Take a moment to hear their sounds in this month’s Artist of the Month feature!

You can read the brief article online here: Valcour Records is always something good

Just as a side note - Valcour is a very old name that means something along the lines of “Valiant Heart.” But, “Something Good,” is close enough.

Seriously, the quality of our albums has everything to do with the quality of our artists. We take credit only for recognizing their talent and helping them bring it to listeners.

With a variety of high quality t-shirts, hoodies, bags, and other accessories available, the shop allows you to show how much you love Valcour and Louisiana music right there on your body! The selection is simple yet ample enough right now, and we will be adding new designs and products periodically. If there are specific types of products you would like to see, feel free to email us to let us know:
bonjour[at]valcourrecords[dot]com

We can’t wait to get our hands on more of this stuff ourselves, and we hope you share the sentiment.

Check out a few fantastic tracks from Drew’s latest album, Sharecropper’s Wine in our latest Artist of the Month feature!

It’s a great release - but check it out for yourself on our Artist of the Month page.

Feufollet’s festival performances will double as their official cd release parties, so if you want to get your hands on their new cd, Cow Island Hop, be sure to catch their perofrmances and pick one up. Cedric and the Figs will have albums available at the festivals as well.

Download the schedule here.

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The opinions expressed in this podcast are strictly those of the participants, and do not necessarily reflect the feelings or principles of Valcour Records.

Don’t believe it? Prepare to be blasted by Arbor Vitae, our March Artist of the Month!

Now shipping!

Read more about Feufollet

On a Saturday night, twenty and thirtysomethings, scholars, writers, artists, bohemians and young professionals dance to Feufollet at the favorite local outdoor venue, the blue moon saloon. Red and blue neon permeates the scene and, as the band pounds, the wooden deck of the dance floor threatens to crash to the ground or fly clear into the louisiana sky. Here is a vortex of vibrant energy, a buzzing flow of youthful expression, a scene of endless possibility that can be found on any given weekend night in Lafayette, La. Like the cultural renaissance of the late 1960s that produced artists such as Michael Doucet and Zachary Richard, now is a time of fearless, joyful expression and thoughtful creativity. Feufollet perfectly embodies this movement with their new album, Cow Island Hop. Encompassing a wide range of musical influences, there is great attention to arrangement, sonic quality and originality. This is a traditional Cajun album produced, however, through a rock-n-roll aesthetic. Cow island hop is likely the most creative recording project to come out of this new era from a band that has become one of the most important voices for Louisiana Cajun youth; proud of their heritage, confident of their roots and ready to soar into the future.
- Kristi Guillory
Folklorist/Media Archivist | University of Louisiana at Lafayette

“The music of Feufollet is a perfect example of what Dewey Balfa meant when he said that he wanted to preserve not the music itself but the process that produces the music so that musicians will continue to innovate and improvise new forms that both surprise us and reassure us at the same time.”
-Barry Ancelet
Granger & Debaillon Endowed Professor Of Francophone Studies | University Of Louisiana At Lafayette

Feufollet is
Chris Stafford
Chris Segura
Anna Laura Edmiston
Joshua Caffery
Michael Stafford
Philippe Billeaudeaux

Taylor Guarisco played electric and upright bass on this album and was a member of the band from June ‘04 through December ‘07

Guest Musicians
Tiffany Lamson: Drums on 1
Jimmy Breaux: Drums on 4, 5 AND 8
Oscar Courville: Drums on 7
Nick Stephan: Saxophone on 7
Josh Leblanc: Trumpet on 7
Chris French: Tuba on 7
Richard Comeaux: Steel Guitar on 4
Ivan Klisanin: Mellotron on 6

Tracks
1. Prends Courage
2. Cow Island Hop
3. Eunice Waltz
4. Blues De Dix Ans
5. Madame Basso
6. Chère Bébé Créole
7. Femme L’a Dit
8. Chère Beth
9. Sur Le Bord De L’eau
10. Jolie Fille
11. Je M’en Vas Dans
Le Chemin
For Booking, lyrics and translations, visit Feufollet.net

The album is already getting lots of airplay around South Louisiana and is slated to be available in key markets nationwide early next month. Also, with festival season approaching, the album will be featured at listening stations and Cedric will be performing at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival and Festival International in Lafayette. We will soon post festival dates, times and stages for Cedric and all of our artists right here on the Valcour website.

