It may seem hard to believe there was a time, not so long ago, when a small local town depended more on the live music of a weekly dance hall show than computers, radios or television for their entertainment. Somewhere in the earth and wind of Southwest Louisiana, legendary accordionist and Cajun Music Hall of Famer, Jesse Lége, must have absorbed the dance hall music of his times the way others drink water. It was his main form of entertainment for many years in the same way that iTunes now provides exposure to new music for so many young people. If he had been born around the turn of the 20th century his story wouldn't be that unusual. Musicians around that time came to be legendary and enigmatically great directly through first-hand contact with other musicians and pure exposure to the traditions of song from their regions. Lége, born well after the turn of the century in 1951, grew up much like the country and Cajun music legends he later came to admire. His family didn't have electricity until he was 14. He heard his native Cajun music from his brother's transistor radio or from trips to enjoy the modern conveniences at his grandfather's house-who did have electricity.
But, for Jesse Lége the music came to life in the local dance halls where he heard Cajun and old-time country music for the first time. For him, there was a natural flow between the two musical forms. The styles were the soundtrack he grew up with and came to love. So, when he picked up his first guitar and accordion, it was natural to gravitate toward the music of Cajun accordion great, Amédé Adorin and the earthy country of Hank Williams. With his musical partner, fiddle player, Joel Savoy, he has created a legacy, on record and through live performances, of great pure Cajun music that never ceases to capture the imagination and give way to the urge to dance.
In recent years playing together with Portland's Caleb Klauder Country Band helped the two artists reconnect with traditional country music. The result is Joel Savoy & Jesse Lege and The Cajun Country Revival (CCR) playing this Sunday, June 24th at the Long Beach Bayou Festival. With the 2011 release of their first The Right Combination, CCR has produced one of the best roots album of the last five years fiercely and boldly infusing their passion and skill with progressive imagination and a real love for the tradition they have grown from. Their live performances have proved to be no less of an experience in roots music at its best