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 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 Lafayett ...

, 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 U.S. state of Louisiana. While Cajuns are usually described as ...

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 Ralph Zachary Richard (born September 8, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and poet. His music is a combination of Cajun and Zydeco musical styles. Biography Zachary Richard began his musical career at the age of 8, as soprano in the Bish ...

, 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 (french: Musique cadienne), 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 w ...

, blues, country, jazz, and

zydeco Zydeco ( or , french: Zarico) is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. ...

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

Marc Savoy Marc Savoy ( ) (born October 1, 1940) is an American musician, and builder and player of the Cajun accordion. Early life He was born on his grandfather's rice farm near Eunice, Louisiana. His grandfather was a fiddler, who occasionally played ...

, and Fiddlers 4 with

Darol Anger Darol Anger is an American violinist and founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Career Darol Anger entered popular music at the age of 21 as a founding member of The David Grisman Quintet. Anger played fiddle to David Grisman's mandol ...

Rushad Eggleston Rushad Robert Eggleston (born September 30, 1979) is an American cellist, composer, jazz vocalist, & performer. Eggleston's music can be eccentric, with many references to fantasy and goblins. Eggleston is known for inventing words, and for hi ...

, 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 federa ...

. "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. It was a primarily classical label at its peak in the 1950s and 1960s, but also has a catalogue of recordings by a nu ...

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 is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

for Dewey Balfa." 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 ...

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

Discography

* ''Cajun Jam Sessions'' (

Arhoolie Arhoolie Records is an American small independent record label run by Chris Strachwitz and is based in El Cerrito, California, United States (it is actually located in Richmond Annex but has an El Cerrito postal address.) The label was founded b ...

, 1983) * ''Dit Beausoleil'' (Arhoolie, 1983) * ''Parlez-Nous a Boire'' (Arhoolie, 1984) * ''Christmas Bayou'' ( Swallow, 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 fou ...

, 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 Nick Lowe, Pau ...

, 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 ...

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

References

External links