>> Announcer: From the Library
of Congress in Washington D.C.
[ Silence ]
>> Steve Winick: Well, we're
here at the Library of Congress.
And we'll be talking with Yvette
Landry and Richard Comeaux
and Beau Thomas who are Cajun and
honky tonk musicians from Louisiana.
My name is Steve Winick,
and I'm with the American
Folklife Center here
at the Library of Congress.
So, let's start out by
talking about a little bit
of what's been in the news lately.
You guy guys are from
Breaux Bridge I understand.
>> Yvette Landry: We are.
>> Steve Winick: How's it
doing after the floods?
>> Yvette Landry: It's
been three and a half weeks
and we still have some water there.
It's gone down a little
bit but it was pretty bad.
I have to say it was pretty bad.
>> Steve Winick: Are people,
are people managing to cope
or has there been a lot
of evacuations there or?
>> Yvette Landry: No.
People are managing to cope.
We, it kind of speaks
to our culture.
We don't, we don't really wait for
anybody to come in and help us.
We just sort of do for ourselves.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: And where
we live everybody has a boat,
everybody has an SUV.
I mean everybody has
got, you know, something.
So, when the rain started and
the water started coming up,
people evacuated immediately.
You know, we had neighbor
helping neighbor kind of thing.
And the cleanup has
been taking a while.
Some areas still have some
water and they can't get in yet.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: But slowly
getting back to normal, but, yeah.
>> Steve Winick: All right.
Well, the rest of the
country is pulling for you.
>> Yvette Landry: Yes.
>> Steve Winick: And wishing for a
speedy recovery [multiple speakers].
>> Richard Comeaux:
Talking about boats, I mean,
I've never seen this ever.
We have a drawbridge that
crosses the Bayou Teche.
The water was so high that
a guy got in his canoe
and paddled across the drawbridge.
>> Yvette Landry: Over the bridge.
>> Richard Comeaux: Over the bridge.
>> Yvette Landry: Over the bridge.
>> Richard Comeaux:
Never seen that ever.
Ever.
>> Yvette Landry: It was about
two feet [multiple speakers].
>> Richard Comeaux: May never
see that again, you know?
>> Steve Winick: Wow,
that's amazing.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
>> Steve Winick:
Yeah. So, all right.
So, in that area, is it
mostly French culture?
Were you growing up
essentially bilingual?
>> Richard Comeaux:
I'd say bilingual.
I mean, the roots are Cajun.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Richard Comeaux: Cajun, you know,
Acadians is what we're labeled as.
You know, exiled years ago from
Nova Scotia down to south Louisiana
and yes we are Acadians and Cajuns
is what we call ourselves short.
But we are bilingual.
I mean, we've all been
educated and whatever.
We can speak English too.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
Right. Well, I mean my question
was more along the lines
of whether all you also spoke French
because not everybody
in Louisiana does.
>> Richard Comeaux: Well.
>> Yvette Landry: And I'll speak
to that because Richard grew up,
he speaks French fluently.
I do not.
>> Steve Winick: OK.
>> Yvette Landry: I was
the first in my family
and my brother to not speak French.
And part of that comes from
when my parents were growing up,
it was frowned upon to speak French
in school, so they got punished
for speaking French in school.
So, they would only speak French
at home and they didn't teach us.
And we were not taught
French in school.
So, some of my generation,
like Richard and others,
did pick up the language.
>> Richard Comeaux: But it
was not until after school.
>> Yvette Landry: Right
[multiple speakers].
>> Richard Comeaux: You know,
after high school is when I learned
in a little community, Henderson,
right out of Breaux Bridge.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Richard Comeaux: Most
people, that's all they spoke.
So, I had to kind of
just pick it up.
>> Yvette Landry: Right.
>> Steve Winick: And so
was it true for all of you
that in school French
was kind of discouraged?
>> Yvette Landry: It was
not taught in school at all.
It was not.
>> I learned it in the university
and through traveling and learned it
through the music of my culture.
That's how I learned to speak and
to write a little bit of French,
but it was not encouraged in school.
>> Yvette Landry: My
grandparents spoke French fluently
and my parents spoke
French fluently.
And they would speak to each other
in French when they didn't want us
to know what was going on.
>> Richard Comeaux: Us
to now what was going on.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: And
that's how that went.
>> Steve Winick: So it
became the secret language.
In other words, you
couldn't know it.
>> Yvette Landry: Exactly
[multiple speakers].
Exactly.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
So, what was the music culture
like when you were growing up?
>> Yvette Landry: It's probably
different for each one of us.
>> Richard Comeaux: Different
for each one of us, you know?
>> Beau Thomas: Yeah.
For sure.
>> Yvette Landry: My grandparents
were musicians and they played sort
of a swing and what
would you call that?
>> Richard Comeaux: Dixieland.
>> Yvette Landry: Dixieland.
Kind of Dixieland music.
So, I heard a lot of
that growing up.
Not necessarily them because
they had stopped playing
by the time I came around.
But recordings and country music.
That's what my family listened to.
We didn't really listen
to Cajun music.
Richard has a different story.
>> Richard Comeaux:
And my influences were
strictly Cajun music.
My father was a Cajun musician.
Back then lap steel.
No pedals.
Pedals weren't even invented yet.
He played just a six-string
lap steel with Cajun music,
and that's what I grew
up listening to.
That's where I began.
>> Steve Winick: And Beau?
>> Beau Thomas: I don't
know where I come from.
No one in my family for
ages back, generations,
I cannot trace anyone back that
played any musical instruments.
But I grew up -- my family loved
Cajun music and our culture.
My family owns a Cajun food and
spice manufacturing company.
So, we certainly knew
the culture and music,
but I didn't grow up with it.
>> Yvette Landry: I had some of the
greatest Cajun musicians playing
at a restaurant in my back yard.
And until I started playing
Cajun music 12 years ago,
I didn't even know who they were.
You know, Dewey Balfa and Octa
Clark and all these guys played
at a little restaurant called
Mulate's in Breaux Bridge and --
>> Richard Comeaux:
[inaudible] Thibodaux.
>> Yvette Landry: [inaudible]
Thibodaux.
>> Beau Thomas: Yeah
[multiple speakers].
>> Steve Winick: I've been to
Mulate's [multiple speakers].
