Louisiana's Kingfish

The photos of the band Louisiana's Kingfish on this page were taken August 10, 2002, at the Liberty Theater in Eunice during a special tribute to Iry LeJeune.

They were joined by Les Amies Louisianaises and by fiddler Milton Vanicor,  Iry LeJeune lived the with the Vanicor family near Welsh. Vanicor and other family members formed The Lacassine Playboys, a group that LeJeune played with early in his short musical career. Jeanette Aguillard, Vanicor's daughter and member of Les Amies, was a small child when LeJeune lived with her family, but she still remembers him. She shared her memories during the performance and also got her father to tell some stories going to play at dances with LeJeune.

With Vanicor on fiddle and Chris Miller on either accordion or fiddle, Louisiana's Kingfish performed several classic Iry LeJeune songs. Les Amies Louisianaises joined in on some songs.

During the second half of the program, Louisiana's Kingfish played songs from their own repertoire.

Though  the Liberty set was primarily in French, the band describes its sound as "zyde-country," a blending of Cajun, rock'n'roll, zydeco, country, and pure rhythm and blues. In addition to Miller, who is a music teacher at a Lake Charles High School, other band members include guitarist Dave Savario, who has been playing professionally since the mid-1970s, drummer Dale Dougay, and bass player Rob Broussard.  Joining them on stage for some number were a trio of frottoir players known as "The Fish-Heads."

Louisiana's Kingfish was formed in 1998. In 2000, the group released a CD, Life in a One-Horse Town, which offers a mixture of songs in French and English.   "J'Peux Pas M'Empecher," written by Zacharcy Richard and sung by Dave Savario, has received a lot of airplay on Cajun radio shows. Other Cajun French vocals are performed by Miller on "'Tit Galop Pour Mamou," "Mon Papa," and "Allons Danser."   "Panique et Lodie," a song co-written and originally recorded by Hadley Castille, has a Zydeco beat. "Perrodin Two-Step" is a Cajun instrumental.

Several of the English songs, including the title cut, were written by Savario, who handles the lead vocals on most of the English songs.

For more information about the band, go to the Official Web Site of Louisiana's Kingfish. The site, which includes coverage of the band's final performance in 2005, was still up in late 2008.

Chris Miller is shown in the top two photos. Underneath him, Dave Savario is singing "J'Peux Pas M'Empecher." Milton Vanicor is shown on fiddle in two individual shots and, below, performing with Chris Miller. The other photos show Louisiana's Kingfish on stage and the band joined by Les Amies Louisianaises: from left, Janet Aguillard, Lisa Aguillard, Donna Thibodeaux, and Jeanette Aguillard.

Posted 1-10-03

All photographs and text by David Simpson.

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