LES FRERES MICHOT
TRADITIONAL CAJUN MUSIC
Liner Notes and Lyrics for:
#3: LFM 0003 (2008) and FA 579 (2012)
The third album, "La Caroline," was recorded at La Louisianne studio in Lafayette and was released in September of 2008 on the LFM label (LFM 0003); it features Rick's son Patrick along with brothers Tommy and Rick. La Caroline was re-released out of France as “Dedans le sud de la Louisiane” under the Fremeaux label (FA 579) in 2013.
Les Frères Michot
La Caroline
listen to entire cd here
To hear audio clips, go to:
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1. La Caroline
traditional tune; lyrics, Rick Michot
2. Dedans le sud de la Louisiane
Alex Broussard
3. La valse de Albert Broussard
traditional tune
4. La chasse aux lapins
music and lyrics, Rick Michot
5. La valse de Bayou LaFourche
Happy Fats and Doc Guidry
6. Les blues de Carroll County
traditional tune
7. Allons à Lafayette
Joe and Cleoma Falcon
8. Le premier amour
music and lyrics, Tommy Michot
9. Au long de la rivière
Lee Sonnier
10. Le speciale des Musiciens de Soleil Couché
Lionel Cormier
11. La valse amoreux
music, Jay Ungar and Molly Mason; lyrics, Rick Michot
12. La veuve du Lac Bleu
traditional tune
13. Deux pas de vieux temps
Willis Touchet
14. Les memoires d’un vieux vacher
music and lyrics, Rick Michot
15. Je m’ennuie de toi
Adam Hebert
16. La valse à Varis
traditional tune
17. Le contradanse a Pepère
Harry Lafleur
18. Ris donc, Alladin, ris donc
traditional tune; lyrics, Rick Michot
19. La valse de Grand Bois
traditional tune
20. J'ai passé devant ta porte
traditional tune
21. La torturelle
traditional tune
Unless noted otherwise, traditional songs are in the public domain
All arrangements by Les Frères Michot
1. LA CAROLINE (CAROLYN)
Traditional tune, Varis Conner; lyrics, Rick Michot
Vocals: Rick and Tommy
In the early to mid 1980s a group of musicians including Rick Michot, Varis Conner, and Lionel Leleux would gather in late October every year for a jam session at Varis’ Lake Arthur home. Because all three musicians were fiddle players born under the zodiac sign of Scorpio, the sessions became known as “the Scorpio Parties.” It was at one of these sessions that Rick learned this tune, “La Caroline,” from Varis. La Caroline was the name of one of the ships that brought the exiled Acadians to Louisiana from Novia Scotia (via France) in 1785. Because of the name, Rick was inspired to write lyrics to the catchy tune in memory of the good times that he and Tommy had with their little sister, Carolyn. This song is a special dedication to Rick and Tommy’s parents, Louis and Pat Michot, in memory of their fourth child, Carolyn Rose Michot (born 1952). Carolyn was two years younger than Tommy, and she died in a tragic automobile accident at the age of 17. She often would follow her older brothers through the fields and on fishing trips where she would often out-fish them! In the summers she would put up her hair in “papillons,” a popular style for small girls at the time in which two small “buns” were worn on the rear of the head, one on each side, looking like butterfly wings (or “papillons”).
Notre belle p’tite sœur avait les cheveux longs et si blondes,
Tous mis en papillions,
Et un bon cœur si grand.
Elle était la pomme dans l’œil de notre Papa,
La belle p’tite rose et le bras droit à Mama.
Elle a suivi ses frères n’importe où ils sont allés,
Traverser les savannes et les grands talles d’éronces.
Elle a attrapé la plus grande perche à Patterson,
Notre chère p’tite sœur, La Caroline.
CAROLYN
Our little sister had long blond hair,
All done up in “papillons,”
And a good heart so big.
She was the apple of our Daddy’s eye,
The beautiful little rose, and the right arm of Mama.
She followed her brothers wherever they went,
Across the pastures, and the big briar patches.