>> Yvette Landry: And I didn't
even know who they were other
than there was some music going
on in the background [inaudible].
>> Steve Winick: Right.
But you did hear it [inaudible].
>> Yvette Landry: But I did
hear it [multiple speakers].
>> Steve Winick: Sure.
So, that was certainly one of the
contexts in which you'd see music.
There was restaurants and dance
halls and that kind of thing.
>> Yvette Landry: Right.
And we used to go to some things
called, I remember the first time
that I really took note
of it was at a boucherie,
and that's where you
slaughtered the pig.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: And then
all this stuff was made.
And there was a, it was probably
close to your house growing up,
it has the, right by the overpass.
>> Richard Comeaux: Oh
by [multiple speakers].
That's where I learned
to play the steel guitar.
>> Yvette Landry: Exactly.
>> Richard Comeaux: At
his camp, matter of fact.
>> Yvette Landry: And I
actually have a picture of me;
I'm probably about nine or ten
years old holding an accordion.
You know, I've got a little skipper
hat on, you know, doing this.
But I remember people would just
break out instruments, everybody,
you know, and you just
start this jam right there.
And so not only on the radio, or at
the restaurant, but it was pretty,
I mean, common to go
to somebody's house
and somebody just started
playing music.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
So, what was your first instrument?
Was it the accordion?
Or did you start?
>> Yvette Landry: No.
My first instrument was
the piano when I was three.
>> Steve Winick: OK.
That's a good starting
place, isn't it?
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
I started with piano
when I was three.
And then when I was
in the fourth grade,
I started playing the clarinet.
And through high school I ended
up playing all the
woodwind instruments.
And after high school
I closed the piano,
closed all the other instruments
and said, "I hate this.
I don't like music.
I'm never doing it again."
Done.
>> Steve Winick: Good
luck with that, right?
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
Exactly.
And then 12 years ago,
I ended up going
in a totally different direction
and I bought a bass guitar
and somebody -- I was
just going to buy it to -
my dad was, my dad had cancer.
And so it was just sort
of a therapy instrument.
>> Steve Winick: Sure.
>> Yvette Landry: I was
just going to play it
at home and somebody said,
"Well, you know, there's a jam at
this little store down [inaudible]."
And I ended up going to that
jam and here I am [laughs].
>> Steve Winick: So,
you started with bass?
>> Yvette Landry: Started with
bass and then I went to accordion.
And then when I first
experienced that first jam session,
it was in an old house, which
they had converted into a store.
And I opened the door.
And there was this
back room probably
about the size of this stage.
And they had maybe nine people
in there from the age of two
to 92, all just playing music.
And I just went, "Oh, wow.
What is this?"
You know? I had never
experienced anything like that.
So, I started going and then I
got all excited and I just wanted
to learn every instrument.
So, I borrowed, I told my mom,
I said I want to try
and learn accordion.
So, she said, "Oh,
I think [inaudible] brother
might have an accordion."
So, she called a friend
of a friend and got that.
And then I remember seeing a fiddle
on the wall in my mom's house.
And I said, "What's that fiddle?"
She said, "Well, that's your
great grandfather's fiddle."
And I said, "Could I take that off
the wall and maybe try and do that?"
So, you know, I got that.
And then a friend of
mine had a guitar.
So, I started learning
all of them at once
but I stuck more with the accordion.
So, I was doing bass and accordion.
And I tried fiddle.
Not so much.
Not so much.
>> Steve Winick: What?
But luckily you have, you have Beau.
>> Yvette Landry: But
luckily I have him [laughter].
>> Steve Winick: So, tell us
about, Beaux tell us about your,
how you started with the fiddle.
>> Beau Thomas: I,
kind of out of nowhere.
My family had this spice company
and we were doing a cochon de lait,
roasting a little baby suckling pig
for the Super Bowl Half
Time Show in New Orleans.
>> Steve Winick: Excellent.
>> Beau Thomas: And
there was Dan Rather
and all these big guys walking
around in $5,000 and $10,000 suits
and piece of pig in
their hand, you know,
with a little grease
dripping down their chin.
So, my dad said, "Hey,
boy," like the year before,
"if I get you a Cajun accordion
would you learn one or two songs
and sit on the, by the pig
and play the accordion?"
I'm like sit by a pig
and play and accordion?
No, I don't know about that.
And some little guy was with
my sister and said, "Hey Beau,
I bet you couldn't play a fiddle."
I'm like, "Oh, I bet you I could."
Well, anyway, I begged my dad.
Three months later he finally bought
me this fiddle out of nowhere.
And I took it home.
Within just a few hours
I came down playing four
or five songs that I had learned.
And five and a half months later
I went on my first tour half way
around the world and
started playing.
That was 27 years ago
and never looked back.
>> Steve Winick: All right.
>> Beau Thomas: Yeah.
>> Steve Winick: So, fiddle was
really your first instrument?
>> Beau Thomas: I think so.
Yeah.
I mean, I played trumpet a little
bit in high school and drums
in a very small band, but terrible.
>> Richard Comeaux: I remember
playing with him about that time
and it's like he came out
of the womb with a fiddle.
He played that good back then.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux:
He's amazing now.
But he was really, really
accomplished even back then.
I mean [multiple speakers].
>> Beau Thomas: And I didn't play
as a kid [multiple speakers].
>> Richard Comeaux: We still talk
about that back home how he just
like came out the womb
playing the fiddle.
You know? Really.
>> Steve Winick: Amazing.
And so, and you've said that
your first sort of influence was.
>> Richard Comeaux: Was my
father [multiple speakers].
Yeah. My father played Cajun steel
but my very first instrument
was an acoustic guitar at four.
And I just learned and I had just a
musically family on my dad's side.
Every family reunion I couldn't wait
because I'd learn something
different.
You know, because I had my cousins
as mentors and they'd show me how
to put my hands and then the ear
kind of took over and then got home
from school, 13 years old,
walked into my bedroom
and brand new pedal steel
guitar at the foot of my bed.
And my dad, and I'll
never forget this.
I turned around, looked at my dad,
and he just watched my whole move.
I said, "Hi, dad."
Walk in from school with the
book sack and everything.
And my dad is sitting and my
dad liked his beer, you know?
So, he had his Schlitz beer
on the table like that.
