Beausoleil: David Doucet (vocals, acoustic & electric guitars); Michael Doucet (vocals, fiddle, percussion); Al Tharp (electric guitar, banjo, fiddle, background vocals); Tommy Comeaux (lap steel guitar, mandolin, bass); Jimmy Breaux (accordion); Tommy Alesi (drums); Billy Ware (percussion).
Additional personnel: Scott Goodeau.
Producers: Michael Doucet, Ken Gorz, Ken Irwin.
Recorded at Ultrasonic Studio, New Orleans, Louisiana on August 21 & 22, 1988. Includes liner notes by Joe Wilson.
1989's BAYOU CADILLAC finds Beausoleil pushing at the boundaries of its earlier, true-blue traditionalist approach to Louisiana roots music. However, though here electric guitars, eclectic arrangements and contemporary production values are added, the band's capacity for good time "gombo music" (as the liner notes term it) is as dependable as red beans and rice on a Monday night. "Bon Temps Rouler," the 1950 Clarance Garlow song that first used the word "zydeco" to describe black dance music, kicks things off with breathless, red-hot energy.
That energy is maintained throughout, from the rollicking "Rolling Pin" and the soulful, accordion-and-fiddle cover of Big Joe Williams' "Baby Please Don't Go," to group founder and fiddler Michael Doucet's "Island Zydeco," which quotes the Caribbean via the bayou. While traditional Cajun songs such as "Valse Bebe" and "Flammes D'Enfer" are still in evidence, Beausoleil branches out adventurously here, especially on the title track, a medley that includes Buddy Holly's "Not Fade Away," Bo Diddley's eponymous theme song, and the Mardi Gras classic "Iko Iko." Purists may bristle at the band's updating of traditional sounds, but for the uninitiated, BAYOU CADILLAC offers an energetic, accessible entry point to this rich, regional music.
