THE SAVOY FAMILY CAJUN BAND

Those folks put on a packed house concert at the Ellen Theater in Bozeman on Saturday, July 12 to a very enthusiastic crowd. Then they came to the Yellowstone Garage Brew Pub on Sunday. To me it was a very disappointing crowd, but they still performed like they would have at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. It, as least, gave me a chance to talk to these iconic musicians of the traditional Cajun genre. Marc Savoy, the head of the family, is a great player of the Cajun accordion and also the most famous builder of that instrument. I got some tips on playing Cajun fiddle from son, Joel Savoy, who Linda Ronstadt called one of her favorite musicians. Mother, Ann Savoy, has written an outstanding book outlining the history of the Cajun people and especially their music, "CAJUN MUSIC,  A Reflection of the People." All the historical musicians of Cajun country are presented along with their music. The lyrics are in Cajun French, which is not necessarily the same as classical French, and then presented phonetically so all can sing them correctly. Her book will cost you a few shekels, but it is essential to any musician who wants to perform authentic Cajun music. Ann Savoy has performed with one or both of her sons in the movies, "All the King's Men," with Sean Penn as well as in the "Secrets of the Divine Ya Ya Sisterhood, " (if I got that one right). She has also sung duets and written music for Ronstadt. Joel told me they are all working musicians and have daily gigs in many genre all over the world. Marc and Ann had major parts in the superb documentary "Jai Ete Au Bal," along with Michael Doucet. This is available free on the internet if you get to the right site and it will show and tell you all there is to know about traditional Cajun and Zydeco music. If any readers of this blog are interested in Cajun music kindly contact me at gdaefiddler@q.com.  It is really fun music to play.