Actually Michael, I was born and raised in Beaumont, just across the Louisiana line on Interstate 10. Spent a lot of time in that Houston to Lafayette strip, the heart of Acadiana.
So, part of me is Rockin' Dopsie, the Meters and the Wild Tchipitoulas, Wayne Toups, the Nevilles, and I have been to Floyd's Record Shop in Ville Platte. I actually make Mufalettas here in Nashville when I can find a bread that's close. Three of my favorite cookbooks are the three volumes of TALK ABOUT GOOD!, published by the Junior League of Lafayette, full of Cajun family recipes from regular folks.
My mother's family emigrated through New Orleans from Sicily around the turn of the (19th) century: One of my great-grandfather's best friends was Mr. Monteleone, who owned the hotel in the quarter for years. There's lots Italians and Sicilians in along the Gulf Coast, including the Mandola family who started the CARABBA's restaurant chain, whose food tastes a lot like my family's, since we all came from the same end of Italy.
'Nawhlins was always a little much for me, I was never quite that wild, but what a music town. I was more into the Cajuns, and it will be a regret that I never got to live in Lafayette or Church Point or New Iberia. I love the food, the people, and it's one of the few places where if you're a musician, the average person honors that, as they love a good party. I'm really at home there, and I miss going back from time to time. There's a part of me in those moss-draped oaks and those little bayous.
Growing up playing in East Texas and South Louisiana, you had to be able to play a little of everything, so I had to have very sympathetic ears. It was nothing on a gig to play Texas Swing, Texas Blues, some Domino and Dr. John, some Cajun waltzes and those fast things in 2/4, then some current R&B or white rock and roll, with a dose of George Jones and Elvis. Never dull, and you had to have a large catalog in the back of your head. And then too, in those late 60's and early 70's there were still the big white R+B bands like the legendary Boogie Kings, GG Shin and the Rollercoaster, and Edgar's White Trash band.
Sonnier's 90mph-fastball take on Richard Thompson's 'TSL' is my go-to when I need a jump start, and instantly puts me back in those days and hearing lots of music like that, and what a hoot it was.
So I got to admit, as much as I like living in Nashville, alongside of the above . . . . . it can be quite stilted and boring !
Joey
