It’s hard to imagine a more humble start for a musician than playing a set at Frank’s Bar. A nondescript two-room storefront on U.S. Highway 190, it is what most people would call a workingman’s bar — a long, worn bartop on the darker side, dim fluorescent lights, a pool table and a few four-tops on the other.
For most people, going from playing on stage before packed arenas to playing the clubs along Nashville’s Broadway would seem like a step down. But for Tracy Broussard, who has spent the better part of the last two decades on the road as country superstar Blake Shelton’s drummer, it’s provided a measure of balance. The Cankton native used his time during the pandemic to rediscover the reason he fell in love with music in the first place.
Sophia McCarthy, a 20-year-old from Lafayette, moved to Nashville to fulfill her dreams of becoming a singer-songwriter. McCarthy attends Middle Tennessee State University (MTSU) where she is working toward a degree in recording industry management.
Beb, people in St. Martin Parish don’t like to leave St. Martin Parish,” Maegan Berard Rankin explains to me in her rich Cecilia accent, with a gentle smile and a motherly tap on the arm.
Full disclosure, I have been friends with Maegan and the Sweet Cecilia Girls since I was in my early twenties. After giving them a hard time constantly about never getting to see them anywhere but at a gig, they all agree that the “big city” of Lafayette is great, but not their preferred speed.
Born in the bosom of the rice fields of Judice in the wet winter of 1976, Bas Clas (a Cajun insult for those deemed “low-class”) developed quite a following in Acadiana. They were different from other bands in that they did very few cover tunes, concentrating instead on original music, mostly written by guitarist/vocalist Donnie Picou. Along with younger brother Steve, bassist Geoff Thistlethwaite and drummer Ted Cobena, Bas Clas not only had a following in this area, they also caught the ear of influential record people.
Musicians and artists enrich our lives, inspire passion, and bring joy to others — invaluable in engaging and bringing the community together. Relying on freelance or contract work, many creatives can’t afford health insurance. “With an older musician or artist, when they’re not able to work, they don’t have 401(k)s or a retirement plan, so how do they take care of themselves?” asked Johnathan Williams, founder and CEO of Quality of Life Services (an elder care service), president of the nonprofit Love of People and co-founder of Blue Monday Mission, operating as a non-profit under the Love of People Umbrella.
Known primarily for his nearly three decades of rockin’ and rollin’ with Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars, pianist/songwriter Eric Adcock has been drawn to beats since a young age. “I was always motivated by sound and rhythm,” Adcock explained. “I was that kid standing up in the station wagon with the windshield wipers going left and right, feeling that beat.” Adcock is Louisiana roots, rock ‘n’ roll, funk, jazz and blues. He has sat behind a piano since he was five years old, and he’s proficient on the Hammond B-3 organ — both self-taught.