Michael Doucet to release solo album "From Now On" on April 22, 2008

[props4pops]

Michael Doucet Serves Up Some 'Solo Gombo'

Smithsonian Folkways Recordings To Release Cajun Masterpiece 'From Now
On' On April 22, 2008


On April 22, 2008, Smithsonian Folkways Recordings will release the
latest solo album by preeminent Cajun musician Michael Doucet. 'From
Now On,' an engaging portrait of the music from southern Louisiana,
demonstrates Doucet's unmatched career in shaping the Cajun style-and
equally unmatched talent for performing

Doucet recorded each of the album's 19 tracks without rehearsal or
overdubs during three sessions in Baton Rouge and at the La Louisianne
Studio in Lafayette, Louisiana, where Aldus Roger and other Cajun
greats have also recorded. 'From Now On' features Doucet on fiddle,
octave violin, guitar and accordion, collaborating on some pieces with
fiddler Mitchell Reed and New Orleans jazz and funk guitarist Todd
Duke. The album encompasses a wide range of regional music, from a
Creole interpretation of Allen Toussaint's "Everything I Do Gonna Be
Funky," recorded the first time Doucet and Duke ever played together,
to original compositions and traditional songs Doucet learned from
legends Dennis McGee and Canray Fontenot. In his track notes, Doucet
comments on the roots of Cajun music and the inspiration behind each
song, offering personal details about the recording process that
reveal his passion for the genre.

Michael Doucet received a National Heritage Fellowship award in 2005
from the National Endowment for the Arts for his contributions to
American culture and Cajun tradition. In 1975, he had obtained a grant
from the National Endowment for the Arts, Folk Arts Apprenticeship
Program, to study the tradition and technique of Cajun and Creole
violinists throughout Louisiana such as Bé Bé and Calvin Carrière,
Varise Connor, Lionel LeLieux, Dennis McGee and Canray Fontenot. As
leader of the internationally acclaimed Cajun ensemble BeauSoleil,
Doucet has introduced the sounds of southern Louisiana to audiences
worldwide; the band also appears regularly on Garrison Keillor's
'Prairie Home Companion.' BeauSoleil won a GRAMMY award in 1998 for
the Best Traditional Folk album, and remains the most groundbreaking
and successful Cajun band ever.


NOTE: Smithsonian Folkways Recordings retail distribution is through
RYKO Distribution at 800.808.RYKO. Smithsonian Folkways Recordings
releases are available through record and book outlets. Smithsonian
Folkways Recordings, as well as the original Folkways, Cook, Dyer-
Bennet, Monitor, Paredon, Collector and Fast Folk collections, are
available via mail order at 1.888.FOLKWAYS or 800.410.9815 and via the
Internet. Visit the Smithsonian Folkways Recordings website at
www.folkways.si.edu and www.smithsonianglobalsound.org .

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