Terrance Simien (born September 3, 1965) is an American
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. ...
Best Regional Roots Music Album
The Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 as the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for releasing albums in the regionally based traditional Americ ...
in 2014.
Early life
Simien is an eighth generation Creole from one of the earliest Creole families documented to have settled in the Mallet area of St. Landry Parish. He was introduced to music via the
piano
The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...
at home, the
Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the largest Christian church, with 1.3 billion baptized Catholics worldwide . It is among the world's oldest and largest international institutions, and has played a ...
choir, and in school band programs where he played
trumpet
The trumpet is a brass instrument commonly used in classical and jazz ensembles. The trumpet group ranges from the piccolo trumpet—with the highest register in the brass family—to the bass trumpet, pitched one octave below the standar ...
.
While in his teens, he taught himself to play accordion and formed his first band Terrance Simien & The Mallet Playboys, and began to play the regional zydeco club and church hall circuit. In the early 1980s, Simien was a youth in his early 20s and one of only two (Sam Brothers was the other) emerging zydeco artists leading a band and performing their indigenous zydeco
roots music
Roots music may refer to:
* American folk music
* Americana (music)
Americana (also known as American roots music) is an amalgam of Music of the United States, American music formed by the confluence of the shared and varied traditions that mak ...
. This was a pivotal time in zydeco music history since the pioneers of the genre were aging and the music was in jeopardy of dying off without the critical presence of emerging artists continuing the traditions. Upon being asked about his opinion of his debut album in a 1991 interview, Simien said: "I think we've done what we set out to do, and that is catch the energy of the live performance. Also give the audience something new that we couldn't do live. But we basically stayed true to what we were doing; we didn't try to make a hit song. We just put out what we've been doing for the past five years on the road, and it couldn't have come out any better than it did. There are some disappointments. You always wish you had more time, more money, more everything."
Career
Simien and his group have toured internationally, presenting over 8500 live performances in more than 45 countries, and released dozens of solo recordings and collaborations. He has shared studio and stage with the likes of Paul Simon, Dr. John, The Meters, Marcia Ball, Dave Matthews,
Stevie Wonder
Stevland Hardaway Morris ( Judkins; May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American singer-songwriter, who is credited as a pioneer and influence by musicians across a range of genres that include rhythm and blues, pop, sou ...
,
Robert Palmer
Robert Allen Palmer (19 January 1949 – 26 September 2003) was an English singer and songwriter. He was known for his powerful, soulful voice and wikt:sartorial, sartorial elegance, and his stylistic explorations, combining Soul music, so ...
and the roots rockers
Los Lobos
Los Lobos (, Spanish for "the Wolves") are an American rock band from East Los Angeles, California. Their music is influenced by rock and roll, Tex-Mex, country, zydeco, folk, R&B, blues, brown-eyed soul, and traditional music such as cum ...
.
Simien has appeared on screen and contributed to the
soundtrack
A soundtrack is recorded music accompanying and synchronised to the images of a motion picture, drama, book, television program, radio program, or video game; a commercially released soundtrack album of music as featured in the soundtrack o ...
s of multiple movies, television films and commercials. He appears on the soundtrack of the
Disney
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October ...
French Quarter
The French Quarter, also known as the , is the oldest neighborhood in the city of New Orleans. After New Orleans (french: La Nouvelle-Orléans) was founded in 1718 by Jean-Baptiste Le Moyne de Bienville, the city developed around the ("Old S ...
Randy Newman
Randall Stuart Newman (born November 28, 1943) is an American singer-songwriter, arranger, composer, and pianist known for his Southern-accented singing style, early Americana-influenced songs (often with mordant or satirical lyrics), and vari ...
. He has also contributed to the soundtracks of movies, such as, ''The Big Easy'', ''Exit To Eden'' and ''A Murder Of Crows''.
Simien and his business partner/wife, Cynthia, are active in Creole music education and advocacy. They created the "Creole for Kidz & The History of Zydeco" performing arts program, which provides informational performances to K-12 students, teachers and parents. Since it was created in 2001, ''Creole for Kidz'' has reached nearly 500,000 students, parents and teachers in more than 20 states, Mali, Dominican Republic, Brazil, Paraguay, Canada and Australia. The Simiens understand the importance of mentoring emerging artists and created MusicMatters, Inc., a non-profit for education and advocacy.
Live! Worldwide
''Live! Worldwide'' is a live album by Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, released in 2007 through Aim Trading Group. The album earned Simien the Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are ...
''.
Simien and several of his other band mates, Danny J. Williams, Stan Chambers and Jose Alvarez won their second Grammy in 2013, in the category Best Regional Roots Record for ''Dockside Sessions'', produced by George Receli, (Bob Dylan, White Trash, Lou Garou).
There's Room for Us All
''There's Room for Us All'' is the second album by the American musician Terrance Simien, released in 1993. It was recorded with Simien's band, the Mallet Playboys. Simien supported the album with a North American tour.
Production
Recorded at Soun ...
Valley Media, Inc
A valley is an elongated low area often running between hills or mountains, which will typically contain a river or stream running from one end to the other. Most valleys are formed by erosion of the land surface by rivers or streams over ...
, 1998)
*Positively Beadhead ( Tone Cool, 1999)
*The Tribute Sessions ( AIM Records, 2004)
*Creole For Kidz ( Beadhead Records, 2004)
*Across the Parish Line (AIM Records, 2006)
*''
Live! Worldwide
''Live! Worldwide'' is a live album by Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience, released in 2007 through Aim Trading Group. The album earned Simien the Grammy Award
The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are ...