KLFY’s Gerald Gruenig seems to be everywhere lately. His Acadiana Eats and music segments on channel 10’s Passe Patout are as popular as ever. His band Gentilly Zydeco has been featured on stages across south Louisiana, and the list of music legends that he has played with is lengthy. But don’t think any of that has gone to his head. He is just as surprised as anyone that he has found his “happy” just two hours away from his childhood home in the Gentilly section of New Orleans.
While your eyes might not notice Jill Butler tucked away on the edge of the spotlight, once the music starts, your ears will let you know that she is certainly there. Then, you can understand why Jill Butler is such a contribution to the many performing artists who include her in their band lineups.
Buck Verret has bounced around the Acadiana music scene for years. He’s played bass with most of the talent coming out of Vermilion Parish, which is a luminary lineup to hang out with.
He’s played bass with Mike McLeod Dean’s band since 2004, which gave him the chance to play gigs with most of the bands the two had grown up listening to at one time or another. But he wanted to do something more.
Erica Fox is and always has been a storyteller. The evidence is in her own songwriting, in her interpretation of a song she might cover with her own phrasing, or in an acting role on film or on stage.
Most musicians take a while to hit their stride. They experiment and, over time, cast aside ideas and projects as they discover new paths. So, it is rare to see a concept hold a
musician on track for almost a decade as they seek to realize their vision. But Julian Primeaux has done just that.
Chubby Carrier can sum up what it’s like to be a working musician these days in very few words: “No gigs means no money.” Carrier and his band have been a mainstay
of the zydeco music scene for more than two decades. But even the big dogs on the scene were humbled in the face of the COVID-19 shutdown that swept the country last year.
There’s a lot to be said for perspective. And, for Terrance Simien, the last year has offered it in spades. The Mallet native has plied his trade for decades, playing his particular flavor of zydeco to fans across the globe. The band was the first to showcase zydeco in a major motion picture, 1986’s “The Big Easy.” Simien even made an appearance on a Disney soundtrack, 2009’s “The Princess and the Frog,” playing accordion, rubboard and triangle on “Gonna Take You There,” his collaboration with Randy Newman.
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