In the meantime, please come out and show your love for this great music at the Blue Moon Saloon on March 28th!

The awards ceremony will be held Monday, April 21 at Harrah’s in New Orleans, where The Figs have been asked to perform the song “Pretending is a Game” live.

The band will also be performing at both Jazz Fest and Festival International at the following times and places:

FRIDAY, APRIL 25 - Jazzfest - Fais Do Do Stage - 11:15am
SATURDAY, APRIL 26 - Fest. Intl. - Heritage Stage - 3:45pm

They’re staying dang busy and they’re a hit everywhere they go! For more information, visit the Figs website here.

The movie, starring William hurt, Maria Bello, and up and coming young actors Kristen Stewart and Eddie Redmayne, was shot in Louisiana - in and around Slidell, Abita Springs, and New Orleans. In brief, the film tells the story of three lonely strangers riding together through Louisiana, learning about each other and sharing new experiences. The underlying plot is about Brett (William Hurt), an ex-con, returning to his wife after his time in prison, hoping but not knowing if she’ll take him back.

The movie opened up the Sundance Film Festival and will soon hopefully be in a theater near you. It is already available to be added to you Netflix queue!

For more info:

theyellowhandkerchief.com

The Yellow Handkerchief at IMDB

Photo by Jillian Johnson

Feufollet is (pictured left to right):

Philippe Billeaudeaux
Chris Stafford
Joshua Caffery
Anna Laura Edmiston
Michael Stafford
Chris Segura

Surprise, surprise! In a sudden development, Valcour and the fantastical Cajun/Progressive band from Lafayette, Feufollet have joined forces to bring you an amazing new album. Cow Island Hop, Feufollet’s first full album with Valcour Records, features both originals and traditionals, all with a flare and innovative sound unique only to Feufollet, who, while young, have been playing together since 1995.

Look for the album and tracks to be available in the coming days from the Valcour Records website!

Feufollet bio from their website:

Formed in 1995 when accordionist/singer Chris Stafford was 8 and fiddler Chris Segura was 11, Feufollet quickly became known as one of the most exciting Cajun bands in Acadiana, not because of their youth but because of their obvious musical ability and the vivacity with which they approached the traditional music of the area. In the many years Feufollet has been performing, they have built upon a regional popularity, becoming an attraction at folk festivals and performance venues not only in the South, but throughout the United States and French Canada.

Feufollet has been a band of young prodigies for so long, it can be hard to talk about them as just a band. But that’s just what they are: a band of extremely talented and seasoned musicians who continue to explore the vital music of their culture and region, perhaps with more excitement and ability than they ever have before.

Albums by or featuring Feufollet
Cow Island Hop
Allons Boire un Coup

Cedric Watson’s debut solo cd out on Valcour Records is now shipping. The Pine Leaf Boys were nominated for the first ever Cajun and Zydeco GRAMMY category, thanks in no small part to Cedric’s contribution. The Red Stick Ramblers feature Cedric  playing a five star chef in their debut music video for Made in the Shade (see it at redstickramblers.com).

And now, he’s our February 2008 Artist of the Month! Where will he pop up next? Hopefully at a music venue near you.

Now Shipping!

For songs and tour dates visit Cedric’s Myspace.

