Archive Files of Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco Musicians
Posted between 1999 and 2008

Matthew Courville

Note: In 2008 and 2009, a group named The Matthew Courville Band performed at the Bach Lunch event in downtown Lafayette, but the Cypress Knees Band seems no longer to be active. Kenneth Courville performs with the band GTO. Matthew Courville in 2003
	Matthew Courville and the Cypress Knees Band are shown in this section performing January 4, 2003, at the Liberty Theater. His father, Kenneth Courville, is shown on guiar. Brandon Moreau is on fiddle, and Jordan Vondette is shown on vocals. For more on Matthew Courville and his band, see the section below this one.

According to the liner notes to Matthew Courville's CD Avec un Coeur Pour Mon Pa Pa, Matthew took up accordion-playing when he was 10 years old. Within five weeks he made an appearance with Sheryl Cormier and Cajun Sound at the Liberty Theater in Eunice, where he sang "Jolie Blonde" and "La Porte d'en Arrière." He has also performed with Horace Trahan and with Lee Benoit and the Bayou Stompers.

In addition to the accordion, Matthew Courville also plays harmonica, guitar, saxophone, and piano. In 1999, he received the Cajun French Music Association's Chapitre de Lafayette's New Dawn Award.

He was 12 years old when he recorded the CD, which was released in 1999 by Swallow Records.

The CD is dedicated to "Pa Pa 'My Idol,'" a reference to his grandfather Roy Guilbeaux (1926-1998). It includes "Chanson Pour Pa Pa," a song written by Helen Boudreaux and Kenneth Courville, Matthew's father, as a tribute to Roy Gilbeaux and sung by Matthew and his sister, Candice, with Lee Benoit on accordion. The two also join together to sing "Jolie Fille."

Other cuts on CD include a number of familiar Cajun songs: "Jolie Blonde," "The Lemonade Song," "J'ai Passé Devant Ta Porte," "La Porte d'en Arrière," "La Valse de Kaplan," and "Les Flammes d'Enfer," all sung by Matthew Courville; "Les Traces de Mon Boghei," "La Valse de Pont d'Amour," and "La Vie des Musiciens," sung by Kenneth Courville; vocals by Horace Trahan on "Lacassine Special"; plus two instrumentals, "Amédé Two-Step" and "Lovers' Waltz."

Other musicians on the CD include Travis Matte, Chris Stafford, and Mark Hebert on fiddle; Randall Foreman and Milton Gilbeau on steel guitar; Ricky Courville on drums; Anita Trahan on triangle.

Kenneth Courville plays bass and guitar, and Jody Viator plays guitar on one song. Some songs include Matthew Courville on both accordion and harmonica.

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Matthew Courville is shown in the top two photographs during a performance September 2, 2000, in the Liberty Theater in Eunice. In the next picture, he is shown with his father, Kenneth Courville. Jason Bergeron is shown on fiddle. Jordan Vondette, shown in the next photo, joined the band to sing a couple of numbers. Her brother, Logan, is on triangle.

Pictured are Jason Bergeron on fiddle, Logan Vondette on triangle,
Matthew Courville on accordion, Jeremy Richard on drums, Ken Courville
on guitar, and Derek Hebert on bass.

All photographs and text by David Simpson.

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