The Savoy Family Cajun
Band
Carrying on Traditional Cajun Music
The Savoy Family Cajun Band plays honed down, hard core Cajun music laced with
an earthy sensuality. Though the old tunes have been revived and returned to
a new life intensity in their hands, the Savoy Family Cajun band doesn’t
play from a studied angle. The musicians in the band, Marc
and Ann Savoy and their sons Joel and Wilson,
each hold their own as strong individual group members, making up a tight intense
sound.
Marc and Ann ,as the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band, have been performing and recording
together since 1977, recording five Cds on the Arhoolie label. They have traveled
all over the world, appearing in all the most prestigious venues, such as the
Newport Folk Festival, the Berlin Jazz Festival, the Festival of American Fiddle
Tunes at the Smithsonian Institution, the National Geographic Concert Series,
even the Queen Elizabeth Hall in London, England, to name a few. The nation
has rewarded them for their authenticity and expertise by taking them on numerous
state department tours, featuring them in national festivals, awarding Marc
Savoy the highest honor in the country for traditional artists, the honorable
National Heritage Fellowship Award. The couple recently appeared on the PBS
series “American Roots”, and Ann wrote the chapter on Cajun music
in the book that accompanied the series which was published by Rolling Stone
Press. Ann and son Joel recently appeared in the film “Divine Secrets
of the Ya Ya Sisterhood” and they perform three songs on the Warner Brothers
soundtrack. Ann was awarded the Botkin Book Award for her definitive book on
the history of Cajun music.
Although the Savoy Family Cajun Band insists upon maintaining a more accoustic
approach to Cajun music the band can hold hold its own amongst Cajun music lovers
everywhere. In fact, the band loves seeing how much power and sound they can
get out of
just four instruments. Each member of the band can play numerous instruments and sometimes trade instruments during stage performances. Sometimes the group demonstrates the way Cajun music has evolved by demonstrating the early double fiddle - triangle sound or the solo accordion - fiddle sound. Early French ballads are added to the program to show other historic elements prevelant in early southwest Louisiana. Between the songs the Cajun French poetry of the songs is often briefly translated by Ann so that the feeling can be better understood.Their repertoire is chosen carefully, popular dancehall tunes interspersed with soulful ballads, fiddle or vocal duets, or blues. The songs show the spectrum of Cajun life from sorrow and lost love to nonsense and the joy of dance.
The Savoy Family Cajun Band brings the raw energy of the dancehalls of southwest
Louisiana to the stage, peppered with humourous and informative anecdotes about
life on the Louisiana prairies. Their first CD has been recently released on
Arhoolie Records this year.
Marc
Savoy-was born and raised
in the small Cajun prairie town of Eunice, Louisiana. Drawing inspiration from'bals
de maison' (house dances) in his father's outdoor kitchen, Savoy obtained his
first accordion and began playing it at the age of 12. Playing the instrument
led to repairing it and after disassembling enough accordions he began to build
them. Playing the accordion has always been a natural part of his life from
the dancehall to the home. Some of the first bands he played with were Austin
Pitre and Will and Rodney Balfa. Later he played the Texas Cajun -Triangle dancehalls
and recorded some 45 rpms on the Crazy Cajun label. He traveled and recorded
with Dewey Balfa, DL Menard, Doc Guidry and Dennis McGee and Sady Courville.
In 1965 Marc opened the Savoy Music Center in Eunice which has become a gathering
place for local musicians and interested travelers from all over the world.
At the store he builds six accordions a month, sending them out to all corners
of the globe. Saturday mornings Savoy hosts a jam session at his store.
A striking feature of Marc’s presence is his down-hominess and devotion
to preserving Cajun culture. Whether he is playing at his weekly jam session,
on a porch, at a dance or festival, it is all the same. He presents his music
in it’s natural state, no glitz, no Cool Whip, no glamour.
Today Savoy travels and plays music with his wife Ann and Michael Doucet or
the Savoy Family Band which features his wife Ann and their two sons, Joel and
Wilson. He has recorded seven CDs on the Arhoolie label and has traveled throughout
the US ,Europe, and Canada. Some of the festivals the band has performed for
include three presidential inaugurations, the John F. Kennedy Center , the Queen
Elizabeth Hall in London,the Newport Folk Festival, the Berlin Jazz Festival,
the Jambalaya Jam in Philadelphia, Cajun Bluegrass Festival in California and
Rhode Island, Festival of American Music in Oregon, Kaustinen Folk Festival
of Finland, Le Carrefour des Accordions in Trois Rivieres, Canada, and many
more. Savoy loves being in Louisiana where he is known for being an outspoken
cultural preservationist, fighting to keep the music pure and unadulterated
.In 1982 he was awarded the prestigious National Heritage Fellowship from the
National Endowment for the Arts. Marc recently appeared in the PBS documentary,
American Roots Series.
