Michot’s Melody Makers
Blood Moon
Sinking City Records
Louis Michot has been doing his part to keep the music of French Louisiana alive and relevant for a long time. His main band, The Lost Bayou Ramblers are a Grammy-winning collective that takes a big, brash approach to Cajun music. When the Ramblers decided to take break, co-founder Michot decided to try out something different. The mandate for the Melody Makers is to be the sort of band that can play anywhere, anytime. Michot wanted to be able to grab whoever happens to be available and take the music where ever people wanted to dance.
The songs on Blood Moon, are mainly old tunes that didn’t become standards. Some of the songs, like “Blues Neg Francais” are fairly faithful to the tradition with just a bit more oomph to the bass and drums. Then “La Lune Est Croche” comes along with techno beats and clap track. Putting the old song is a new environment works for me. Being faithful to the spirit of the music while playing with the conventions may help keep these old fiddle tunes relevant in the 21st century. At the very least, Louis Michot and his friends are having fun.
