Authentic Cajun Band The Revelers Heads to Towne Crier, 8/23

The Revelers - Authentic Cajun / Zydeco Band will appear on August 23 at The Towne Crier at 7:30pm. Tickets: $20 adv, $25 Door. Prepare to do some Cajun dancing...

The Revelers, founding members of the Red Stick Ramblers and The Pine Leaf Boys are "unquestionably the two groups at the vanguard of the Louisiana cultural Renaissance." They joined together to form a Louisiana supergroup, combining Swamp-Pop, Cajun, Country, Blues and Zydeco into a powerful tonic of roots music that could only come from Southwest Louisiana.Their new album Get Ready was just released May 12.

Get Ready features all new original songs from the band, sung in Cajun French and English. Southwest Louisiana is in the midst of another explosion of uniquely American music, with The Revelers at the forefront. As individuals they've contributed to seven separate GRAMMY nominated records - working with Linda Rondstadt, Wayne Toups, Steve Riley, Cedric Watson and more.

As a group they play with a sense of empathy and depth that can only be fostered after years of making music together. They have all appeared on the 2011 season finale of Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations" and they were handpicked by David Simon (producer/creator The Wire) to be featured musicians for the third and fourth seasons of HBO's "Treme."

Band Members:
Daniel Coolik - Fiddle, Guitar
Glenn Fields - Drum
Blake Miller - Accordion, Fiddle
Chas Justus - Guitar
Eric Frey - Bass
Chris Miller - Saxophone

They have honed a powerful sound with this record, showcasing road-tested tunes and their collective songwriting abilities.

The album kicks off with "Toi, tu veux pus me voir" ("You Don't Want Me Anymore.") A new classic Cajun song, it's the story of a scorned lover taking an opportunity to get a little revenge. "The song was hashed out in a basement in a suburb of Chicago with the whole band taking different parts in new directions," said Blake Miller.

The Cajun Waltz, "Pus Whiskey" ("No More Whiskey") features Megan Brown of Cajun band T'Monde singing high harmony. And "Outta Sight" comes from that old phrase 'out of sight, out of mind.' "It was finished during the recording of the album. To me the fact that is was finished and arranged in the studio gives it a nice spontaneous, collaborative feel," says Chas Justus.

Since this genre of music demands dancing, Miller wrote "Ayou on va danser," which means "Where Are We Going Dancing?" "I wrote this song about the greatest city on Earth, Lafayette, Louisiana, where one can find great Cajun and zydeco music being played every night from Sunday to Saturday. The only question is where to go?"
"Play It Straight" was co-written by Daniel Coolik and Kelli Jones-Savoy of the band Feufollet. "We have written a handful of songs together and this is the latest," says Coolik. "Drummer Glenn Fields sings it, continuing in a long line of drummer/vocalists in the Swamp Pop tradition."

The individual members of The Revelers are in high demand having performed and recorded with T-Bone Burnett, Natalie Merchant, Preston Frank, The Duhks, Walter Mouton, Mamadou Diabate, and Tim O'Brien.

Equally at home on a festival main stage, a late night dance party, or a performing arts hall, the Revelers have taken their mission coast to coast in the US and around the world from Ireland to Denmark, to their own Black Pot Festival in Lafayette (now in its 10th year). The sheer power and raucousness of the band's sound is tempered only by their unbelievable tightness as a group.

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