Read Cedric’s bio

This album is the story of a historical Louisiana musician in the making. Cedric Watson returned to his roots in Louisiana after growing up in Sealy, Texas so he could develop his Creole music in the towns and pastures where his predecessors once played. He is currently an integral member of Lafayette’s acclaimed Pine Leaf Boys, whose recent Grammy nomination has ensured them a place in the Louisiana culture history books.

In his debut solo release, Cedric channels the talents of his influences, such as Bois Sec Ardoin and Canray Fontenot, but proves his chops as a writer and composer with the majority of the songs on the album either his own creations and/or arrangements. Being well-versed in the history of the music he plays, Cedric creates music with strong Creole roots, and branches out appropriately and deliberately into Cajun and Zydeco sounds. As a result, there are tracks on this album that are instant classics, and others that are refreshingly new and different.

After having such great success with Goin’ Down to Louisiana, which teamed Cedric up with Corey “Lil Pop” Ledet, we are quite happy at Valcour to be working with Cedric again. Corey Ledet appears on this album as well, by the way, along with many other of Louisiana’s finest (see below).

So enjoy Cedric’s music, keep an eye on his blossoming career, and look forward to great things for him in the near future.

“To propel our Louisiana Creole culture into the future seems to be quite a task, but if one lives for the music as Cedric does, the path seems effortless… These songs may well be early brushstrokes of a life’s worth of possibilities, not only for himself, but also for the identity survival of a culture.”
- Michael Doucet

(click “continue reading” link for artist credits and track listing)

Musicians
Cedric Watson - Fiddle, Accordion, and Vocals
Jermaine Prejean - Drums
Eric Frey* - Upright Bass, Banjo, Electric Bass on Tracks 7 + 15
Chas Justus* - Electric and Acoustic Guitar
Jeffery Broussard - Electric Bass
Corey Ledet - Scrubboard and Triangle
Anna Laura Edmiston - Background Vocals
Kelli Jones - Background Vocals
Joel Savoy - Lead Guitar on Track 7

•appear courtesy of Sugar Hill Records

Tracks (All songs written by Cedric unless otherwise indicated)
1. Cochon de Lait (Michael Doucet)
2. ‘Tit Black (Boozoo Chavis)
3. Cedric Zydeco Listen>
4. J’ai été tout autour du Pays (Trad, arr. Cedric Watson)
5. Two-Step de Bouki
6. La Valse de Grand Basile (Trad, Arr. Cedric Watson)
7. Zozo Noir
8. Ayoù t’as Couché?
9. Tu Seras avec Moi
10. TexaCreole Two-Step
11. Lala
12. La Vieille Chanson de Mardi Gras (Trad, Arr. Cedric Watson) Listen>
13. Ma Chère Grandmère
14. La Valse à Bois Sec
15. Zydeco du Violon

Check it out as Chas features his skills as a front man on our latest entry of Artist of the Month!

We appreciate your support and your dedication to preserving real music and real artists. We at Valcour Records understand albums deemed “marketable” do not always accurately represent folk artists and we strive to offer you music that is palatable, yet organic. We seek out the most talented and unique artists in South Louisiana and offer their music to you in a natural, roots-oriented manner. We know that with these awards, you have placed your trust in us.

Please continue to support us as we develop our catalog and our artists. We promise to keep music musical and to offer you only the best of what Louisiana has to offer.

Valcour Records is now on Flickr. As our photo collection has grown, we have more and more great shots from recording sessions, festivals, concerts, parties, and otherwise that are too good to not share, but too numerous to put here. Our resident photographer extraordinaire, Lucius Fontenot, who produces nearly 100% of our photos, will be managing the Valcour Flickr collection.
Just click through the pages of photos, view a slideshow, or use the sets on the right side of the Valcour Flickr page to view photos by event. For example, we have the largest online collection of photos from the 2007 South Louisiana Black Pot Festival and Cookoff, which you can view by clicking the Black Pot link on the right side of the page. Look around, leave some comments, and add us as a contact. We’d love to hear from you!