She caught the biggest bass at Patterson,
Our dear little sister, Carolyn.
2. DEDANS LE SUD DE LA LOUISIANE (IN SOUTH LOUISIANA)
Music and lyrics by Alex Broussard
Vocals: Rick and Tommy
This is a two-step written by Alex Broussard for the Breaux Bridge Centennial in 1959. This song sums up why South Louisiana is such a great place to live and why the Acadians found a paradise when they settled there. The song touches on several themes that the Michots hold sacred: ducks that fly in the marsh, fish that jump in Bayou Teche, cooking and eating that bounty, and dancing the polkas, mazurkas and waltzes of the old times. According to David Rachou, this was the first Cajun song to be recorded (ca. 1960) at La Louisianne studio in Lafayette, where the Michots recorded this release. Alex Broussard approached Carroll Rachou about recording the song at the studio, which up until then had been used primarily to record jazz and big band music. Rachou told Broussard that he had to have a band and an entire album’s worth of songs in order to record there. Alex said he could do that, and he put together a band of some of the great musicians of the time, including Happy Fats LeBlanc, Jack LeBlanc, Doc Guidry, Sleepy Hoffpauer, Lawrence Walker, and Bob Olivier to record the album, Le Sud de La Louisianne. Interestingly, the album notes say that Bob Olivier was a retired blacksmith from Pilette, which is where the Michots are from. Rachou named the studio after the song and album and his Cajun record label became La Lou Records, there-after recording hundreds of Cajun records, and still doing so to this day.
3. LA VALSE DE ALBERT BROUSSARD (ALBERT BROUSSARD’S WALTZ)
Traditional/Varis Conner
This is a beautiful instrumental waltz that Rick learned from Varis Conner back in the 1980s at the Scorpio parties. It was named for Albert Broussard who, like the Michots, was a descendant of the family of Beausoleil Broussard, the first Acadians to arrive and settle in Louisiana in 1765.
4. LA CHASSE AUX LAPINS (THE RABBIT HUNT)
Music and lyrics by Rick Michot
Vocals: Rick and Tommy
Rick and Tommy spent much of their youth hunting rabbits and even owned a pack of beagles. The beagles that you hear at the beginning of this song and cries at the end were recorded by Rick on a hunt in the Côte Gelée area. Thanks to “Dowt” (Michael Daughty), “Coot” (Thomas Williams), Henry Cantrelle, and “Head” (lead beagle). This song brings images of a cold January morning in Louisiana and hunting buddies getting together to harvest meat for the table. This song is dedicated to the late “Zydeco Jœ” Mouton, who had rabbit dogs and hunted rabbits with Rick and Tommy, then played music with them after the dogs were put up.
On peut entendre tous les taioux après brailler,
Les courrieurs de bois si excités,
Comme même la terre est toujours bien glaçée,
Et le vent de nord, il veut pas s’arrêter
Mes camarades sont tous ensembles après chasser,
Montrer les chiens à ou le lapin a passé,
Et après essayer à figurer,
S’il va aller plus loin ou s’il va retourner.
THE RABBIT HUNT
You can hear the hounds howling,
The runners of the woods, so excited,
Even though the ground is well frozen,
And the north wind doesn’t want to stop blowing.
My comrades are all together hunting,
Showing the dogs where the rabbit passed,
And trying to figure out,
If he is going to go farther away or come back.
5. LA VALSE DE BAYOU LAFOURCHE (BAYOU LAFOURCHE WALTZ)
Traditional/Happy Fats/Doc Guidry, La Lou Music, BMI
Vocals: Rick
This song was originally recorded by Happy Fats and Doc Guidry on La Lou Records ca. 1960. Back in the early 1980s Rick learned it from Dewey Balfa, who was performing it at the Maple Leaf Lounge in New Orleans. This song speaks of the Cajuns along the bayou, none too poor and none too rich, who make a living fishing and shrimping in the coastal wetlands, bays, and bayous, and who go to Mass on Sunday to thank the Lord for this bounty. Both Rick and Tommy have worked along Bayou Lafourche in their day jobs, Rick as a supervisor for Burger Chef in the small town of Cut-Off, and Tommy doing work as a wetland biologist in the marshes and mangroves of the Lafourche region. In addition, their late uncle, Warren Michot, settled along Bayou Lafourche in Napoleonville after marrying a Cajun girl from the bayou, Jeanne Constant. There he raised nine children, and Rick and Tommy spent many childhood days with their cousins on Bayou Lafourche.
