departed duos and have taken their music to stages frequented by the former groups, joining a few of them and their members in performance and on recordings while playing the Super Bowl, The Grammy Awards and countless festivals and nightclubs in all 50 states and plenty of places abroad.

The band's members are among the greatest acoustic musicians on our planet, and they've pulled in players and influences from around the world and across the musical spectrum during their time together. BeauSoleil's live alchemy has simultaneously invigorated and expanded the foundations of Louisiana folk music, and now the group who celebrated a quarter century by declaring they'd look back tomorrow are taking a moment to retrace a few of their steps.

The band members' list of influences and masters they've worked directly with reads like an encyclopedia of Cajun cultural history: Nathan Abshire, Bois Sec Ardoin, Dewey Balfa, Rodney Balfa, Will Balfa, Pee Wee Broussard, Bebe Carriere, Eraste Carriere, Boozoo Chavis, Clifton Chenier, Sady Courville, Luderin Darbone, Octa Clark, Varise Conner, Hector Duhon, Canray Fontenot, Freeman Fontenot, Claude Fox, Wade Fruge, Doc Guidry, Doug Kershaw, Iry Lejeune, Preston Manuel, U.J. Meaux, Dennis McGee, Walter Mouton, Austin Pitre, Aldus Roger, Marc Savoy, Jo-El Sonnier, Rufus Thibodeaux and Lawrence Walker are among the many players whose lives and music have been a part of BeauSoleil's ongoing quest for and desire to honor "The Spirit of Cajun Music."

In many parts of the world, if you say Cajun people know little more than BeauSoleil, and that's just fine. The band's stature in the folk music world is unparalleled, and we'd like to thank the members of BeauSoleil past and present, and you, for taking a few moments to appreciate the occasion of these special career-spanning retrospective shows for what it is: a unique landmark in our shared history.

Merci beaucoup, BeauSoleil!