More info from WWLTV.com:

“OffBeat Magazine-New Orleans’ only publication solely devoted to promoting Louisiana music-celebrates the Crescent City’s unique culture of music.

Every year, OffBeat celebrates our music and musicians by presenting the Best of The Beat Music Awards, a benefit for Renew Our Music.

Nominees for Best of The Beat Music Awards are selected by the editors, writers and experts at OffBeat. You-the public-have the opportunity to vote for your choice for the best music makers in New Orleans. The Best of The Beat Music Awards and Party takes place on Saturday, January 12, 2008 at the House of Blues, 225 Decatur St., and is hosted by WWL-TV’s Eric Paulsen. Doors open at 6 p.m. and the party continues until 1 a.m.”

But please, decide for yourself what you think of Gill - after all you can listen (but not download) to his music right here, as he is December’s Artist of the Month!

The Black Pot poster, at left, was designed by Valcour’s own Lucius Fontenot. The Valcour Records Stage will be run by Joel Savoy.

More about the festival from blackpotfestival.com:

The South Louisiana Black Pot Festival & Cookoff is one of the most unique festivals in Acadiana. Held annually at Lafayette’s Acadian Village, the festival celebrates its 2nd year this November with two days of great music, dancing, food, camping & jamming.

Last year’s line-up of bands included Feufollet, Corey Ledet & Cedric Watson, Racines (Steve Riley, Kevin Wimmer & Mitch Reed), Pine Leaf Boys, The Figs, Drew Landry, Louisiana Purchase Bluegrass Band, Celjun, Ann Savoy & Her Sleepless Knights, Bonsoir Catin, and the Red Stick Ramblers.
This year’s lineup can be seen here.

The festival is a cooperative of south Louisiana musicians, artists and roots enthusiasts, creating an unprecedented gathering of south Louisiana’s hottest roots bands, as well as a number of groups from all over the country. Live performances range from Cajun & Zaricôt (zydeco), to Creole, Swing, Hot Jazz, Blues, Bluegrass, Americana, Irish & Old-Time, this festival has something for everyone. Plus, an old-fashioned black pot cook-off, accordion contest, called square dancing, and ample camping space for tents & RV’s and much more!

Each year, a portion of festival proceeds benefit Acadian Village and the Lafayette Association for Retarded Citizens (LARC). So come on out and support South Louisiana’s thriving culture and this great cause.

Its taken a while, but now it’s rolling out with the extremely talented and beautiful Anna Laura Edmiston. You may remember her from a couple of tracks from Allons Boire un Coup, or perhaps you’re familiar with her band Feufollet. Well now she’s here to show off some of her tracks with Feufollet and others.

Each month we will be bringing you new featured artists for listening to or purchasing tracks. Some of the artists will be Valcour artists, some will be independent, and some still will be on other label. Regardless, they will all be artists we believe you will be interested in learning about aboud listening to.

As we compile enough tracks, we will periodically release albums that are collections of our best Artist of the Month material.

We are experiencing some temporary technical difficulties getting this podcast onto the iTunes feed, but it will be up there soon enough. It’s not rocket science, we just aren’t natural born coders. In the meantime you can download the file right here (m4a, 12.9 megs).

Enjoy!

(Update: This podcast is now working properly - look for more to come soon!)

The Figs Album

Join those wonderful Figs at Chelsea’s in Baton Rouge (August 25, with Feufollet) or at The Blue Moon Saloon in Lafayette (August 28, with the Pine Hill Haints) for their live release parties.

They’re playing gigs all over the place - learn more about where from the Figs website.

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Visit the Figs Website

Get 99 cent Figs downloads in the Song Store

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Deep in South Louisiana, many an old-time yard boasts a bountiful fig tree of the variety Celeste. Several gangly trunks spread out from a central root, and the deep-lobed, dark green leaves bring to mind the predicament of Adam and Eve. It takes the blistering summer heat to ripen the brownish-violet fruits, their reddish insides pebbled with crunchy seeds. These figs, at once commonplace and exotic, are delectable by themselves. But cooked together in a heavy pot over a slow fire, with some sugar for sweet and some lemon for zing, they make a local confection called fig preserves that is—well, celestial.