6. LES BLUES DE CARROLL COUNTY (CARROLL COUNTY BLUES)
Traditional/Varis Conner
Harmonica: Tommy
This is another one of Varis’ tunes played at the Scorpio parties. When Varis told the Michots the name of this song, they were not sure if he said “Cal County”, “Cow County”, or “Cow Counter” Blues. The impression was that the song accented the link that Cajuns have to the cattle industry, since the early Acadians were some of the first settlers in North America to be cowmen. In that spirit, Tommy decided to play the song with “la musique de la bouche,” or the harmonica, to strengthen the cowboy connection. Years later Glynn Abel, a close friend of the Michots, passed away, and they learned from his obituary that he was born and raised in Carroll County, Mississippi, in the Delta region. They wondered if perhaps the song was named for that county. Rick researched the Conner family again and found out that the song was indeed called the Carroll County Blues. At Glynn Abel’s wake Rick hummed the tune for his sister, who still resides in Carroll County, and she confirmed that it was the same Carroll County Blues that her father used to play on the fiddle. Apparently the tune was first recorded by a blues fiddler named Will Narmour (1889-1961), who picked up the tune as it was being whistled or hummed by a black farmer or field hand.
7. ALLONS À LAFAYETTE (LAFAYETTE TWO STEP)
Jœ Falcon (Starrite Music, BMI)
Vocals: Rick
This was the first Cajun tune ever recorded. It was released on the Columbia label in 1928 by the late Jœ Falcon on accordion and vocals and his wife Cleoma Breaux Falcon on guitar. It is a song about a Cajun from the country who takes his fiancé to Lafayette where they can cut up and act crazy without anyone knowing who they are. This is still true today as Lafayette is the true metropolitan center of Cajun culture.
8. LE PREMIER AMOUR (FIRST LOVE)
Music and lyrics by Tommy Michot
Vocals: Tommy and Rick
This song is based on a true story that happened to a woman who was a close friend of Tommy’s. She dated and fell in love with a younger man. His parents made him break off the relationship, so he disappeared from her life. Without cell phones or email in those days, she was never able to establish contact with him to find out why he left. Years later she saw his father at a festival and asked him why the son had left. The father responded that he and his wife forced the boy to break it off because they thought he was too young and she was too old for him. The memory and reality of all this came rushing back and the woman turned away with a heavy heart and tears running down her cheeks. When she relayed this story to Tommy and his wife, who were with her at the time, he was so moved that he felt he had to write a song about it.
Verse 1:
Il était un jeune homme, de dix-sept ans,
El il venait d’une famille de bien.
Il était en école, un étudiant,
Et sa vie était toute en avant.
Elle était pauvre, une femme de vingt ans,
Il faut qu’elle travaille pour gagner sa vie.
Mais quand ils étaient ensemble,
Ils oubliaient leurs differences,
Et l’amour c’était le force de leurs vie.
Chorus:
Son père et sa mère croient qu’il était trop jeune,
Et qu’elle était trop vielle pour lui.
Ils croient que c’était mauvais d’aimer quelqu’un plus veille,
Qui est plus avance que lui.
Ils lui ont dit de jamais la voir encore,
Et il l’a quitté le lendemain sans un mot.
Elle était laisse avec un cœur aussi cassé,
Mais elle n’a pas connu pourquoi.
Verse 2:
Cinq ans après elle lui a oublié
Et sa vie était plein de joie.