And he just watched me, just
around the corner like that.
And, again, when I walked
into my bedroom I just froze
and the book sack just fell.
And I turned around.
And he goes, "There you are.
I bought this for you."
And I'm like, I didn't
know the first thing
about this thing but
it just sat there.
He puts the picks on.
He says, "Now listen."
He strums it and it's
just this triad tune.
It's an open tuning.
It made a chord.
I'm like I recognize that chord.
And he said, "Yep,
this one position.
Here's another position.
Here." This is pretty much
basically how our Cajun music --
these are the three
chords that you're going
to play for a long, long time.
Didn't show me the picking but
then he gave me a couple people
to just listen to.
And I went out and sought out
these, back then 45s and LPs,
and I'd go to this camp where
she first got her accordion thing
at Ellis Trosclair's camp.
And I'd spin these records on
this stereo time and time --
I'd scratch it a little bit
and put it back just to
emulate these sounds.
And, you know, that's how it came.
And like Beau did with his fiddle,
it, my steel picking back then
in four or five years I was
pretty much accomplished
on the Cajun side of the music.
But then I got bored.
I wanted, there was more
music going through my head
until I discovered the
pedal steel guitar.
And when I heard it first I'm
like this is what I want to play
because the pedal steel guitar
goes in depth and you, you know,
you tune it like a piano.
You have the scale.
You can play notes.
Not just the triad.
And then I was mentored by this
man, Milton Gilbo from back home
who was accomplished back then.
And he just started teaching
me how this is structured.
I actually had to let
the Cajun music go.
I had to put it in the garbage
because you've got
to think different.
You can't let this
chank-a-chank sound get in the way
with what you're trying to do
with the pedal steel guitar.
Well, then I found out about this
school in Nashville that goes
in depth and teaches
what all these pedals
and levers do within the tuning.
So, you take all this home.
You don't learn it over there.
You've got to take it home
and spend thousands of hours
to get your hands in all that.
Well, lo and behold it's
42 years later and I'm
at the Library of Congress.
Go figure, you know?
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
So, you know, it's interesting
because I think a lot
of people outside of Louisiana,
if they think about Cajun music
they'll certainly think about,
you know, accordion and
they'll think of fiddle
and they'll think of
chank-a-chank guitar,
but they won't necessarily think
of lap steel or pedal steel.
But it was there.
>> Richard Comeaux: It was.
>> Beau Thomas: Oh, yes
[multiple speakers].
>> Richard Comeaux: It was
prominent in the '60s is
when I guess [multiple
speakers] and that's while.
>> Beau Thomas: In
the Cajun dance halls
and night clubs is when
it began to emerge.
>> Richard Comeaux:
And I play back home
with a group now called
High Performance
that has Steve Riley in the band.
Everybody on the planet
knows who Steve Riley is.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Richard Comeaux: But that makes--
all our fathers played
together at one time or another.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux: We're
the second generation.
So, it's called High Performance
and it's called Cajun music
on steroids because it's powerful.
It's really good.
So.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux: But I'm
playing pedal steel not open.
I can emulate the same tones.
>> Beau Thomas: But I will say not
too long ago I dug up an old record,
I don't know where
it's at, and it was,
you might have been 17 years
old playing on an open tuning.
>> Richard Comeaux: Yes.
>> Beau Thomas: Maybe
Jambalaya; it was fast.
>> Richard Comeaux: Yes.
Yeah.
>> Beau Thomas: It was really fast.
>> Richard Comeaux: Yeah.
>> Beau Thomas: I'm not sure
if it was all the way open.
You may have had a
pedal that brought it
down the floor [multiple speakers].
>> Richard Comeaux: No.
No. It was open.
>> Beau Thomas: So, it
was, it was hopping.
>> Richard Comeaux: Just hopping.
>> Beau Thomas: You might
have been 17 or something.
>> Richard Comeaux: Sixteen.
>> Beau Thomas: Yeah.
You were fast.
>> Richard Comeaux: Yeah.
Anyway.
>> Beau Thomas: Amazing.
>> Richard Comeaux: So,
time goes, don't it?
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
It sure does.
So, Yvette, you mentioned that
one of the people who played
at Mulate's while you were
growing up was Dewey Balfa, right?
And I know that you
played with Balfa Toujours.
>> Yvette Landry: Right.
>> Steve Winick: So,
tell us about that.
About how that was sort of
being in that second generation.
>> Yvette Landry: Well, let me
tell you how I met Christine.
She was living in Breaux Bridge at
the time and I was at the Winn Dixie
in Breaux Bridge checking out.
And there was this girl
standing in front of me.
And, you know, we just
like to talk to anybody.
We don't care.
So, she's standing in front
of me and I said, "Hi."
And she turned around
and she goes, "Oh, hi."
And I said, "I'm Yvette.
Who are you?"
And she said, "Well, I'm Christine.
It's nice to meet you."
And we're having this conversation
and I said, "Well, what do you do?"
And she said, "Well,
I'm a musician."
And I said, "Oh."
And I had just started
playing music.
So, I said, "Oh, well, I'm
starting to play music too."
And I said, "What's your last name?"
She said, "Balfa."
And I said, "Oh, well, that's nice."
I said, "Well, you know, I'm playing
with the Lafayette
Rhythm Devils right now.
I started playing about
three months ago," and I'm,
you know, just doing this.
And she'd say, "Oh that's nice.
That's nice.
That's nice."
Still have no clue who Dewey Balfa
is or the importance of Dewey Balfa
or who I'm talking
to at this moment.
You know, so she said,
"Oh, that's really nice."
She said, "You know, we're
doing a benefit for my sister,
and if you'd like to come and play
bass guitar that would be great."
So, I said, "Sure."
You know, it was right
there in Breaux Bridge.
So, that Sunday I ended up going
to play with Balfa Toujours.
Not a clue.
I didn't know who Balfa
Toujours was.
So, the next weekend I'm
talking to this little guy
who started playing music the
same time as I did, and he said,
"So what did you do this weekend?"
And I said, "Oh, I
played with this band.
What's their name?
I think something like
Balfa something."
And he goes, "Balfa Toujours?
You played with Balfa Toujours?"
And I said, "Yeah."
So, that's when I realized
maybe I should kind of go check
and see who these people are.
