For the past year, while we’ve all been shut down due to the Covid pandemic, Linda and I have been digging deep down into our back catalog of old time Cajun and Creole duet tunes. We’ve kept these to ourselves mostly, but we were recently asked to contribute some videos to a friend’s Virtual Mardi Gras fundraiser, so with the assistance of our daughter, Nina Simoneaux, we threw together these four selections. Hope to have our band back in action soon. Meanwhile, I expect we will also be available for duo and other small acoustic combo gigs. Here’s a taste of Linda and I in action playing in a real old school style.
Mardi Gras 2021 was unfortunately a bust for all of us thanks to Covid, but our friend Mark Sustic asked us for a couple of video contributions for his virtual Mardi Gras fundraiser, and we were happy to oblige. Here are Linda and I playing an old time Creole favorite, Carierre brothers, Robe a Parasol.
Here’s an old time creole tune from Freeman Fontenot, Contredanse, with Pete on triangle.
Here’s a Linda Simoneaux original, the Hero Two Step… Recently, in honor of Stacey Abrams, and all our other big, powerful women, we have started calling this one the She-ro Two Step.
To finish out this set of tunes, here’s one that most everybody knows, Jolie Blonde. This is an older version of the tune, played the way we like to do it.
Here’s another one from the same Mardi Gras Party, at Hawks & Reed, Greenfield MA…. One of Linda’s tunes…. Bill Had a Party.
This is an oldie, but goodie…. Good Love Thing, Bayou X & Friends, Vermont Jazz Center, Feb 28, 2015, Brattleboro VT. The tune is Allen Toussaint's I Got Me a New Love Thing, with Lyrics by Allen Toussaint, and additional verses by Pete Simoneaux of Bayou X. This was a pretty extravagant party at the Vermont Jazz Center, with all of our friends on hand, and a significant number of them on stage!
Here’s an even older one… Lil' Orphans' Cajun Express plays Jolie Blonde Live at Boccelli's, Fall 2009. Rich Mayer on drums. Steve Frankel on bass. Jonathan Reinhardt on electric guitar. Julian Gerstin percussion. We do still love playing old time Cajun music! Man, we’re never gonna stop lovin’ that!
Here’s another one from the same 2009 event, at Bocelli’s, on Canal Street in Bellows Falls. That was a sweet spot where we had a lot of great events. Anyway, here’s a nice version of Eunice 2-Step. This was pretty nearly the same band that you can hear on our first CD, Big Powerful Woman.
We also still have an affinity for, and continue to perform acoustic, traditional and re-purposed old-time country, cajun/creole, and afro-creole music, as a duo, trio or a quartet, under the name Lil Orphans, or more lately, as Ti’ Bayou X. Here’s a performance from 2018, Stage 33 in Bellows Falls, part of a one off Arts of Resistance event. You can see more of these performances on this website, under “Other Projects - Lil Orphans aka Ti’ Bayou X” or on the Stage 33 website, http://stage33live.com/
Here’s another one from the Arts of Resistance Project. The tune is DL Menard’s She Didn’t Know I Was Married. The words are Pete’s composition, I Wish You’d Just STFU For a While. It’s what I refer to as “re-purposed” traditional music.” All respect to the late DLM and his family. DL Menard was one of the greatest performers and songwriters in the history of Cajun music, and a fine craftsman, and a genuinely good guy, and a terrific jokester!