Elle a trouvé un autre, un musicien,
Et elle a trouvé un ouvrage a l’école.
Un jour a un bal elle a rencontré le père,
Et les memoirs de le fils sont revenues.
Elle lui a demandé pourquoi il a parti sans un mot,
Et son response la mis a pleurer.
Chorus:
Son père et sa mère croient qu’il était trop jeune,
Et qu’elle était trop vielle pour lui.
Ils croient que c’était mauvais d’aimer quelqu’un plus veille,
Qui est plus avance que lui.
Ils lui ont dit de jamais la voir encore,
Et il l’a quitté le lendemain sans un mot.
Elle était laisse avec un cœur aussi cassé,
Mais elle n’a pas connu pourquoi.
FIRST LOVE
Verse 1:
He was a young man, 17 years old,
From a wealthy family.
He was in school, a student,
And his life was all in front of him.
She was poor, a 20-year-old woman,
Who had to work for a living.
But when they were together,
They forgot their differences,
And love overshadowed everthing else.
Chorus:
His father and his mother
believed that he was too young,
And that she was too old for him.
They believed that it was bad
to love someone older,
And more advanced, than him.
They told him to never see her again,
And he left the next day without a word.
She was left with a broken heart,
But she didn’t know why.
Verse 2:
Five years later she had forgotten him,
And her life was filled with joy.
She had found another, a musician,
And she had found a job teaching school.
One day at a dance she ran into the father,
And the memories of her first love came rushing back.
She asked the father why his son had left without a word,
And his answer made her cry.
Chorus:
His father and his mother
believed that he was too young,
And that she was too old for him.
They believed that it was bad
to love someone older,
And more advanced, than him.
They told him to never see her again,
And he left the next day without a word.
She was left with a broken heart,
But she didn’t know why.
9. AU LONG DE LA RIVIÈRE (ALONG THE RIVER)
Traditional/Lee Sonnier
Vocals: Rick
This song was recorded on the Flyright label by the late Lee Sonnier, accordionist from Acadia Parish, grandfather of Mike, Jack, and Mark Miller (Modern Music, Crowley, Louisiana). It is said that Lee Sonnier was the first Cajun to record with an accordion during the post-World War II era, which he did in 1946. In the late 1960s Rick served in the Navy in Vietnam, then in Greece. His old friend Jack Miller made Rick a tape of traditional Cajun music to listen to while he was overseas. Rick played the tape until he wore it out, listening to every song and even learning the words. Rick was always grateful to Jack Miller for allowing him this opportunity to cultivate his Cajun roots while overseas, so he decided to record this lovely song in memory of Jack’s grandfather. The song is about a man who escapes prison and travels along the Mississippi River until he meets a woman and falls in love, but then the law catches up with him and he has to leave her to go back upriver to prison.
10. LE SPECIALE DES MUSICIENS DE SOLEIL COUCHÉ (SUNDOWN PLAYBOYS’ SPECIAL)
Traditional/Lionel Cormier
This is a tune Rick learned from Dewey Balfa at the Mamou Fiddle Festival in 1982 (where Rick won first place in the beginners’ division of the Cajun fiddle competition); Dewey played fiddle with Rick and David Doucet on guitars. Later on, Dewey added some words and changed the song a little bit where it became “Quand J’etais Pauvre.” Les Frères Michot here play the instrumental version, first recorded by Lionel Cormier and the Sundown Playboys in 1952.
11. LA VALSE DES AMOUREUX (LOVERS’ WALTZ)
Tune: Jay Ungar/Molly Mason, Swinging Door Music, BMI
Lyrics by Rick Michot
Vocals: Rick
This beautiful fiddle tune was composed by Jay Unger and Molly Mason. Rick was so moved by the tune that he decided to put words to the song.
Les vents de carème ont attrapé tes beaux grands cheveux,
Et a voir ta figure quand t’as souri.
Et la manière t’as marché comme une danseuse.
Et garde donc, quand t’as commencé a parlé.
