| Evangeline Made: A Tribute to Cajun Music | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Studio album by Various Artists | |
| Released | March 5, 2002 |
| Genre | Cajun, Zydeco |
| Length | 44:06 |
| Label | Vanguard |
| Producer | Ann Savoy |
Evangeline Made: A Tribute to Cajun Music is an album of Cajun music by various pop and rock musical artists, released in 2002. It reached number 6 on the Billboard Top World Music chart and was nominated for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 45th Grammy Awards.
Producer Ann Savoy's goal for Evangeline Made was to demonstrate the affection of popular artists for Cajun music. [1] She enlisted various pop performers along with members of BeauSoleil, her own group with her husband accordionist Marc Savoy and fiddler Michael Doucet of the Savoy Doucet Cajun Band, as well as other musicians to "renew and extend Cajun tradition rather than simply re-create it". [2]
Vocal performances include two duets by Linda Ronstadt and Savoy, John Fogerty, Rodney Crowell, Patty Griffin, Nick Lowe, Maria McKee, Richard Thompson, Linda Thompson and David Johansen. Each song is sung in French even though most of the artists do not speak the language. The two instrumental tracks do not identify the musicians performing. Savoy later reunited with Ronstadt to record the album Adieu False Heart ; released in 2006, it would be Ronstadt's final album before her retirement.
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |   [3] |
| No Depression | (Favorable) [2] |
Evangeline Made was nominated for Best Traditional Folk Album at the 45th Grammy Awards.
Music critic Richie Unterberger, writing for AllMusic, rated the album 4 of 5 stars, writing: "The production is understated and sympathetic, as it's neither hardcore Cajun music nor Cajun music that's been bleached into pop… Purists might find this something of a sellout, a dilution of the real and rawer thing for ears unaccustomed to the real deal. Perhaps they have viable points, but here's a fact which might be hard for them to face: this simply has much more variety, skillful singing, and thoughtful, pleasing production than most Cajun records do, without compromising the spirit of the music." [3]
Writing for No Depression , Don McLeese called the album "musical interplay so soulful and vibrant it transcends the language barrier." and avers the collection "honors the music not as a folk purist’s artifact, but as a living dynamic. Not one of the fourteen cuts seems less than a labor of love" [2]
Music critic Mike Warren reviewed the album for The Pitch and of the songs, wrote, "Because they're in French, and because they're sexy as hell, the songs have an air of sultry mystery that's part of the best Cajun music." [4]
Production notes:
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 zydeco music. Both are from southwest Louisiana and share French and African origins. These French Louisiana sounds have influenced American popular music for many decades, especially country music, and have influenced pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials.
Heart Like a Wheel is the fifth solo studio album by Linda Ronstadt, released in November 1974. It was Ronstadt's last album to be released by Capitol Records. At the time of its recording, Ronstadt had already moved to Asylum Records and released her first album there; due to contractual obligations, though, Heart Like a Wheel was released by Capitol.
Trio is a collaborative album by American singers Dolly Parton, Linda Ronstadt, and Emmylou Harris. It was released on March 2, 1987, by Warner Bros. Records. The album has platinum certification in the U.S. for sales of one million copies, and has total worldwide sales of approximately four million. A second collaborative album, Trio II, was released in 1999.
Evangeline is the eighth studio album by Emmylou Harris that was composed mostly of leftover material from past recording sessions and which did not fit into any of her other albums. Songs included a remake of "Mister Sandman", "Evangeline", which she had previously performed with The Band, Rodney Crowell's "Ashes By Now", and a cover of John Fogerty's "Bad Moon Rising". Though it received mixed reviews upon its release, the album was yet another commercial success for Harris. It was certified Gold in less than a year after its release. A single release of "Mister Sandman" did well on the charts, though neither Ronstadt's nor Parton's record companies would allow their artists' vocals to be used on the single, so Harris rerecorded the song, singing all three parts for the single release. Rodney Crowell's "I Don't Have to Crawl" was released as the album's second single.
Michael Louis Doucet is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil.
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys are an American Cajun band from southern Louisiana. The band formed in 1988 and has since recorded 10 albums, nine of which are on Rounder Records.
Marc Savoy is an American musician, and builder and player of the Cajun accordion.
Dewey Balfa 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 Newport Folk Festival with Gladius Thibodeaux and Vinus LeJeune, where the group received an enthusiastic response from over seventeen thousand audience members. He sang the song "Parlez Nous à Boire" in the 1981 cult film Southern Comfort, in which he had a small role.
Adieu False Heart is a collaborative album by American singer, songwriter, and producer Linda Ronstadt featuring Cajun music singer Ann Savoy. It peaked at #146 on the Billboard album chart and nominated at the 2006 Grammy Awards for Best Traditional Folk Album and Best Engineered Album, Non-Classical. This was Ronstadt's final studio album before her retirement in 2011 and the revelation of her affliction with Parkinson's disease in 2013, leaving her unable to perform or sing.
Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin was a Creole accordionist who specialized in the Creole music called "la la music" or "la musique Creole" and was influential in what became zydeco music.
Ann Savoy is a musician, author, and record producer.
The Balfa Brothers were an American cajun music ensemble. Its members were five brothers; Dewey on fiddle, Will on fiddle, Rodney on guitar, harmonica, and vocals, Burkeman on triangle and spoons, and Harry on Cajun accordion.
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Valcour Records is an independent record label based in Eunice, Louisiana. Valcour was founded in 2006 by Joel Savoy, with friends Phillip LaFargue II and Lucius Fontenot. Valcour Records' first release in 2006 was Goin' Down to Louisiana by fiddle player Cedric Watson and accordionist Corey Ledet.
Evangeline was an American country music band initially composed of Kathleen Stieffel, Sharon Leger, Beth McKee, Rhonda Lohmeyer, Nancy Buchan, and Dudley Fruge (drums). They recorded two studio albums — a 1992 self-titled debut and 1994's French Quarter Moon — for Margaritaville Records, an MCA Records subsidiary owned by Jimmy Buffett.
Feels Like Home is a studio album by American singer Linda Ronstadt released in 1995. It reached #75 and lasted 12 weeks on the Billboard album chart. It received excellent critical reviews upon release. According to Nielsen SoundScan, the disc sold 188,815 copies in the United States. This album is now out of print physically, although it is available digitally and five of its tracks were remixed and subsequently included on Trio II.
If Dreams Come True is an album by American singer and musician Ann Savoy, released in 2007.
Joel Savoy is a Cajun musician and music producer from Southwest Louisiana. His father Marc Savoy, famous accordion builder and musician, and his mother, Ann Savoy, author and music producer, are well known ambassadors and supporters of preserving the Cajun culture.
Midnight on the Water is an album by David Bromberg. His fourth album, it was released by Columbia Records as a vinyl LP in 1975. It was released in CD format by Sony Records in 1994, and by SBME Special Markets in 2009. It was also released as a double CD, combined with Bromberg's previous album Wanted Dead or Alive, by BGO Records in 2010.
