Vive I’Amour

Too bad if you weren’t there to witness these talented Cajun ladies performing at the funky and friendly Blue Moon Saloon in Lafayette, Louisiana, where they recorded this album’s opening track live last year. That first track, ‘Mon Aimable Brune’, evokes the music of Maritime Canada and Kristi Guillory, who confines her accordion to one set of reeds on this song, which confirms that it’s actually an old French tune that was exported to the Maritimes with the Acadians, ancestors of the Cajuns. The Catins (their group name means ‘Hi doll’) widen their tour of Cajun musical history and styles across the remainder of the album, never straying far from the ambience of the Blue Moon and its dance floor.

Guillory makes fuller use of her reeds and her strong, skilful pumping of the bellows, trading off with the fiery fiddling of Anya Schoenegge, on several feet– friendly two–steps, with guitarist Christine Balfa Powell providing hearty vocals. The infusion of country music, which came to Louisiana with the oil industry, is showcased, as is swamp–pop, a regional cousin to early rock’n’roll. Yvette Landry, the remaining Catin, lays down pulsing acoustic and electric bass, partnered on several tracks by Geno Delafose on his childhood instrument, the drums. Other guests who help conjure up that Lafayette club include Christine’s husband (and the disc’s producer) Dirk Powell on electric guitar, piano and banjo, and a trio of steel and slide guitarists. You’ll feel like you were there.