On a monté nos chevaux et gallopé (a) travers
Les grandes prairies si vertes,
Et, quand le soleil était apres se coucher,
C’etait juste moi et toi,
On est toujours ensemble et si contente.
Aprés une vie si bonne et grande,
Merci, bon Dieu, vous nous avez donné
La belle fortune d’être toujours amoureux.
LOVERS' WALTZ
The winds of lent have caught your beautiful long hair,
And to see your face when you smiled.
And the way you walked, like a dancer.
And, wow, when you began to speak.
We mounted our horses and galloped across
The big green prairies,
And when the sun was setting,
It was just me and you and
We’re still together and so happy.
After a life so good and long,
Thank you, God, you have given us
The good fortune to still be lovers.
12. LA VEUVE DU LAC BLEU (THE WIDOW OF BLUE LAKE)
Traditional/Ed and Bee Deshotels
Vocals: Rick and Tommy
This lovely tune was recorded by identical twins Ed and Bee Deshotels from Reddell, Louisiana, who grew up as next door playmates with the Millers, first cousins of the Michots. Nonc Cleopha Miller was married to Tante Belle (Isabelle Michot, sister of Louis Michot, Sr.) and they owned the general store in Reddell, just up the road from Mamou in Evangeline Parish. The Michot Brothers were honored to have Ed Deshotels play on stage with them at the Mamou Cajun Day Festival in 1992. The Deshotels Brothers learned this song from their grandmother, who was 90 years old at the time, and they said that the song is allegedly 300 to 400 years old and is well known in France. We would like to dedicate this rendition to Mike Richard from Jefferson Island, in Iberia Parish, Louisiana, who was the first fan to have requested this song to be played by Les Frères Michot; it may have reminded him of his home on Lake Peigneur.
13. LE DEUX PAS DE VIEUX TEMPS (OLD FASHIONED TWO STEP)
Traditional/Willis Touchet
Vocals: Rick
This tune was originally recorded by Les Frères Touchet in 1985. It is a catchy little tune about a young man who gœs to court a young woman whose parents cling to the old fashioned ideas of dress codes and courtship.
14. LES MEMOIRES D’UN VIEUX VACHER (MEMORIES OF AN OLD COWBOY)
Music and lyrics by Rick Michot
Vocals: Rick and Tommy
The short story is that Rick and Tommy Michot grew up riding horses their entire lives. As a young man, Rick worked on a ranch of 140,000 acres bordering Hell’s Canyon of the Snake River in northeastern Oregon. Every day he worked on horseback, herding 2,000 head of cattle. When Rick returned to Louisiana, he worked cattle for the Pete Legé outfit at Chénière au Tigre in southernmost Vermilion parish on the Gulf coast. Those settings were the the inspiration for this song.
1) Oh, catin, ma chère catin, moi, j’peux m’rapeller bien
Les jours j’ai passé dedans ma selle dessus mon vieux cheval.
Oui, j’ai suivi un tas de bêtes, catin, avec mes bons camarades,
Tout partout d’Texas jusqu’aux belles prairies de la Louisiane.
Dans les jours là j’ai eu des accroires de passer toute ma vie
A suivre juste les bêtes, catin, dans la grosse poussière.
Jusqu’à un jour, catin, je t’ai trouvé, j’ai arrêté tout ça.
J’ai laissé, vendre mon vieux cheval, et ma selle aussi.
C’était par rapport à ton papa, catin, et ta mama, et toi,
Que j’ai arrêté mes jours de vacher pour travailler au dedans.
2) Quand j’avais cinquante-quatre ans, catin, toi tu m’as quitté.
Tu m’a laissé moi tout seul içi après jongler.
Après jongler à toi, catin, et mes jours dessus mon cheval.
Ça c’est mes jonglements à cette heure,
Les memoirs d’un vieux vacher.
Et quand je reviens chaque fois chez moi, quand le soleil est après se couché,
Je jongle à mon vieux cheval entre mes jambes,
Et toi dedans mes bras.