[laughter]
But, no, it's incredible
to play with Christine.
And she basically channels
her father in that music.
And if you close your eyes, you
could be in 2016 or you could be
in 1956 or you could be in
18-- whatever, you know?
>> Richard Comeaux: You're right.
>> Yvette Landry: So, it's been
an incredible journey playing
with them.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
I mean for a lot of
people outside Louisiana,
Dewey Balfa would have been
the first Cajun musician
that they heard.
>> Yvette Landry: I think so.
>> Steve Winick: Because he started
going to festivals in the '70s.
And that's, you know?
>> Richard Comeaux: You're right.
>> Steve Winick: Before that no one
really knew what Cajun music was
outside Louisiana and
parts of Texas.
>> Yvette Landry: Right.
And he was a bus driver.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: I mean, you know?
That's how people knew
him as basically.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: A bus driver
who played a little bit of music.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
But the other thing that I was
always impressed with when talking
to other musicians about Dewey Balfa
particularly was the way he was just
a mentor to so many people and
so many people learned from him.
And so it's great that you
got to play with Christine
and you get to play with Christine.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
Yeah.
>> Steve Winick: Because she was,
you know, sort of the best student,
the main student, you
know what I mean?
>> Yvette Landry: Right.
Absolutely.
>> Steve Winick: So, you know,
the group that you played
with today had those Cajun
influences but also does a lot
of what you call Louisiana
honky tonk.
So, explain that, those
influences as well for us.
>> Yvette Landry: Well, it's kind
of like I said earlier to the group,
I was not going to be a musician.
And I ended up going to a Cajun jam;
therefore I play Cajun music.
I still wonder if I would
have gone to a blues jam
if I would have been
a blues musician.
I wasn't intending to be a musician.
Same thing with writing songs.
I didn't intend to be a songwriter,
but when I did write my first song,
it sort of came out with this
country influence and possibly
because that's what I grew
up listening to, you
know, I'm guessing.
But when you add these
guys to the mix,
it's dance music I think
more than anything else.
I grew up as a dancer instead of
a musician to that kind of music.
So, when I started writing
songs, I wanted to be able
to write songs that
you could dance to.
So, we had that Cajun influence in
terms of dance ability to the song.
But when you add the steel guitar,
it kind of brings in
that country genre.
And then when Beau came into the
band, the two of them just latched
onto this, they sort of did it.
The song really didn't
have, it was in the making.
It was creating.
So, when I just put it out there and
just let those two guys take off,
it just kind of came with
this little Texas swing thing.
And then when my son came on the
drums, he's got that, it's natural,
it's genetic in him and he just,
so it came to be this little
Louisiana swing honky tonk
with a Cajun something or other.
I don't know what it is.
It just is.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
Well, you play some of your own
songs but you also play songs
that you've gotten from elsewhere.
You know, cover songs
of various people.
So, how do you, what do
you look for in the song?
How do you find songs that you like?
>> Yvette Landry: I have to feel it.
That's the best way to explain it.
And my mom, she's all the time,
she's always sending me a text, "Oh,
you should play this song.
You should do this.
You should do this."
And I'll give it a try and sometimes
it'll, you know, it's a good song,
but I just, I don't feel it.
It's got to strike
something inside of me.
I don't know how else
to explain it than that.
>> Steve Winick: That's good.
And in terms of writing
songs, I mean,
you do write a lot of the songs.
What do you, how do things
strike you as song worthy?
As being something you're
going to write a song about?
>> Yvette Landry: I don't
really think I write the songs.
I think I'm a vessel that
the songs come through.
There's not too many times where
I've sat down and said, "Today,
I'm going to write a song."
What happens is I'll be
doing something and then all
of the sudden I'll say, "I
need to go get my guitar."
And then before I know it
there's a song that comes through.
So, it might be something
I noticed, um, driving
or something I heard somebody say.
I remember one time I was
cooking supper for my son
and I was cooking a rice and
gravy and all of a sudden I had
that feeling, I just had that
feeling of something was going
on in my head and I said I
needed to go get my guitar.
So, I went in my room and I started
kind of doing this little melody
that was there and the words were
coming and I'm writing this song.
And then the next thing I know
my fire alarm was going off
and my house is full of smoke
and there's flames
coming up and I, you know,
completely burnt the
supper, but I had this song.
And it was called, "Memories of
Clelia," And it was about a dad
who was contemplating suicide
because he lost his
daughter and his wife.
Now, I don't remember
ever hearing about that
or experiencing that or anything.
So, that's when I know it just,
you know, that was something that,
I was just the vessel
to come out of.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: So, you know,
and like I said I might be,
the guy that I spoke with when
I first started writing songs,
he told me just pay attention
and I really did take
those words to heart.
And if you pay attention, there's
a lot of stuff to write about.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: I think I
notice things and it kind of mulls
over in my brain a
little bit and then
when it's ready it will come out.
That's how I do it.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah, well one
of the ones you sang today sort
of sounded like that
because you said
that you heard this phrase
the house with no windows.
>> Yvette Landry: Oh, yeah.
>> Steve Winick: And you
thought, oh that's a good phrase,
and now you wrote a
whole song around that.
>> Yvette Landry: Absolutely.
Yes.
>> Steve Winick: So, how
did that song come together?
>> Yvette Landry: Oh, I was
watching the documentary.
It was like three in the morning.
I couldn't sleep.
And I just thought that was the
most amazing thing, you know,
like a house with no windows.
It's just -- it's so
vivid and visual.
And I could see the imagery.
And I don't know if you've listened
to most of my songs they're kind of,
I don't want to say
they're man hating songs
but there's a theme
somewhere in there, you know?
And it was just weird.
It's, like I said, I didn't intend
to sit down and write a song,
bashing, you know, anybody.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: But
it just came out.
>> Steve Winick: One
of the great things
about that song I think is that,
you know, you say, you know,
one of your primary ways of
writing songs is to pay attention.
But that song if you don't pay
attention, if you just sort
of let it play, it sounds like
it's a sweet little love song.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
Exactly.
>> Steve Winick: But you have
to be listening to the lyrics
and know what is going on.
>> Yvette Landry: And sometimes
before I sing it I'll introduce it
like that -- I'd like to sing
a little love song for you.
But you have to be paying
attention to really catch it.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
See if anybody notices what
you're really talking about.
