Throughout the 20th and into the 21st century, music has been the cultural practice with the strongest ties to language in South Louisiana.

I may occasionally joke that there are only a handful of themes to Cajun music: “Baby, why’d you leave me?” / “Women will break your heart” / “Sorry about that stuff I did that made you leave me” / “Your parents don’t like me” / “I’m going to jail/hell” / “Let’s get drunk and dance” …. ya know, the basics.

But to be honest, that isn’t actually true anymore. Musicians are making songs about everything from societal greed to natural disasters … but also about the broken hearts and the ‘let’s go dancing’ stuff, too.

I’ve worked with a few musicians on new songs, including collaborating with Steve Riley and Kevin Wimmer of the Mamou Playboys on a track for their 30th anniversary album, 30 Years Live!