Je jongle à mon vieux cheval entre mes jambes,
Et toi dedans mes bras.
MEMORIES OF AN OLD COWBOY
Oh, doll, my dear doll, I can well remember
The days I have spent in my saddle on my old horse.
Yes, I followed a lot of cattle, doll, with my good comrades,
All over Texas to the beautiful prairies of Louisiana.
In those days I believed that I would spend my entire life
Just following the cattle, doll, on the dusty trail.
Until one day, doll, when I found you, I stopped all of that.
I put my old horse up for sale, and my saddle too.
It was because of your father, doll, and your mother, and you,
That I stopped my cowboy days to work indoors.
When I was 54 years old, doll, you left me.
You left me all alone here thinking,
Thinking about you, doll, and the days I spent on my horse.
Those are my thoughts now,
The memories of an old cowboy.
And when I return home each time, when the sun is setting,
I think about my old horse between my legs,
And you in my arms.
I think about my old horse between my legs,
And you in my arms.
15. JE M’ENNUIE DE TOI (I AM LONESOME FOR YOU)
Music and lyrics by Adam Hebert
Vocals: Rick
This is one of the many great tunes composed and recorded by Mr. Adam Hebert. The song is from the viewpoint of a man whose woman has left him and he wonders if he can make it without her because his life alone is an unhappy one.
16. LA VALSE À VARIS (VARIS’ WALTZ)
Traditional/Varis Conner
This is a beautiful flowing melody that Varis played at every session, but Rick and Tommy were never quite sure what he called it, so they just named it “La Valse à Varis.” It was one of the tunes that Rick learned from Varis and Lionel at the Scorpio parties, and it typifies the style of fiddle playing for which Varis was famous.
17. CONTRADANSE À PEPÈRE (GRANDPA’S CONTREDANSE)
Music by Harry LaFleur
This beautiful and peppy fiddle tune was written by Harry LaFleur. Rick and Tommy used to hear him play it in Basile. This song was recorded by Harry on the first vinyl LP of mixed Cajun songs by the Cajun French Music Association (CFMA) on Bee Records in 1986. Les Frères Michot also had their first recording on that record, an early version of Rick Michot’s “La Valse à Howard Hebert.” Harry Lafleur is related to guitar player Patrick Michot, Rick’s son, whose mother (Rick’s wife) was a LaFleur. A contredanse is an old dance form in which four or eight couples face each other and perform predetermined steps with their own or an adjacent partner, often called by a leader, similar to a square dance.
18. RIS DONC, ALLADIN, RIS DONC (LAUGH, ALLADIN, LAUGH)
Traditional tune/Varis Conner
Lyrics - Rick Michot
Vocals: Rick and Tommy
This is another song from Varis Conner, Lionel Leleux, and the Scorpio parties. The Michot brothers had a great-granduncle in Avoyelles Parish named Aladin Normand; he was the brother of their great-grandmother, "Grandmaw Michot." Rick decided to put some words to this fiddle tune. The title conjured up an image of a young man, perhaps Nonc Aladin, whose heart had been broken by a love affair gone bad, but in true Cajun fashion, he turned his life around and can now laugh about it!
Alladin est arrivé
Avec un cœur aussi cassé.
Il a changé son idée.
A cette heure ris donc, Alladin, ris donc.
Il a trouvé des nouveaux amis.
Il est sorti avec des jolies filles
Qui ont connu comment faire une vie.
A cette heure ris donc, Alladin, ris donc.
LAUGH, ALLADIN, LAUGH
Alladin has arrived
With a heart so broken.
He has changed his mind,
Now laugh, Alladin, laugh.
He found new friends.
He went out with pretty girls
Who knew how to live.
Now laugh, Alladin, laugh.