That's great.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
>> Steve Winick: So,
that's sort of your,
so your songwriting process
is just sort of notice stuff
or have stuff come to you.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah
[multiple speakers].
Right. And like I said,
and when these songs come,
this is an amazing thing for me,
I don't partially write a song
and put it away and then
come back to it or whatever.
When they come, they just come.
And within 10 to 20 minutes I'll
have a song and it's written.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: And I may do a
little bit of tweaking on it but it,
you know, so that's why I say
I don't, I really don't feel
that I'm writing the song
if that makes any sense.
>> Steve Winick: I
know what you mean.
Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux: We get to the
gate on Thursdays, we're like --
she says T, I got a new song.
And I'm setting up my stuff.
I'm like really?
She said, "We're going
to do it tonight?"
I said, "What do you mean?
You're going to throw
me under the bus.
I never heard the dang thing."
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux: She says yeah
and she just plays it
for me right there.
Right there.
So, we kind of map it out.
Then we play it.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
Yeah.
>> Beau Thomas: It's great.
>> Steve Winick: So, that was sort
of my next question was how do
you guys then take, you know?
>> Richard Comeaux:
Just like I just said.
>> Yvette Landry: Just like that?
>> Richard Comeaux:
T, I got a new song.
>> Beau Thomas: It's like FTD
flower arrangements while you wait,
you know?
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Beau Thomas: We just
put it all together.
>> Yvette Landry: As
a matter of fact,
when we were doing sound check
earlier, Beau had never heard,
I had put the new waltz
that I had wrote,
or that came out just a couple days
ago, and Beau had never heard it.
And I said, "OK.
If we have time, we're
going to do it today."
So, I just start playing it and
they'll just, as a matter fact,
on the plane, I told
him on the plane.
>> Beau Thomas: Yeah.
>> Yvette Landry: I had
recorded it on the voice memo.
And so he was listening
to it on the voice memo.
And he goes, "What key is it in?"
And I said, "It's in E."
And I could see him doing like this.
He goes, "I'm learning
it right now."
So [multiple speakers].
>> Steve Winick: All right.
Well, I think each of you
is in other bands as well.
So, why don't you tell
me a little bit
about the other musical
groups that you play with?
>> Yvette Landry: OK.
So, I do, we do the trio.
And then Richard and I do a duo.
And then I have a full band,
which is the Yvette Landry Band.
We have a bass player Joe Butts
and my son Trevor on the drums.
I'm also a member of the
Lafayette Rhythm Devils.
I play bass, and it's a Cajun band.
I still play with Balfa
Toujours occasionally
and I play bass in that band.
Then I have a little trio called Le
Ferais, which means brass knuckles
and I play guitar and a little
bit of accordion in that band.
And we also have a Le Ferais full
band, which has a five-piece band.
So, right now, and then
I'm just sort of a--
>> Steve Winick: [inaudible]
as well?
Is that still going?
>> Yvette Landry: [inaudible] is
still going, but I haven't been
with them for the last
couple of years.
>> Steve Winick: Oh, OK.
So, yeah.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
We got nominated for a
Grammy and then that was a,
that was a good point for me to
close the door and then just kind
of move in a different direction.
So, that's what I did.
And then I'm just a sort of
bass player, guitar player,
or accordion player for hire.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
It sounds like you have enough
bands with or without that one.
So, yeah. Yeah.
So, what about you Richard?
>> Richard Comeaux: I, again,
play with Yvette every Thursday.
We do this little duo.
And we do this on occasion,
the trio.
That's like she said.
And I play back home with this
Cajun group I mentioned earlier,
High Performance.
And we do that on occasion.
It's not a steady thing although
it's two or three times a month.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux:
And we have a couple
of local country artists back home
that are reputable
in their own right.
You know, Dustin Sonnier, Blaine
Roy, and I kind of mix that
and I have a day job as well.
So, I do that and so
plenty enough for me.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux: I did the
big scene thing back in the '90s.
I was lucky enough and got signed
with a group to Capital Nashville,
River Road, and we did the whole
big picture of the recording
in Nashville back then and traveled
the country and parts of the world.
And, you know, and just rode the
wave and then the wave has to come
down and then you go
do something else.
And right now the something
else is what I'm doing
and this is where I want to be.
This is where I need
to be, this is it.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
Being home is sometimes good.
>> Richard Comeaux: Thank you.
Thank you.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
I know it.
And Beau.
>> Beau Thomas: Awesome.
I work with Yvette of
course and I literally work
for about 100 different
artists on a regular basis.
I do a little bit of a juggling act.
A lot Louisiana artists.
I do a lot of session work.
I play with a lot of the
same bands that Richard
and I work together back at home.
Cajun, country, jazz, blues.
I do a lot of string
arrangements and what not.
I love to travel.
Just, you know?
>> Yvette Landry: Somebody
told me one time, "Man,
we went down to your neck of
the woods, and you guys have
about 100 Cajun bands but
only like 12 musicians."
>> Steve Winick: That's
right [laughter].
>> Yvette Landry: Everybody
just [multiple speakers].
>> Richard Comeaux:
Everybody just floats.
>> Yvette Landry: Everybody
just kind of floats
around [multiple speakers].
>> Richard Comeaux: But he's the
number one fiddle when it comes
to session and just playing.
He's the one everybody calls.
He's the bomb.
The bomb.
>> Yvette Landry: Same thing here.
>> Richard Comeaux: The bomb.
>> Beau Thomas: It's good to know.
Yeah [multiple speakers].
There's a lot of great
musicians at home so.
>> Thea Austen (off screen): I have
a question that maybe you can ask,
which is, which we were talking
about earlier which is just the,
you know, Louisiana is
known for Cajun Zydeco,
but there's so many other influences
from other parts of the South
and just to talk about that
because you played a
lot of different styles.
Maybe you want to talk
about the history.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
That question is the
fact that, you known,
Cajun and Zydeco music are very
well known as Louisiana music,
but there's a lot of other musical
influences throughout Louisiana
and talk about what some of the
other musical styles are that.
>> Richard Comeaux: Oh, I
could tell you it's the blues.
Big time.
>> Beau Thomas: Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux: He has it.
I have it.
She has it.
But she mixes it in
[multiple speakers].
