Cedric Watson will be celebrating the release of his popular solo debut with Valcour Records in a performance with the Iguanas at Lafayette’s Blue Moon Saloon on March 28th.

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!

Well, The Figs just keep racking up the honors! Just recently, they were chosen to appear on the Musicians for Minneapolis Disaster Relief Compilation, benefiting the victims of the Minneapolis Bridge Disaster in 2007, and now, they have been nominated for a “2008 Big Easy Music Award” from New Orleans’ Gambit Weekly for “Best Country/Folk Band.” All nominations have been announced and are listed at thebestofneworleans.com.

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.

Thanks to our partners at Crucial Music, Valcour has placed the title track from Cedric Watson and Corey Ledet’s Goin’ Down to Louisiana album into the new film from Indian director Udayan Prasad, The Yellow Handkerchief.

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!

Continue reading ‘Feufollet Joins Valcour’

He’s all over the place!

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)

Continue reading ‘Cedric Watson (Self-Titled Debut)’

This month we’re featuring one of South Louisiana’s hottest singer/songwriter/guitar bad@$$es, Chas Justus. His music has been played by Linda Rondstadt on her Grammy-nominated album, Adieu False Heart, and as a founding member of the Red Stick Ramblers, he is part of the backbone of the South Louisiana music scene. Not to mention, he does (and will continue to if we are lucky) appear in some capacity on most Valcour releases.

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

Don’t have your own copy of the magazine? Read about the “Best of the Beat” winners here.
We’d like to thank everyone who voted for us in the 2007 Offbeat Magazine Best of the Beat Awards! Thanks to you we walked away with not only the Cajun Album of the Year for the acclaimed Allons Boire un Coup, but also with the Best Record Label business award.

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!

Allons Boire un Coup has been nominated for offBeat Magazine’s “Best of the Beat” contest in the Best Cajun Album category. In addition to ABUC, many more great albums and artists have been nominated for various categories. So if you’re a Louisiana music fan, please, click here to share your voice for the Best of the Beat!

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.”