19. VALSE DE GRAND BOIS (BIG WOODS WALTZ)
Traditional/Les Frères Balfa
Vocals: Rick
This is a tune Les Frères Michot learned from the Balfa Brothers back in the early 1980s. Rick was living in Basile and working in Eunice; he would visit Dewey in his furniture store in Basile and would get Dewey to teach him tunes and lyrics. This song is named for a place called Le Grand Bois, or the Big Woods. There is such a place in Vermilion Parish, between Abbeville and Intracoastal City, near what is now Palmetto Island State Park, adjacent to the Bayou Vermilion, not too far downstream from the Michot family camp, La Roue Qui Pend.
20. J’AI PASSÉ DEVANT TA PORTE (I PASSED IN FRONT OF YOUR DOOR)
Traditional
Vocals: Tommy
This truely Cajun classic is something that is often requested and it is a song that people never get tired of hearing. It was first recorded by Cleoma Breaux Falcon in 1937 under the name “Mon cœur t’appelle,” and it is one of the first Cajun songs that Rick and Tommy learned while growing up. On several occasions they have sung this song at funerals or in memory of a person who has died. Tommy sings it the way it was meant to be sung, in the mournful voice of a man who has just lost his loved one. In the song, the man passed in front of her door and called to her, but no one answered as he saw her mother crying and the candles burning around her casket.
21. LA TORTURELLE (THE TURTLE DOVE)
Traditional/Claby Meaux
Vocals: Rick and Tommy
This is a tune Rick learned from the late Claby Meaux in 1983. His cousin, steel player, Henry Adams, Jr., would take Rick over to Claby’s house for jam sessions in the afternoon. Claby remembered many of the old tunes that he used to sing a capello with his father and his sisters. Rick decided to record this one in his memory. This song is a very old ballad about a man who gave his love a gift every day for eight days during the month of May in an attempt to win her hand in marriage. Every gift was a different type of animal with the number increasing as the days went on, perhaps to “up the ante” for her to respond favorably to his proposal. The gifts included doves, partridges, rails, ducks, rabbits, dogs, sheep, and milk cows.
© 2013 Les Frères Michot - Frémeaux & Associés
Musicians:
Rick Michot: fiddle, vocals
Tommy Michot: accordion, harmonica, vocals
Patrick Michot, Jr.: guitar
All arrangements by Les Frères Michot
Produced by Rick and Tommy Michot
Recorded March 2008 at La Louisianne Studio, Lafayette, Louisiana
Licensed to Frémeaux & Associés - Groupe Frémeaux Colombini SA - Vincennes, France
Recording and mixing engineer: David Rachou
Front and rear CD cover tintype photography: Bruce Schultz
Landscape photos: Claude, Patrick et Jules Frémeaux
French lyrics edited by Monica Landry and Mandy Miguez
English text edited by Beth Vairin
Manufactured and distributed
by Groupe Frémeaux Colombini SA
under license by Les Frères Michot
Booking: Les Frères Michot
904 Bayou Tortue Road
Broussard, Louisiana, USA, 70518
337-837-8943
rick.l.michot@gmail.com
tcmichot@gmail.com
www.lesfreresmichot.com
Les Frères Michot would like to thank the following:
For the jam sessions and introduction to many new songs: Varis; Milton; George; and Mitch Conner; Lionel Leleux; Dewey Balfa; Henry Adams, Jr.; Claby Meaux; Ethyl Kibodeaux; Eric and Edgar Benoit; Coerte et Marjorie Voorhies.
For production assistance: Marcus Quoyser
For use of “LeBlanc” B-flat accordion: Flip Siragusa
For use of extra guitar in studio sessions: Andre Michot
P 2008-2013 Les Frères Michot - Frémeaux & Associés
© 2013 Les Frères Michot - Groupe Frémeaux Colombini
Note on photography: Tintype photographs of Les Frères Michot and empty chairs were taken by Bruce Schultz with an 8 x 10 view camera using 19th century wetplate photographic technology. A 10-second exposure was made on a metal plate, frequently called a tintype. The tintype’s image is technically negative, but because of the black background, it appears as a positive. Since the tintype ‘film’ is the same as the final print, most tintype images appear reversed (left to right) from reality. For that reason, the accordion and other instruments appear as left handed or backwards in the image of Les Frères Michot. The photographs were shot and developed at Rick Michot’s residence on Bayou Tortue Road, under the branches of a large live oak draped with Spanish moss.
