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Archive Files of Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco Musicians |
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Feufollet |
| Click here for high resolution photos of Feufollet posted on Flickr. | |
2004 CD: Tout un Beau Soir |
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When Feufollet recorded
their 2004 CD, Tout un Beau Soir, the core members of the group
were Chris Stafford and Chris Segura, who are the founding members of
the original Feufollet, and Anna Laura Edmiston, who joined in 2003.
Steve Riley, who produced the CD, played guitar, Jimmy Breaux,
accordionist with BeauSoleil was on drums, and the Red Stick Ramblers'
Eric Frey was on bass. The selections on the CD cover a wide range:
ballads, a song from the swing era, Cajun standards, twin fiddle
numbers, and Creole music, plus two excellent original compositions. In an interview with Jan Boney included on her Mais oui! web site, both Stafford and Segura say that they are especially pleased with the band's version of the traditional song "Je m'endors." During the Liberty performance, host Barry Ancelet pointed out that in the Lomax recording in 1934 with Jesse Stafford the song seems almost humdrum. It has been recorded before by Steve Riley, among others, but Feufollet's wonderfully haunting and evocative version, which features Sonny Landreth's slide guitar and a cello played by Mitch Reed, is the best. The title cut, "Tout un beau soir," also from the Lomax collection (sung by Elita Hoffpauir in 1934, is an ancient folk song from France made all the more beautiful by Anna Laura Edmiston's voice. Anna Laura also contributed an original composition, "Tout va bien." She explained in the Mais oui! interview that the song originated in her own efforts to get past her worries and self-doubts and gain self-acceptance, recognizing that she has a lot to offer to others and, as she says in the song, "pour avoir ce qu'on veut il faut vouloir apprendre." Chris Stafford also has an original song, "Moi et mon violon," about a musician whose only traveling companion is his fiddle. Twin fiddles and harmony vocals capture the sad beauty of another traditional ballad, "Aux Natchitoches." Other more familiar songs from the traditional repertoire include "Chère Mom," originally recorded by Mayuse Lafleur in 1928, and "Chère Bassette." Feufollet's version of "Moi et ma belle" was inspired by a swing era recording from the late 1930s by the Alley Boys of Abbeville. Their version of Iry LeJeune's "Grosse erreur" features harmony vocals that suit the song's country roots (from Hank Williams' "Today I Passed You on the Street"), accompanied by accordion and fiddle work that nicely captures the country flavor. Other songs on the CD include Canray Fontenot's "Grand Mallet," two Dennis McGee jigs on which Segura and Stafford alternate the fiddle leads, and the instrumental "Cacklin' Hen" with Dirk Powell on banjo. Powell also plays piano on "Moi et ma belle." The CD was recorded at his Cypress House Studio. Visit the Official Web Site of Feufollet.
Click here to
return to LSUE's first page on La Bande Feufollet.
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Shown above at the Liberty Theater on June 12, 2004, are Anna Laura
Edmiston, Chris Courville, Chris Stafford, Chris Segura, Craig Futch, and
Derek Hebert. Posted 6-28-04.
All photographs and text by David Simpson.