Turn Loose But Don’t Let Go, the second CD released by the incomparable Savoy Family Band, offers old songs you may have never heard before, new versions of a few standards, and several originals. In addition to recordings made by David Rachou at the legendary La Louisianne Studios in Lafayette, the CD includes cuts recorded at the equally legendary Savoy Music Center near Eunice and at a live performance at the Rhythm and Roots Festival in Rhode Island. Ann Savoy supplied liner notes with French lyrics and English translations.

The family band consists of four superb musicians: Marc Savoy, whom many consider to be the best Cajun accordionist on the planet; Ann Savoy, whose beautiful, pure voice captures the wide range of emotions in Cajun music; Wilson Savoy, who is best known these days as the accordionist with the Grammy-nominated Pine Leaf Boys but who plays plays some rocking boogie woogie keyboard with the family band and also shows a more tender side on this CD; and Joel Savoy, who can express intense emotion through his fiddle with subtle nuances that match his mother’s vocals.

“Baby and the Gambler,” which Ann Savoy learned from a Delma Lachney 78, is a slow, sad song in which Ann’s voice is accompanied by the haunting sound of Joel Savoy’s fiddle. At the end, Joel segues into “J’étais au bal,” a faster, happier tune that here accentuates the song’s feeling of abandonment by a husband who is out carousing.

Ann also captures the sadness and pain of abandonment in a less well know Adam Hebert song, “Tous les soirs quand ça fait noir” (“j’m’ennuie tous les soir quand ca fait noir”). “Je vas m’ennuyer” by Belton Richard is another sad song about the loneliness of love lost. Ann’s other selection by Belton is “You’re So Easy to Love,” one of his many hits in Southwest Louisiana. “Je me sens comme une pauvre orpheline” is Ann’s own gritty Cajun blues, with an echo of “Pine Grove Blues.”

Wilson adds some boogie woogie licks to Pierre Varmin Daigle’s joyful song “’Tite robe courte” about having fun dancing every Saturday in a short dress because “la vie elle est trop courte.”

“Sugar Bee” gives Wilson a chance to cut loose both on vocals and keyboard, with Joel and Marc matching him in a rollicking blues that was a 1961 hit for Cleveland Crochet and the Hillybilly Ramblers with vocals by Jesse “Jay” Stutes.  Wilson and everyone else sail through “Two step de Prairie Soileau,” described as “a pyro-technic exercise around two chords.” Previously recorded by Marc on the Evangeline Made CD that Ann produced, the Amédé Ardoin song is a dance favorite known by many as “Quo faire.”

On the other hand, in his vocals and keyboard work performing his French translation of “You Don’t Know Me,” Wilson shows that he can also convey soft and tender heartbreak.

Ann Savoy previously recorded “La robe barrée” with the Magnolia Sisters.  The liner notes for this version explain that “Madame Achten,” the name Amédé Ardoin gave to the song when he recorded it, refers to Marc’s grandmother’s housekeeper (who was the daughter of his great grandfather’s yardman).

“Valse des Reeds” is a Dennis McGee twin-fiddle number featuring Joel and Wilson. Other instrumentals include “Crowley Two-Step,” “Rockin’ Chair Two-Step,” an original by Marc that incorporates some dance hall tunes, and “Cheese Cloth,” a tune from Cajun fiddler Cheese Read.

Two other musicians helprd out on drums on some cuts: Steve Riley (Marc’s second cousin) and Drew Simon (member of the Pine Leaf Boys). The CD was released by Arhoolie.

Photos in this section were taken at the 2007 Mamou Cajun Music Festival, at the Liberty Theater in Eunice, and at Festival de Musique Acadien during Festivals Acadiens, at which Marc and Ann Savoy were the 2007 honorees. Joel Savoy is shown on fiddle and Wilson Savoy is on keyboard. In the first thumbnail in the third row, Marc and Ann are shown singing "'Tits yeux noirs" at the special request of an audience member. A large portrait of Marc and Ann is visible in the background of the next photo, which shows the family band on stage at Festivals Acadiens. The bottom thumbnails show Michael Doucet as a guest fiddler playing with three of the Savoys.