Notes from Frémeaux Records:
On raconte que lors du périple des Acadiens vers le Sud, chassé par les Anglais lors du grand dérangement, les homards ont suivi le futur peuple cadien/cajun jusqu’en Louisiane, mais que ce grand parcours les a fait maigrir pour devenir « Écrevisses » ! Les bayous cajuns de la Louisiane relèvent du jardin d’éden rural de l’imaginaire francophone. Culture identitaire forte (culinaire, valeurs d’hospitalité, vie contemplative, pêche, fêtes, danse et musique), le patrimoine cajun porte en lui une histoire de la France et du Nouveau Monde réunis ; celle des Français d’Amérique. Dans la grande tradition des musiques populaires, la distinction entre professionnels et pratique amateur n’existe pas et c’est ce qui confère une légitimité à ce répertoire à être servi par ceux qui en défendent chaque jour la philosophie de vie (Laissez le bon temps rouler). Tommy Michot (accordéon, harmonica et voix) est biologiste des fonds sous-marins et Rick Michot (violoniste et père du guitariste Patrick Michot) n’est autre que le juge de Lafayette ! À l’arrivée, un excellent disque, qui porte en lui la richesse musicologique de la création au service du patrimoine, et qui constitue un véritable appel au voyage. « Dedans le sud de la Louisiane » révèle l’intemporalité et la pérennité de cette mémoire collective qui traverse les générations (250 ans) et permet, au moment de la mondialisation et de l’uniformisation, d’affirmer pour chacun de nous un héritage constitutif de notre identité et, pour l’humanité tout entière l’enjeu à préserver la diversité culturelle.
Patrick et Claude Frémeaux
The Cajun legacy has a strong cultural identity – cuisine, hospitality, a life of contemplation, fishing, festivals, dancing and music – with ties to the history of both France and the New World. Its great popular-music tradition makes no distinction between professionals and amateurs, giving legitimacy to those who serve music in defending the Cajun philosophy of life (Let the Good Times Roll). Tommy Michot (accordion, harmonica, vocals) is a marine biologist, and Rick Michot (violin, the father of guitarist Patrick Michot) is a District Court judge in Lafayette! The result is an excellent record, filled with rich musicological contributions to the Cajun legacy, and this album reveals the timeless nature of a collective memory spanning two and a half centuries.
Patrick et Claude Frémeaux
1. La Caroline • 2. Dedans le sud de la Louisiane • 3. La valse de Albert Broussard • 4. La chasse aux lapins • 5. La valse de Bayou LaFourche • 6. Les blues de Carroll County • 7. Allons à Lafayette • 8. Le premier amour • 9. Au long de la rivière • 10. Le speciale des Musiciens de Soleil Couché • 11. La Valse des Amoureux • 12. La Veuve du Lac Bleu • 13. Deux Pas de Vieux Temps • 14. Les Memoires d’un Vieux Vacher • 15. Je m’ennuie de toi • 16. La Valse à Varis • 17. Le Contradanse à Pepère • 18. Ris Donc, Alladin, Ris Donc • 19. La Valse de Grand Bois • 20. J’ai Passé Devant ta Porte • 21. La Torturelle.
CD DEDANS LE SUD DE LA LOUISIANE, LES FRERES MICHOT © Frémeaux & Associés 2013 (frémeaux, frémaux, frémau, frémaud, frémault, frémo, frémont, fermeaux, fremeaux, fremaux, fremau, fremaud, fremault, fremo, fremont, CD audio, 78 tours, disques anciens, CD à acheter, écouter des vieux enregistrements, albums, rééditions, anthologies ou intégrales sont disponibles sous forme de CD et par téléchargement.)