>> Beau Thomas: It's evident
in that old string music
like the Rustic Ramblers
and a lot of the 1920s
and '30s string music
that was popular.
You could still hear that trace
back from the Dixieland of jazz or.
>> Richard Comeaux: It's not playing
the straight [inaudible] seventh
chord and that's the blues.
And it's in our playing, in
her singing, and everything.
>> Beau Thomas: That's right.
>> Richard Comeaux: It's
just a natural for us.
>> Yvette Landry: There's
definitely there's that
but then just surrounding
our little Acadiana area.
So, we have the Cajun.
We have the Zydeco.
We have the country.
We have the blues.
New Orleans is right down the road,
so you've got the jazz, you know.
We have more and more
so people are coming in.
So, they're bringing old time music.
We have, there's Irish
music that's there.
>> Beau Thomas: There's German,
there's a couple German communities.
>> Yvette Landry: There's German.
>> Richard Comeaux: Right.
>> Beau Thomas: And
there's African communities.
There's a lot of influence from,
it's literally the melting pot.
>> Yvette Landry: You're right.
It's a melting pot.
And so all of that music from way
back when will find its way even
if it's just the tiny bit but
it will find it's way in there.
Yeah.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
Well, that accordion wasn't,
wasn't American originally
or African so, yeah.
>> Yvette Landry: No.
No. No. No.
no [multiple speakers] the
Germans [multiple speakers].
Right. And the reason
why the Cajuns love it
so much is it was so
obnoxious and loud.
And so for the dance halls, at first
when they just had the
fiddles playing, it, I mean,
it was great music and the
French music that eventually came
down was fiddle music but it
didn't work well in the dance halls
because there was no amplification.
And so when that accordion
came, that was it.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
Excellent.
So, speaking of being able to hear
and maybe not being able to hear,
one of the things that was, that
I think was really interesting
in the concert was when you started
playing the Star Spangled Banner,
you started to sign it.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
>> Steve Winick: So, tell us about
ASL and your connection there.
>> Yvette Landry: Well, that was a
spur of the moment decision to do
that but I do teach American
Sign Language at the University
of Louisiana at Lafayette.
And people always ask do you
have any hearing impaired people
or any people who are
deaf in your family?
And the answer is no.
I learned sign language
because I was challenged.
I'm a schoolteacher as well.
And I started teaching
self-contained special
needs students.
And I learned maybe, I was
trying to teach them to read.
And so I learned about 100 signs.
And I switched schools and the
new school actually had a deaf
ed program.
And so the first day of
school I am walking on campus.
And there's these two
little boys that are walking
down the side walk
and they're signing.
And I got all excited because
I knew how to say good morning.
So, I walked up to him
and I signed good morning.
And they stopped.
And they looked at me.
They gave me this look
like, "Who are you?
You know, "we know
everybody that signs.
We don't know who you are."
So, this one kid started
just signing 90 miles an hour
and I just did, stop, stop,
stop, I don't understand.
And he gave me this look and he
stormed off and he marched away.
And I looked at the other
little boy and I did, what?
And the little kid goes,
you know, like this.
So, I'm watching the other kid and
he goes and he grabs his interpreter
and he is dragging this interpreter
back and he stands up in front of me
and he is just, I mean,
hands flying every where.
And the interpreter
is voicing for him.
And she is saying, "Who
do you think you are?
Are you making fun of me?
Do you want to talk to me?
If you want to talk to me, why
don't you learn how to talk to me?"
>> Richard Comeaux: Oh, wow.
>> Yvette Landry: I mean,
this little kid chewed me out.
>> Steve Winick: He
was not having it.
>> Yvette Landry: First
day of school.
I was horrified.
I was so heartbroken.
And he just, he said, his last words
to me was, "If you want to talk
to me, why don't you
learn how to talk to me?"
And he turned around
and he just stormed off.
So, I taught that day,
and I was just miserable.
And I went home and I
will never forget this.
I was washing the dishes and
I am just kind of looking
out of the window replaying
the whole thing in my head.
And then all of the sudden I said,
wait a minute, I told 400 other kids
on campus good morning and I didn't
have a conversation with them.
Why do I need to talk to that kid?
Why do I need to learn how to talk?
Who does he think he is?
So, I went to school the next
day and I found the interpreter
and I said, "Where's
that little boy?"
And she said, "He's over there."
I said, "Go get him."
So, she went and she grabbed
him and she brought him back.
And he's standing in front of me,
you know, all attitude like that.
And I looked at her, and I
said I want you to sign word
for word what I'm telling him.
And so she said OK.
So, I bent down and I said,
"Listen here you little turd.
Let me tell you something."
I said, "I came on campus and I
told 400 other people good morning
and didn't have a conversation
with them.
So, there's no reason why I need
to have a conversation with you,
but I tell you what I will
learn how to talk to you
and when I do learn how to talk to
you, I am going to chew your butt
out just like you chewed
my butt out."
And I turned around and I
stormed off and I went straight
to the teachers' lounge, and
I looked in the phone book
and I found deaf services.
And I called them.
And I said, "Do y'all teach
sign language classes?"
And they said, "Yes, ma'am, we do."
I said, "When do you start?"
She said, "Well, we actually have
a session starting next week."
I said, "Good.
Sign me up because you
have until May 15th
to teach me how to
chew somebody out."
>> Richard Comeaux: That's a
good story [multiple speakers]
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
So, that's how I started
with sign language.
And I went to the classes
and then I just sort
of immersed myself in the culture.
And I fell in love with the
language and the culture.
And, you know, so I loved it.
And I did.
And I chewed him out in May.
And the whole time I was doing it
he was just looking at me like that.
And so I was all proud of myself
when I finished, you
know, like there.
And he looked at me and he just
went, "See, now you can talk to me."
And I was like you little turd.
You got the last word in
anyway [multiple speakers].
But I'm so thankful
that he did that.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
>> Yvette Landry: Because, you know,
I've enjoyed it now
for quite some time.
>> Steve Winick: Well, Washington,
D.C. really appreciates that.
There's a lot of deaf
education here.
>> Yvette Landry: Yes.
>> Steve Winick: And so
people really, you, you know,
see hearing-impaired
people all the time.
>> Yvette Landry: All the time.
Yeah.
