BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet to bring Cajun tunes

NEWTON — Grammy winning Cajun revivalists, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet will perform at the Newton Theatre on Saturday, Jan. 10 at 8 p.m.

For the past 37 years, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet has been making some of the most potent and popular Cajun music on the planet. Their distinctive sound derives from the distilled spirits of New Orleans jazz, blues, rock, folk, swamp pop, Zydeco, country and bluegrass. Born out of the rich Acadian ancestry of its members, and created and driven by bandleader Michael Doucet’s spellbinding fiddle playing and soulful vocals, BeauSoleil is notorious for bringing even the most staid audience to its feet.

Since becoming the first Cajun band to win a Grammy with L’amour Ou La Folie (Traditional Folk Album – 1998) and then a second Grammy in 2010, Live at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, BeauSoleil has garnered many accolades, including 12 Grammy nominations, the latest being their 2009 release "Alligator Purse." Their latest release, "From Bamako to Carencro," is their 25th.

They are regular guests on Garrison Keillor’s National Public Radio show "A Prairie Home Companion," where Keillor has dubbed them as “the best Cajun band in the world,” and their music has been featured on the New Orleans–based hit HBO program "Treme." (Look for an on camera performance from the band this year during the final season of the show).

“People know Cajun music being from Southwest Louisiana and because of the longitude and the latitude but it has influences form all over: Nova Scotia, France, delta blues, the islands, and the traditional improvisational aspects of New Orleans. We’re always pushing that envelope,” comments Doucet. “All the songs are different — there aren’t two songs that sound remotely alike though they are played with the same set of instruments. That comes from these rebellious hearts that we always had. We’ve always taken chances. To attempt to create great music of any kind, one has to take chances.”

Michael Doucet is defined by his deep connection with, and dedication to, the music of the sacred French Cajun culture. He has gained acclaim by developing his own flavor of Cajun music and he and his band represent many ‘firsts’ for the genre. Early on they focused on the lead and twin fiddle styles of the originals of Acadian folk music over the more popular 1920s adoption of the German diatonic accordion.

They performed with the communal integrity characteristic of early Cajun music, choosing to perform unplugged like a group of friends playing together in a Louisiana living room, rather than plugging in. They broke ground as the first band to feature an acoustic guitar as the lead instrument, replacing the lead accordion or steel guitar. They were the first to include the frottoir, the rub board borrowed from Cajun music’s Zydeco cousin, and they were the first to feature a female vocalist.

All of these innovations were fueled by Doucet’s determination to rejuvenate Cajun and zydeco music, breathing into it a new relevance.

Tickets for BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet are $34 for premium seating, $29 for orchestra and $24 for balcony. Purchase tickets by visiting www.thenewtontheatre.com or contact the box office at 973-383-3700.

The historic Newton Theatre, located at 234 Spring Street in Newton.