|
Archive Files of Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco Musicians |
|
Jackie Caillier and the Cajun Cousins |
Click here for photos of Jackie Caillier, Ivy Dugas, and the Cajun Cousins posted on Flickr. |
|
 Jackie Caillier and Ivy Dugas at the 2008 CFMA Festival |
2008 Update Ivy Dugas' waltz "Jolie Cadiene" received a Le Cajun award as "Song of the Year" at the 2008 Cajun French Music Association Festival. He was chosen as Male Vocalist of the Year, and the Cajun Cousins won as Band of the Year. The 2007 CD that contains the winning song is titled From Love to Laughter and Good Times, released by Swallow Records. It features seven songs written by Dugas, including a dinner time two-step, "Pass It to Me," and some two-step wisdom in "Don't Get Caught." The majority of the 16 cuts are waltzes, including a couple of past hits, "Standing on the Mountain" and "Carencro on My Mind." The contact numbers on the CD are Jackie Caillier, 409-883-6525, and Ivy Dugas, 337-589-2622. The band continues to perform at Larry's French Market and Cajun Restaurant in Grove, Texas, and at La Poussière in Breaux Bridge. |
 The photo above was taken August 20, 2005, at the CFMA Festival, which was packed with fans of the Cajun Cousins. |
Jackie Caillie, Ivy Dugas and the Cajun Cousins continue as a dominant force in Cajun music in 2005. The band once again walked away with almost all Le Cajun Awards presented August 19, 2005, by the Cajun French Music Association: Band of the Year, Best Recording of the Year for 2004's A Bit of Two Worlds, Best Song for "Biggest Fool in the World" from another 2004 CD, Greatest Hits & More, and the People's Choice Award. Jackie was named Best Accordionist, and Ivy received the Male Vocalist of the Year Award. |
| Jackie Cailler is pictured on accordion in the top photograph
at the Liberty Theater in Eunice with fiddler Benny Mueller next to him. Mueller is one of
the band's vocalists. Ivy Dugas, seen in the third photograph, taken at the 2000 Breaux
Bridge Crawfish Festival, plays bass guitar and both writes and sings many of the band's
songs. He is a member of the Cajun French Music Association Hall of Fame.He is also shown
in the picture in the right column at the Liberty. The other picture of Caillier was taken
in Breaux Bridge. |
For
bookings, contact Jackie Caillier, 409-883-6525 or Ivy Dugas at
337-589-2611..
Jackie Caillier and the Cajun Cousins dominated the Cajun French Music Association Awards
for three straight years beginning in 1997, including being named Band of the Year each of
those years.
Ivy Dugas was named male vocalist of the year for 1997, 1998, and 1999. He wrote and sang "The Gravel Road," the 1997 Song of the Year, and he sang the 1998 Song of the Year, "Little Short Pants," written by Vin Bruce and Lee Lavergne. In 1999, Ivy Dugas was inducted into the CFMA Hall of Fame.
The Cajun Cousins also won Album of the Year in each of those years for the following recordings, all released by Lanor Records: Front Porch Cajun Music, Blacktop the Gravel Road, and Je Vas Sortir et Two Step. Jackie Caillier won accordionist of the year in 1999.
Caillier, who was born in 1952 in Orange, Texas, has been playing Cajun music since he got an accordion as a Christmas gift from his parents in 1969. In 1973, Caillier was on accordion when Dallas Roy and the Rambling Aces recorded "I'm Glad to Be a Cajun from Church Point," a song that is now part of the standard Cajun repertoire. Roy performs the song and several others on the first of the award-winning albums mentioned above.
Caillier says that his heroes include musicians like Walter Mouton, Andrew Cormier, Aldus Roger, and Belton Richard, all associated with great dance hall sounds and with setting high musical standards.
Dugas, born in Lafayette in 1948, has been playing Cajun music since he was 12. He performed for a number of years with Phil Menard and the Louisiana Travelers. He has written many great Cajun songs. He shares lead vocal duties with the band's fiddler, Benny Mueller.
Danny Cormier, the band's steel guitarist, began playing bass guitar and then switched to steel guitar with the Sundown Playboys, the band founded by his grandfather Lionel Cormier and led since 1971 by his father, Lesa Cormier.
Keith Richard is the Cajun Cousins' drummer.
The Cajun Cousins play lively dance hall music with a special flair that has attracted a loyal following of fans who often travel long distances to be there with their favorite band. When Jackie Caillier sees a familiar face, he flashes a smile that shows he not only loves music: he loves performing and pleasing his fans. During one of the Liberty performances pictured on this page, fans joined with the band in shouting out "O-o-oh" at the appropriate places in "The Sparkle Waltz."
The group's 1998 CD Going Out Two-Stepping, like their other albums, contains a number of memorable original songs by Ivy Dugas: "L'amour emprunté," "Carencro on My Mind," "Le whiskey, c'est mon ami," "Depuis que t'es partie," and the classic "La valse de l'héritage," as well as songs by Adam Hebert, Aldus Roger, Nathan Abshire, Phil Menard, and Belton Richard.
 |
The members of the Cajun Cousins, shown at the Liberty Theater, from left, are Danny Cormier on steel guitar; Benny Mueller on fiddle; Keith Richard on drums; Jackie Caillier on accordion; Ivy Dugas on bass guitar.
All photographs and text by David Simpson.