Joel Savoy | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Origin | Eunice, Louisiana, United States |
Genres | Folk, Cajun |
Occupation(s) | Musician, accordion builder, cofounder of Valcour Records |
Instrument | Fiddle |
Years active | 1999–present |
Website | http://www.joelsavoy.com |
Joel Savoy (born in Eunice, Louisiana, USA) 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, [1] are well known ambassadors and supporters of preserving the Cajun culture.
Joel Savoy was born in Eunice. In 1995 many of his childhood experiences with the traditional Cajun Courir de Mardi Gras were included in the children's book Mardi Gras: a Cajun Country Celebration written by Diane Hoyt-Goldsmith and Lawrence Migdale. [2] He is a member of the Savoy Family Band along with his father Marc, mother Ann, and brother Wilson Savoy.
In 1999 Joel Savoy co-founded the Red Stick Ramblers from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. In 2006 he started the annual Faquetaigue Courir de Mardi Gras as an alternative to the main Eunice courir event. The run has become one of the most musically based versions of the traditional event. [3] [4] Also in 2006 he founded Valcour Records, an independent record label based in Eunice, Louisiana, with friends Phillip LaFargue II and Lucius Fontenot. [5] Valcour Records' first release was Goin' Down to Louisiana (2006) by fiddle player Cedric Watson and accordionist Corey Ledet. [6]
During the 2007 Cajun French Music Association's Le Cajun ceremony at Lafayette's Blackham Coliseum, Joel Savoy garnered the "2007 Fiddler of the Year" award. [7] In 2008 he played on, recorded and produced his mother's album If Dreams Come True at his Studio Savoy Faire. His brother Wilson and several members of the Red Stick Ramblers also played on the album of Django Reinhardt-style blues and jazz standards as "Ann Savoy and her Sleepless Knights". [8]
Joel Savoy had played and performed with his ex-wife and fellow fiddler, Kelli Jones. [9] The couple released a four-song EP in 2018. [10] [11] [12]
Iota is a town in Acadia Parish, Louisiana. The population was 1,304 in 2020. Iota is part of the Crowley Micropolitan Statistical Area.
Eunice is a city in Acadia and St. Landry parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The 2010 census placed the population at 10,398, a decrease of 1,101, or 9.5 percent, from the 2000 tabulation of 11,499.
The Hackberry Ramblers is a Grammy Award-nominated Cajun music band based in Hackberry, Louisiana and formed in 1933. Since its heyday in the late 1930s it has become one of the most recognized names and influential groups in Cajun music.
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.
Ann Savoy is a musician, author, and record producer.
The Courir de Mardi Gras is a traditional Mardi Gras event held in many Cajun and Creole communities of French Louisiana on the Tuesday before Ash Wednesday. Courir de Mardi Gras is Louisiana French for "Fat Tuesday Run". This rural Mardi Gras celebration is based on early begging rituals, similar to those still celebrated by mummers, wassailers, and celebrants of Halloween. As Mardi Gras is the celebration of the final day before Lent, celebrants drink and eat heavily, dressing in specialized costumes, ostensibly to protect their identities. In Acadiana, popular practices include wearing masks and costumes, overturning social conventions, dancing, drinking alcohol, begging, trail riding, feasting, and whipping. Mardi Gras is one of the few occasions when people are allowed to publicly wear masks in Louisiana. Dance for a Chicken: The Cajun Mardi Gras, a documentary by filmmaker Pat Mire, provides insight into the history and evolution of this cultural tradition. In popular culture, two HBO series also make reference to the tradition.
Canray Fontenot was an American Creole fiddle player, who has been described as "the greatest Creole Louisiana French fiddler of our time."
The Pine Leaf Boys is an American Cajun and Creole band from South Louisiana, United States. Members include Wilson Savoy, Chris Segura, Drew Simon, Jean Bertrand (guitars), and Thomas David (bass).
The Red Stick Ramblers were a Cajun Music and Western Swing band formed in Baton Rouge, Louisiana in 1999 while some of the members were attending Louisiana State University. Their name comes from a translation of Baton Rouge, which means "red stick" in French. The most recent line-up consisted of Linzay Young, Daniel Coolik, Chas Justus, Eric Frey, Blake Miller and Glenn Fields (drums). Past members include Josh Caffery, Joel Savoy, Oliver Swain, Kevin Wimmer, Wilson Savoy and Ricky Rees.
Aldus Roger was an American Cajun accordion player in southwest Louisiana, best known for his accordion skills, and television music program.
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.
Wilson Allen Savoy is a Grammy winning accordionist, keyboard player, fiddler and singer with the Cajun bands Pine Leaf Boys and The Band Courtbouillon, as well as a local filmmaker in Lafayette, LA. His father Marc Savoy, famous accordion builder and musician, and his mother, Ann Savoy, musician, author and music producer, are well known ambassadors and supporters of preserving the Cajun culture.
Cedric Watson is an American musician. He has been nominated four times for Grammy Awards.
If Dreams Come True is an album by American singer and musician Ann Savoy, released in 2007.
Foghorn Stringband is an old-time string band from Portland, Oregon, United States. They are considered one of the finest old-time string bands on the West Coast. They are noted for "intense dedication to the sources" of the old time tradition. Their music is billed as "a blend of high-spirited Appalachian dance music tying in sounds of traditional mountain fiddle tunes." Their interpretation of old time is played with the energy and edginess of punk rock, while at the same time showing a tremendous degree of technical finesse.
Feufollet is an Americana/Cajun band from Lafayette, Louisiana.
David Greely is an American professional fiddler from south Louisiana.