Ann
Savoy, is a musician, an author, a record
producer, and a photographer. As a musician she has many projects, most recently a duet CD,"Adieu False Heart",(which received two Grammy nominations) with Linda Ronstadt. She appears with her son Joel in
the film Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and performs three of the twelve
cuts on the accompanying soundtrack on Sony Music, has played guitar, fiddle,
and accordion and traveled throughout the world with her husband accordionist
Marc Savoy and fiddler Michael Doucet in the Savoy Doucet Cajun Band. She also
records and travels with her all-woman band The Magnolia Sisters. Recently she
and husband Marc have begun to perform with their talented sons in the Savoy
Family Band.
She has recorded eight CDs on the Arhoolie, Rounder, and Vanguard labels. Ann has appeared in many documentaries on the subject of Cajun music, most recently PBS series American Roots Music, and with her husband was the subject of Les Blank’s film, Marc and Ann. She also works as an record producer for Vanguard Records, for whom she produced the Grammy nominated tribute to Cajun music, Evangeline Made, featuring, among others, pop and folk idols Linda Ronstadt, John Fogerty, Richard and Linda Thompson, Nick Lowe, and Rodney Crowell performing traditional Cajun tunes. Her second project for Vanguard, a tribute to Creole and Zydeco, entitled Creole Bred , came out in May, 2004, featuring artists Cyndi Lauper, Taj Mahal, David Hidalgo,Sweet Honey In The Rock, among others. In 2003she produced a CD for the state of Louidiana showcasing all the musical styles found within the Atchafalaya Heritage region. As a writer , she is the author of the Botkin award winning book, Cajun Music, A Reflection of a People, a book which chronicles the history of Cajun and Zydeco music through interviews, biographies, historic and current photographs, and song transcriptions. She wrote the chapter on Cajun and Zydeco in the recently released book, American Roots Music, Rolling Stone Press, as well as authoring numerous articles on Cajun music and historic CD booklets.(www.annsavoy.com)
Joel
Savoy, son of Cajun musicians Marc and Ann Savoy, has been raised
among all of the greats in Cajun music. As a baby Joel sat in Dewey Balfa’s
lap as he played the fiddle, he played with the legendary fiddlers Dennis McGee
and Wade Fruge. Frequent visitors to his home were all of the finest musicians
of most folk cultures. As a young boy he played fiddle in his own Cajun band,
Jeunes Gens de la Prairie and later started a Cajun/gypsy group The Red Stick
Ramblerswith whom he recorded two CDs. . For many years he has played fiddle and bass throughout the world
with his parents and Michael Doucet in the Savoy Doucet Cajun Band and, appears
on their latest CD, “Sam’s Big Rooster”. His latest endeavor is his own record label, Valcour Records, which records and promotes the cutting edge artists in southwest Louisiana. He is also a
recording engineer, having set up a recording studio in his grandfather’s
outdoor kitchen, He is seen as an upcoming star in the field of Cajun music,
his fiddle style reflecting the great artist friends with whom he has been raised,
from the above legends to recent greats Michael Doucet and Ken Smith. Recently
Joel appeared, with his brother Wilson, in the film "All The King's Men", and earlier with Ann, in the movie and on the soundtrack “Divine Secrets
of the Ya Ya Sisterhood”. Joel graduated from LSU Dec 2002.(www.valcourrecords.com)
Wilson
Savoy, the younger son of Marc and Ann, plays the Cajun accordion, fiddle,
keyboard, and bass. He, too, has been brought up among the finest Cajun
musicians and has played Cajun music with his parents throughout the United
States and Europe. He presently also fronts his own Cajun band, The Pine Leaf Boys. On Saturday mornings
he helps host the Savoy Music Center jam session. He is an avid documenter of
the Cajun culture and has just completed a dvd on Cajun accordion technique
featuring his father, Marc Savoy (Gospel Accordion
to Marc)! He is rapidly making a name for himself as a leading young Cajun
musician.(www.pineleafboys.com)