>> Steve Winick: They do appreciate
the signing so that was really nice.
The other sort of non-musical thing
that I think we should
talk about is your books.
>> Yvette Landry: Oh.
>> Steve Winick: Because you've
written a couple of books
that are based around folklore.
>> Yvette Landry: Yes.
>> Steve Winick: And since we
are the American Folklife Center,
that's another thing
that we're interested in.
So, give us the run
down on your books.
>> Yvette Landry: It's so much.
So, yes. I've written two books.
And I've told this story twice
already, but I'll tell it again.
So, I never intended to be, I
never intended to be a musician.
And then here I am.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: I never intended
to be a songwriter and here I am.
And I definitely never intended
to be an author yet here I am.
And the first book came about
from actually a music gig.
I was offered to go play in Maine.
This gentleman said, "You know,
we have this guitar,"
what did he call it?
"A guitar society that
does concerts.
And we usually have
virtuoso guitar players come
and you're obviously not
a virtuoso guitar player,
but I think you have
something to offer
so maybe we could ask you to come."
And I'm thinking, why
would I even go, you know?
But then I thought, you know what?
If you're crazy enough to ask
me, I'm going to go and do this.
So, I ended up going by myself,
which was my first solo
gig and I was so nervous.
And he picked me up at the
airport with his two children
who were three and five years old.
And they came to the airport
and they were like running
around like crazy, you know?
And then they're hey, Asian
Lady, are you coming to house?
Hey Asian lady, are you going to
do this, are you going to do this?
And I remember looking at the dad
going why are your children calling
me Asian?
And he said, "Well, I've
told them now for a month
that the Cajun lady was coming
but they don't really
know what Cajun is.
So, they just assumed
that you're Asian.
So, we rode back and
we got to their house,
and like I said they were just
three and five and full of energy.
And I get out of the
car and I have my guitar
and I have my gig bag
and I have my suitcase.
And they are running around and
they're like, "Are you gonna
to play ball with me, are you
gonna [talking fast sounds]?"
you know, and all this stuff.
And I'm there, what?
And the youngest one, when I turned,
he wanted me to watch
him ride his bike.
And when I turned he had
taken off all of his clothes.
And he had put on his dad's roller
blades, which were like this big.
And he is on his bike and he
is riding all the around yard.
And he is like look at me,
look at me, look at me!
And I'm thinking, the
other one has tennis balls
and he's throwing them at my head.
And I'm there, what am I doing here?
And all of the sudden, the
little one gets off of his bike,
kicks off the roller blades and
starts running around the yard.
And then all of the
sudden he like freezes.
And I hear this woman yell from
the window, "Oh, my god, Levi,
do you have to go to the potty?"
And this is a kid who is frozen.
He just looks at his
mommy and goes, "Uh-huh."
So, she comes running
out of the house,
almost knocks me off the sidewalk.
And she picks up this kid
and she flings him over
and he's kicking screaming.
And he's like, "I'm not going.
I'm not going.
I'm not going."
And she would say,
"But you have to go.
You have to go."
And all of the sudden he just,
he stiffens up like this.
And he screams at the
top of his lungs.
He goes, "I'm not going
unless that Asian lady comes."
So, the mom, the mom looks
at me and she goes, ah,
so I said, all right, you know?
So, I dropped everything
and we run in the house.
And we get into, she just opens
the door to this little bathroom.
I mean, tiny.
And she puts the little kid
on the little [inaudible]
on the potty right there.
And then the five-year-old
comes under the sink and he sits
under the sink and she just kind
of shoves me in and I'm sort
of squeezing between
the toilet and the wall.
And she goes, "Thank you."
And she closes the door.
So, I'm sitting in this
bathroom with these kids.
And they're looking at me
and I'm looking at them.
And I'm going what in
the heck am I doing?
And so the little one, he is sitting
on the potty and he just does
like that and he goes, "Asian lady,
tell me a story about Asian land."
And it was in that moment
that I made up a story
about the ghost tree based on
a tree we have back at home.
We have the second largest live
oak in the state of Louisiana
at my grandmother's house.
So, I made up this story about this
live oak tree that on October 31st
if you go into the swamp and you
look at it, it will come to life
and it will grow eyes and its mouth
will open up and snakes will come
out and it will turn you into
stone and then it will eat you.
And so, yeah, I mean, it was a
very successful story I might add.
And in the process it ended up
begin a very wonderful weekend.
And I wrote the story
down to send to them
and one thing led to another.
Somebody read it.
Within a week I had an
illustrator, a publisher,
and a book deal and there it was.
>> Steve Winick: All right.
>> Yvette Landry: So,
that's how that came to be.
And then my second one
I intentionally wrote my
children's book.
Yeah. And that one is coming
out at the end of this month
and it's called "Madame
Grand Doigt."
And my grandmother used to
tell me stories about her.
If you were not behaving, she lived
up in the attic in the rafters
and at night her long fingers
would come down and snatch you up
and you would never be seen again.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
Happy little children stories.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
Well, you know, sometimes those
can be useful [multiple speakers].
>> Yvette Landry: Absolutely.
Absolutely.
So.
>> Steve Winick: All right.
So, we want to thank you for
bringing copies of those books here
to the Library of Congress.
I know they've been
added to our collections
and we're really happy about that.
>> Yvette Landry: Yeah.
Yeah.
>> Steve Winick: So,
tonight you are going to play
at the Kennedy Center as well.
So.
>> Yvette Landry: Yes.
>> Steve Winick: So, more music.
>> Yvette Landry: Yes.
>> Steve Winick: Is
there anything more
that you folks wanted
to say about your music?
>> Thea Austen: Actually, Richard,
why don't you talk a little bit
about the fact that, just
about when you were coming
up there were a few other people
your age studying pedal steel
and now it's that [multiple
speakers]?
>> Richard Comeaux: Ok,
What I want to say is
that when I began playing
steel guitar, I was 13.
And back then
I have three other friends
about the same age as I,
two or three years difference,
that we all started playing the
steel guitar at the same time.
And we've all, you know, mentored,
and we've all woodshedded together.
We've been to the same training.
A lot of get-togethers and
sharing ideas and licks
and whatever you want to call them.
And it's 40 years past.
And it's scary because there's
nobody coming up behind us.
And I've actually had, well --
I have another steel guitar.
