#9 Chanson et musique traditionnelle de l’Acadiana, région du Sud-ouest de la Louisiane avec Jourdan Thibodeaux, Joel Savoy et Blake Miller

Teachers presentation:

Straight out of the blackjack boggy woods of Cypress Island, Louisiana, JOURDAN THIBODEAUX is one of only a handful of younger people speaking Cajun French. His soulful singing, fiddling and ever-growing repertoire of original Louisiana French songs are tinged with both classic and progressive elements.

Grandson of well known accordion builder Larry Miller, BLAKE MILLER has been surrounded by Cajun music and culture his entire life. Hailing from the small town of Iota Louisiana, Blake, a fluent French speaker and songwriter, managed to acquire a degree in Francophone studies from The University Of Louisiana at Lafayette and in the meantime founded the popular young Cajun band The Pine Leaf Boys and became a member of the premiere Louisiana roots Band The Red Stick Ramblers. He has also served stints in just about every other Cajun/Creole band of note including Balfa Toujours, Les Malfecteurs and Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole bringing his strong cultural identity and accomplished musicianship to the world. Now plays with the world-traveled Revelers for the past 4 years singing and playing his own songs on fiddle and accordion.

JOEL SAVOY, founder of Louisiana-based Valcour Records, is a GRAMMY-winning recording engineer and producer. A versatile fiddler and guitarist who has played and taught music around the world for the past 20 years, he has worked with the best in southwest Louisiana as well as with folks like John Fogerty, Linda Ronstadt, Steve Earle, and T-Bone Burnett, although most often he’s seen with his brother Wilson and their parents in the Savoy Family Cajun Band. He is currently Artistic Director of the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes and a program manager for the National Council for Traditional Arts program National Treasures.