The fertile soil of Lafayette, Louisiana, has recently sprouted the all-girl group The Figs. The area is already home to such young powerhouse bands as the Red Stick Ramblers, the Pine Leaf Boys, the Lost Bayou Ramblers, and FeuFollet, ably filling the Cajun, zydeco, and swing niches. With this debut recording session, The Figs push the area’s musical margins farther afield into the old-timey tradition, though there’s nary a holler in sight.

The sisterhood came together with the unbridled enthusiasm of any self-respecting garage band, in order to hang out with friends and have a good time. They admittedly didn’t consider themselves “real” musicians, and there was some initial instrument-swapping as each member found her groove. Now the bottom end is held down by drummer Paige Pemberton and bassist Melissa Stevenson (who occasionally blows the harp as well), while Sarah Gray and Caroline Helm man the electric and acoustic guitar strings. Claire Oliver grounds the group’s Appalachian feel with her claw-hammer banjo, and Jillian Johnson works a plucky tenor ukulele.

While the instrumentation supplies a toothsome biscuit, it’s the three- and four-part vocal harmonies that provide the sweet filling. At times bluesy or cheeky, at times levitating into the ethers, these women’s voices mingle like moon and shine. Their themes range from heartthrob to heartbreak in flavors sweet, sour, and salty, and their playlist includes a healthy helping of smart, sassy originals. Sarah’s aching 3/4, her lilting lament I’m So Tired, and her puckish Transcendental Baby are linchpins of the Fig style; Paige and Sarah collaborated on the regional yet country-tinged Spoonin’, and Jillian’s shuffling Rollin’ Down South shows off her Tennessee roots. Their repertoire also includes dynamic covers from such varied sources as the Carter Family, Mark Knopfler, and fellow local songwriters. From blues to rockabilly to straight-up old-timey and haunting a capella, these ladies make the vintage stuff sound fresh and the new stuff sound retro. A live show finds them all figged out in Depression-era outfits, looking anything but old-fashioned.

In his provocative poem Figs, D.H. Lawrence wrote:

What then, good Lord! cry the women.
We have kept our secret long enough.
We are a ripe fig.
Let us burst into affirmation.

Bursting with gusto and grit, this crop is at peak flavor. So spike your lemonade, prop your feet up on the porch rail, and let The Figs kick out your jams.

- Sharon Arms Doucet

Mark your calendars for November 2-3 this year (2007). More info is available on the Black Pot Festival website.

Also, this year the Black Pot Festival planning committee has put together a special preview show for those of you who can’t wait till November (or for those of you who just happen to be looking for a good late Spring Lafayette show). On May 20th, the Blue Moon Saloon will host a Black Pot preview featuring, among others, the Red Stick Ramblers, the Pine Leaf Boys, and the Lost Bayou Ramblers. Check it!

“Professor Barry Ancelet celebrates Cajun and Creole drinking songs with The Pine Leaf Boys and special guests. Inspired by the latest Valcour Records release Allons Boire un Coup, Louisiana Folk Roots presents a special closeout to the Festival International’s big Friday night at the Scène Héritage. This hour is sure to get rowdy as Ancelet explores the drinking traditions of southwest Louisiana with stories and music provided by some of our top young Cajun and Creole Artists.”

Learn more about or purchase Allons Boire un Coup>

Read the article>

Valcour Records is providing a more comprehensive musical experience by offering unique podcasts about our albums, our traditions, our music, and our culture in Louisiana. If you are interested in the lifestyles and thought behind the music we produce, this podcast should serve you as an educational and entertaining resource.

Don’t have iTunes? Download it for free (for Mac or PC).