The Good Neighbor Get Together

Louis Michot: Cajun, Zydeco, Old Timey, Race, Solo Records & a Humble Genuis that is “Rêve du Troubadour”

Join us as we sit down with Louis Michot (best known as the fiddle player and lead-singer for the Grammy award winning Lost Bayou Ramblers, but blowing minds on the sonic masterpiece that is his solo record “Rêve du Troubadour”) and discuss all things Cajun, Zydeco, Old Timey Music, Race Music, the birds of the air and the beauty of precise Louisiana French. “Rêve du Troubadour” was objectively without a doubt one of the finest album releases of the last 10 years and so it was a delight to talk with this humble genius.    Michot’s passion for Louisiana French and local folklore, and sustainability in the fastest disappearing landmass in the world are what fuels his career as a musician. With over 20 LPs under his belt, his music career continues to push the boundaries of the Louisiana French music traditions. Rêve du Troubadour, the first solo album from Louis Michot, is out now and will be the best thing your ears have heard in moons. Special guests on these recordings include Nigerian Tuareg guitar wizard Bombino, and critically acclaimed singer / cellist Leyla McCalla among others. Known as a fiddle player, Michot primarily performed on guitar, bass, T’fer (triangle), samplers, percussions, and accordion. Some of finished tracks feature him playing every part, while others find him backed with bassist where Bryan Webre and drummer Kirkland Middleton of the Ramblers and Louis’ other regular band, Michot’s Melody Makers as well as guests like Bombino, McCalla, Quintron, guitarist Langhorn Slim, Shardé Thomas with and without her Rising Stars Drum and Fife group, Grammy-nominated accordion player Corey Ledet, and Dickie Landry on sax. Kirkland Middleton of the Ramblers engineered and mixed the album at Nina Highway Studios in Arnaudville, Louisiana with various musicians building on basic tracks Louis had recorded at his home, houseboat studio. The album’s title, “Rêve du Troubadour” -- “The Troubadour’s Dream” in English -- refers to the manner in which Michot pulls his music from dreams into daylight, then fills it with storytelling. Though Michot has published over 100 songs, he feels that Rêve du Troubadour is his first collection of “writing” as these songs tell their stories in much greater depth than he’s achieved before and utilize words peculiar to Louisiana French which seldom appear in musical compositions. 2023 marked the start of Louis Michot touring under his name, as a trio featuring Kirkland and Bryan on drums, bass, synths, and samples. The year started with a four show residency at New Orleans’ iconic music venue The Maple Leaf, and continues with a debut at Festival International de Louisiane, and tours of the Midwest, East coast, and West coast later in the year. Louis’ solo trajectory started while tracking his original songs in 2022, starting the recordings in his dry-docked house boat named “Sister Ray”, and completing the tracking at Mark Bingham’s Piety Studio, the album being engineered and mixed by Kirkland Middleton. 2021 brought special challenges for Michot, from restarting his live music during the pandemic, to doing hurricane relief work as noted in Rolling Stone (Can This Cajun-Punk Musician Protect His Culture From Climate Change?, September 16, 2021) while raising funds to get solar generators and panels to residents of Terrebonne Parish affected by Hurricane Ida, as written about in New Yorker magazine (The Lost Bayou Ramblers Get Lit, January 3, 2022). Louis was named Louisianian of the Year in 2020 along with his brother Andre, and their band Lost Bayou Ramblers was named Entertainers of the Year by New Orleans’ Big Easy Awards in 2019. 2017 brought the Lost Bayou Ramblers’ first Grammy award for their 8th LP release, Kalenda, and 2019 marked the bands 20th anniversary along with a live album release “Asteur” and a documentary aired internationally on TV5 Monde, “On Va Continuer”. In 2012 Louis’ violin and vocal work was the main feature for score of the Oscar nominated film Beasts of the Southern Wild, and that same year the band’s 6th release, “Mammoth Waltz” was named 2nd most important Louisiana album of the 21st century by nola.com and won New Orleans’ Best of the Beat Award.

Marty Robbins: Twentieth Century Drifter w/Diane Diekman

Join us as we sit down at the table with Diane Diekman to discuss her book about the life of Marty Robbins, the legendary country music artist and NASCAR driver who scored sixteen number-one hits and two Grammy awards.    Robbins saw himself as a drifter, a man always searching for self-fulfillment and inner peace. Born Martin David Robinson to a hardworking mother and an abusive alcoholic father, he never fully escaped the insecurities burned into him by a poverty-stricken nomadic childhood in the Arizona desert. In 1947 he got his first gig as a singer and guitar player and soon changed his name to Marty Robbins, where he cultivated his magnetic stage presence, and established himself as an entertainer, songwriter, and successful NASCAR driver.  https://dianediekman.com/ [https://dianediekman.com/]

The Birth of WSM Radio and the Grand Ole Opry: Tennessee and Music City USA w/ Craig Havighurst (Pt. 2)

Started by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company in 1925, WSM became one of the most influential and exceptional radio stations in the history of broadcasting and country music. WSM gave Nashville the moniker “Music City USA” as well as a rich tradition of music, news, and broad-based entertainment. With the rise of country music broadcasting and recording between the 1920s and ‘50s, WSM, Nashville, and country music became inseparable, stemming from WSM’s launch of the Grand Ole Opry, popular daily shows like Noontime Neighbors, and early morning artist-driven shows such as Hank Williams on Mother’s Best Flour.  Join us as we sit down with Craig Havighurst and talk all things Nashville, radio, and country music in American culture.

The Birth of WSM Radio and the Grand Ole Opry: Tennessee and Music City USA w/ Craig Havighurst (Pt. 1)

Started by the National Life and Accident Insurance Company in 1925, WSM became one of the most influential and exceptional radio stations in the history of broadcasting and country music. WSM gave Nashville the moniker “Music City USA” as well as a rich tradition of music, news, and broad-based entertainment. With the rise of country music broadcasting and recording between the 1920s and ‘50s, WSM, Nashville, and country music became inseparable, stemming from WSM’s launch of the Grand Ole Opry, popular daily shows like Noontime Neighbors, and early morning artist-driven shows such as Hank Williams on Mother’s Best Flour.  Join us as we sit down with Craig Havighurst and talk all things Nashville, radio, and country music in American culture.

Stephen WIlson Jr: The Tree that Grew Close to the Apple

We are all our parent's children, for better or for worse. We all must come to terms with this at some point. I never did until listening to Stephen Wilson Jr. Sometimes in topics this deep and difficult, having a wise guide will help you understand the relations of parent and child. Stephen Wilson Jr. is deceptively simple, but he can turn a phrase that can grasp your soul and squeeze; the tree never grows too far from the apple.       I grew up a poor child of a single mother. All I had was a radio and of course all the books the library would let me take. So the background of my youth was top 40 pop music. Then as I got older I wanted deeper, smarter music. So, punk? It was perfect for a 13 year old. But eventually my music tastes settled on Metal and Country, because they had so much power and truth...and beauty. I purposely seek out the most powerful and emotional metal I can. Hank Jr and David Allen Coe are my favorite country songwriters. I live my life seeking depth and purpose in music...then I was introduced to Stephen Wilson Jr. A man whose understanding of human relations is unmatched. It took me a full 24 hours to get through his discography because every song made me cry. It hit me harder than the hardest metal song. You can feel his sincerity in your bones, even with songs like CooCoo that sound like a simple hootenanny, when it is truly about death and the life that leads up to it.       Give this interview a listen, friends, and hear a man who won't start a fight, but will never back down. A man who will swear, then politely apologize afterwards. I never spoke much as a child either.