BeauSoleil has been dubbed “the best Cajun band in the world” by Garrison Keillor of “A Prairie Home Companion.”If you go
› What: BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet in Patten Performances.› When: 7:30 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 24.› Where: UTC Fine Arts Center, 752 Vine St.› Admission: $29 adults, $24 seniors, $15 students.› Phone: 423-425-4269.› Website: www.utc.edu/fine-arts-center/pattenperformances.
When it comes to imagining what New Orleans sounds like, whether they know it or not, most people immediately hear BeauSoleil. The Grammy-winning group has been playing since 1975, blending a musical gumbo of zydeco, New Orleans jazz, swamp pop, bluegrass, Tex-Mex, country, blues and whatever else they need to spice up the mix.
They’ve traveled the world playing everything from Richard Thompson’s Meltdown Festival in England to the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville to Carnegie Hall in New York. BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet returns to Chattanooga on Wednesday, Feb. 24, for a show that is part of the Patten Performances series at UTC’s Fine Arts Center. For you non-French speakers, BeauSoleil translates to “beautiful sun” and avec means “with.”
Doucet is the bandleader, fiddle player and vocalist. Always fascinated by the sacred French-Cajun culture of the area, he earned a folk arts apprenticeship from the National Endowment for the Arts. The experience caused him to focus his life and efforts on the music, and he sought out every surviving Cajun musician he could find to learn from them in person.
He learned from masters like Dewey Balfa, Dennis McGee, Sady Courville, Luderin Darbone, Varise Conner, Canray Fontenot and many others, even inspiring some to return to publicly performing. He was recognized in 2005 by the National Endowment for the Arts for his integral involvement with the Cajun world. The independent federal agency also awarded him a National Heritage Fellowship as well as a United States Artists Fellowship in 2007.