Michael Louis Doucet (born February 14, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil.

Early life

Doucet was born in

Scott, Louisiana Scott is the fourth largest municipality in Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 8,614 as of the 2010 U.S. census, and 8,119 at the 2020 census, up from 7,870 at the 2000 census. Scott is a suburban community of Lafa ...

, to a

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states. Whi ...

family. Family parties in the 1950s always included "French music." Two of his paternal aunts sang ballads, and many family members played musical instruments. He learned banjo at age six, guitar at eight, and belonged to a Cajun rock band with his cousin, Zachary Richard, at twelve.

Career

In his early 20s, Doucet and his cousin went to France, and when he got home he added violin to his music studies. Violin became his primary instrument, though he also plays accordion and mandolin. In 1975, he started the Cajun band Coteau, and two years later he started BeauSoleil with Kenneth Richard and Sterling Richard. BeauSoleil plays an eclectic combination of traditional

Cajun music Cajun music (), an emblematic music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Although they are two separate genres, Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based ...

, blues, country, jazz, and

zydeco Zydeco ( ; ) is a music genre that was created in rural Southwest Louisiana by French speaking, Afro-Americans of Creole heritage. It blends African and Caribbean rhythms, blues and rhythm and blues with music indigenous to the Louisiana ...

. Doucet has been a member of a more traditional Cajun band, the Savoy-Doucet Cajun Band with

Ann Savoy Ann Savoy ( ; ; born January 20, 1952) is a musician, author, and record producer. Biography Savoy was born in St. Louis, Missouri and raised in Richmond, Virginia. She resides with her husband Marc Savoy and family in Eunice, Southern Louis ...

and Marc Savoy, and Fiddlers 4 with Darol Anger, Rushad Eggleston, and Bruce Molsky. He began teaching in 1977 at the University of Southwestern Louisiana. Although Doucet did not originally intend to pursue performing Cajun music, a turning point came when he was awarded a Folk Arts Apprenticeship by the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

. "I had planned to go to graduate school in New Mexico to study the Romantic poets," he recalls on the

Vanguard Records Vanguard Recording Society is an American record label set up in 1950 by brothers Maynard and Seymour Solomon in New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the so ...

web site. "Instead I traded

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake has become a seminal figure in the history of the Romantic poetry, poetry and visual art of the Roma ...

for

Dewey Balfa Dewey Balfa (March 20, 1927 – June 17, 1992) was an American Cajun fiddler and singer who contributed significantly to the popularity of Cajun music. Balfa was born near Mamou, Louisiana. He is perhaps best known for his 1964 performance at the ...

." Doucet sought out every surviving Cajun musician, including Balfa, Dennis McGee, Sady Courville, Luderin Darbone, Varise Conner, Canray Fontenot, Freeman Fontenot and others. He studied their techniques and songs and encouraged some to resume public performances.

Awards and honors

In 1975, Doucet received an NEA Folk Arts Apprenticeship Grant to study Cajun fiddle styles from masters such as Varise Conner, Hector Duhon, Canray Fontenot, Lionel LeLeux, and Dennis McGee. In 2005 Doucet received a

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

awarded by the

, which is the United States' highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. Two years later, he was named a USA Collins Family Foundation Fellow and awarded a $50,000 grant by

United States Artists United States Artists (USA) is a national arts funding organization based in Chicago. USA is dedicated to supporting living artists and cultural practitioners across the United States by granting unrestricted awards. Mission The organization' ...

, a public charity that supports and promotes the work of American artists.

Discography

* ''Cajun Jam Sessions'' ( Arhoolie, 1983) * ''Dit Beausoleil'' (Arhoolie, 1983) * ''Parlez-Nous a Boire'' (Arhoolie, 1984) * ''Christmas Bayou'' (

Swallow The swallows, martins, and saw-wings, or Hirundinidae are a family of passerine songbirds found around the world on all continents, including occasionally in Antarctica. Highly adapted to aerial feeding, they have a distinctive appearance. The ...

, 1986) * ''Allons a Lafayette'' (Arhoolie, 1988) * ''Hot Chili Mama'' (Arhoolie, 1988) * ''Michael Doucet & Cajun Brew'' ( Rounder, 1988) * ''Beau Solo'' (Arhoolie, 1989) * ''Déjá Vu'' (Swallow, 1991) * ''Le Hoogie Boogie: Louisiana French Music for Children'' (Rounder, 1992) * ''From Now On'' (

Smithsonian Folkways Smithsonian Folkways is the nonprofit record label of the Smithsonian Institution. It is a part of the Smithsonian's Smithsonian Center for Folklife and Cultural Heritage, located at Capital Gallery in downtown Washington, D.C. The label was f ...

, 2008) * ''Alligator Purse'' (

Yep Roc Yep Roc Records is an American independent record label based in Hillsborough, North Carolina, and owned by Redeye Distribution. Since 1997, the label has released albums from North Carolina and international artists, including Fountains of Wayne ...

, 2009) * ''Live at the 2008 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival'' (MunckMix, 2009) * ''Belizaire the Cajun'' (soundtrack) (Arhoolie, 2011) * ''From Bamako to Carencro'' (

Compass A compass is a device that shows the cardinal directions used for navigation and geographic orientation. It commonly consists of a magnetized needle or other element, such as a compass card or compass rose, which can pivot to align itself with No ...

, 2013) * ''Cajun Fandango'' (Parhelion, 2016)

References

External links