Beausoleil Live! From The Left Coast CD

Recorded live at The Great American Music Hall, San Francisco, California on May 23 & 24, 1989.

This 1990 live album captures Beausoleil doing what it does best: making high-energy music steeped deeply in the Louisiana-bred forms of Cajun and zydeco. There's no evidence here of the more streamlined, modern sound of albums such as BAYOU CADILLAC, and purists will be pleased by the absence of electric guitar and rock-oriented rhythms. Instead, Beausoleil returns to the back porch aesthetic of its earliest recordings, featuring the skilful interplay of accordion, banjo, mandolin, and fiddle on a set of largely traditional compositions.

One of the most interesting things about Beausoleil is its ability to erode the distinction between Cajun and zydeco, two closely related genres usually distinguished by race. Cajun, closer to country, is usually played by whites, while zydeco, closer to R&B, is usually played by blacks. On LIVE! Beausoleil flows with equal proficiency between the Cajun fiddle and accordion-fueled opener "Les Veuves De La Loulee" and the waltz-time "Plus Tu Tournes" on the one hand, and the driving, danceable zydeco stylings of "Les Filles A Nonc Helaire" and "Maman Rosin Au Zydeco Bal" on the other.

Beausoleil: David Doucet (vocals, acoustic guitar); Michael Doucet (vocals, fiddle); Al Tharp (banjo, background vocals); Tommy Comeaux (mandolin, bass); Jimmy Breaux (Acadian accordion); Tommy Alesi (drums); Billy Ware (percussion).

Producers: Chris Strachwitz, Michael Doucet.

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