I have a couple of them.
I've loaned one to a young
guy coming up and I don't know
if he's getting it or not.
I don't know.
It's just scary.
It's scary that nobody is coming up.
Now, they attempt it.
And spent thousands of dollars.
And they do what a lot
of other people do.
They get discouraged
and put the dang thing
under the bed and it rots there.
So, you know, it's an instrument
that, you know, you've got to fall
in love with like I
did right out the gate.
You know, you got to, I went to bed,
I remember with that thing
right next to my bed.
And I looked at it like I am
going to learn this thing.
But you have to marry it.
And you have to be
willing to sacrifice.
Because it doesn't come easy.
It's the hands, the
feet, or the legs.
It doesn't come easy.
So, but if you work hard, it's
a shame it takes this long,
but you know, you can reap some
of the rewards, but what we talked
about it's scary that I have a
son that is a great guitar player.
Set the thing up in his room,
showed him a few things.
He tried. He is just like,
"Dad, I just can't do it."
He is an amazing guitar player
but he is just not going
to attempt the steel guitar.
And there are a lot of others
that are just afraid to do it.
>> Steve Winick: Do you think
it's just because it's so hard or?
>> Beau Thomas: Too much
work for me, I tell you.
Yeah. I'm way too lazy.
>> Yvette Landry: It took
me 30 minutes to figure
out how to put the picks on--
>> Richard Comeaux: I
left it at her house one.
Tell them the story of me
leaving it at your house one day.
>> Yvette Landry: He left
it at my house one day.
Do I called him and I said, "T, I
said, you think I could kind of mess
around with it a little bit?"
And he said, "Oh, yeah.
Sure." So, I sat there, I'm not
kidding you, for 30 minutes trying
to figure out how to
put the picks on.
I put them on one way and I'd
try and it just didn't work.
>> Richard Comeaux:
And they fly off.
See, you don't put them this way.
You put them going straight up.
>> Yvette Landry: It was weird.
>> Richard Comeaux:
At a 90-degree angle.
>> Yvette Landry: I
tried everything.
None of them felt right
[multiple speakers].
So, I called my friend in New
York who plays steel guitar.
And I said, "Thomas," I
said, "I have a steel guitar
in my living room," and I said,
"I don't know what to do with it."
He goes, "OK, Yvette.
Listen to me.
This is very serious.
I need you to pay very
close attention."
I said, "OK."
He said, "I need you to take
the guitar, and I need you
to go put it out in the yard."
And I'm thinking is it, OK.
He goes, "And then," he said,
"go in the garage and get a gas
can and pour gas all over it
and light the match and run.
Run as fast as you can."
>> Richard Comeaux: Burn it.
Burn. [laughter]
>> Yvette Landry: He said,
"Stay away from that thing."
>> Richard Comeaux: Yeah.
Don't go there.
>> Yvette Landry: It's, I mean,
you got to be an octopus
to play that thing.
And it's just, you've got
too many things to do.
Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux: But hopefully
somebody will come around back home
and kind of take off
from where we leave it.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
>> Yvette Landry: Because when you
hear steel guitar in a Cajun song,
it's completely, it's a
totally different beast then
if you just have fiddle.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Yvette Landry: So,
it brings a whole new--
>> Richard Comeaux: In which I
wanted to interrupt a while ago.
You know, you talked about Dewey
Balfa, how he has been like the guy
that brought Cajun music all over
the world and he has, but believe it
or not you have two
styles of Cajun music.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Richard Comeaux: His style
is what went across the country.
My style isn't.
We call their style the prairie
type of Cajun music whereas we're
like known as the Lafayette style.
It's just a different rhythm.
Totally different.
Totally different.
And believe it or not, the
steel guitar where I come
from drives the music along
with the fiddle together.
It's that power driven thing
that we do, they don't do.
>> Yvette Landry: And it's a
lot like the language as well
because the language
from the prairie regions
which is only about an hour away.
>> Richard Comeaux: Not even.
It's about 40--
>> Yvette Landry: Forty, forty-five
minutes is completely different.
>> Richard Comeaux: It's different.
>> Yvette Landry: Than the
French that we speak down,
or that some people
speak down our way.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
I think most people would notice
that the music swings
kind of differently.
That would be sort of their
way of feeling that difference.
>> Richard Comeaux: It does.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux: But Steve
Riley is from the prairie side.
>> Steve Winick: Right.
>> Richard Comeaux: But he
is also a part of the mix
with the High performance.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
>> Richard Comeaux:
And he's probably
to me the best accordion
player on the planet, you know?
That's what I think is the bomb.
Although we have a young guy in the
group that plays with more energy
with the Lafayette
style, that's incredible.
But I'm talking for
the pocket, the timing,
Steve Riley to me is
like the bomb, you know?
Really.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
Yeah. Well, like I
said, we love Steve
and his band members have been
here doing research and stuff.
>> Richard Comeaux: Oh, yeah.
>> Steve Winick: So, yeah, we've--
>> Richard Comeaux: Well,
you know, Kevin the drummer.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
That's right.
>> Richard Comeaux:
That's Kevin's dad
that got me my first
gig [multiple speakers].
Yes. Yeah.
>> Steve Winick: Wasn't,
was Kevin's dad
in the original Mamou
Playboys before?
One of their dads was
in that original band
that they're named after,
but I can't remember.
>> Beau Thomas: That
was Mr. Vorance Barzas
which was Kevin Barzas's father.
>> Steve Winick: Yeah.
Sounds right.
All right.
Well, I'm, you know, really
glad that we've been able
to talk about all these things.
And I think talking about the
pedal steel is really fascinating
because it is that instrument
that you guys have at the center
of your sound that I think a lot of
people wouldn't necessarily expect
as much in a Cajun band
because of what you said,
the style that took off was a
different side of Cajun music.
>> Yvette Landry: Right.
>> Richard Comeaux: Right.
>> Steve Winick: But it's such
a beautiful sound that adds
that real sadness and heart to the
music that I think is terrific.
So, thank you so much for
bringing your Cajun music
and Louisiana honky tonk.
>> Richard Comeaux:
Thanks for having us.
Thank you very much.
>> Steve Winick: Thank you.
>> Announcer: This has
been a presentation
of the Library of Congress.
Visit us at LOC.gov.