As promised: the new Artist of the Month feature has become a reality!

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.

In this latest Valcour podcast, Lucius shares some music and news about how Valcour spent the summer and what kind of projects we have coming up. We’ve been a little silent, aside from the successful release of the fantastic Figs album, but we have a very busy Fall and Spring lined up - so look out!

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 is ready to ship so get it today in our CD Store!

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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Ladies and Gentlemen, the Figs have arrived! You can purchase their cd now!

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.

Continue reading ‘The Figs‘

Valcour Records will be sponsoring the highly successful Black Pot Festival again this year, this time in the form of a Valcour Records stage. It will be a side stage featuring unique combinations of your favorite Louisiana musicians, the kind of stuff you won’t see anywhere else.

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!

Friday Night at 9:15 PM on the Heritage Stage - Barry Ancelet hosts a session inspired by Allons Boire un Coup. This from the Festival International de Louisianne website:

“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>

The New York Times published an article in their Arts section about the revival of Cajun Music and its popularity among the youth in Louisiana. The article focuses on projects related to the Savoy family, including Wilson and the Pine Leaf Boys, and Joel’s current and former work with Courir de Mardi Gras, the Red Stick Ramblers, and of course yours truly, Valcour Records.

Read the article>

Finally, Ladies and Gentlemen, if you have iTunes, you can subscribe to the all new Valcour Records Podcast for free! By subscribing to the podcast, you are setting iTunes up to check for new episodes and automatically download them as they become available.

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).

Fat Tuesday is only a couple of days away!

In our continuing effort to provide fans with a more complete musical experience, Valcour Records has assembled this recording to highlight the history of one of Louisiana’s most unique and identifying traditions, one that traces all the way back to the state’s heritage in France: Mardi Gras.

Most people worldwide think of the parades and fanfare of New Orleans when they think of Mardi Gras. In this Valcour podcast, host Lucius Fontenot explores with former Eunice Mardi Gras Captain Albert Rozas a version of “Carnival” that you won’t see in New Orleans. Once a year in the prairies of Acadiana, riders on horseback traverse the countryside gathering the ingredients for a big gumbo from their neighbors, all the while accompanied by music and a party. The underlying idea: community – A feeling of community that’s harder to preserve each year.

Not that Mardi Gras doesn’t involve community in other locations, but in general today, its rare to find a place or occasion where people can knock on their neighbor’s doors for miles and miles to gather ingredients for a communal meal!

This podcast features a clip from Professor Longhair’s Go to the Mardi Gras, versions of La Danse de Mardi Gras performed by Linzay Young and an old recording (La Vieille Danse de Mardi Gras) by Edius Naquin.

Download the podcast to hear the whole story (mp3, 21.6 megs)>

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

In this first Valcour podcast, Lucius Fontenot sits down with Allons Boire un Coup producer, Joshua Clegg Caffery, to pick his brain about the project. Download the podcast and listen to Caffery and Lu talk about inspiration, drinking, bambocheurs, and PhD’s.

This podcast is the first in Valcour’s effort to give fans and listeners a more comprehensive musical experience. By taking you behind the scenes and into the minds of our artists, we hope these recordings purvey the excitement of the Louisiana musical landscape.

Congrats to Josh and Claire for getting engaged as well!

Download Allons Boire un Coup Podcast (22.1 megs, its a doozie)>

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