Memorial Day marks the beginning of the festival season in the Northeast and the Bayou n’ Boogie Fest was perfect for kicking it off drawing dancing patrons from New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Rhode Island, Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine and a few from other parts of the US. Let’s hope this is the start of a new tradition to keep our dancing feet moving. Like Mumbles, we just can’t keep those dancing feet still once the music starts.

What a party! The weekend shimmered with the vigor of gyrating bodies and the rhythmic sound of dancing feet against the makeshift plywood dance floor all moving to the distinctive sounds of the zydeco accordion and the Cajun fiddle. The festival was small enough to be intimate but large enough to feel the energy. A great Cajun and Zydeco line up of bands brought this close knit dance community together like a big family reunion. After a long winter, old friends coming from near and far, hugged and chatted and most importantly danced and danced some more.

The two day festival, held in Smithfield, RI offered a diverse line up, each band with their own unique styles and set selections. Tim Taylor Blues Band kicked the festival off on Saturday with a great blues set before the Cajun and Zydeco bands hit the stage for two days of non-stop dance music. The line up included three Northeast regional bands, River City Slim and the Zydeco Hogs, Magnolia Cajun Band, and Lil’ Anne and Hot Cayenne and three touring bands, Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble, Dennis Stroughmatt and Creole Stomp, and Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners. Sunday, kicked off with Bayou All Stars made up of members from Magnolia and Creole Stomp plus special guest artist Rose Sinclair (Girl Howdy).

The sound system at times was a little gnarly and uncooperative but mostly delivered the groove beat to the insatiable dancers who filled the dance floor relentlessly. It was great to see Curley Taylor up here in the northeast once again with his wonderful bluesy style of zydeco and charming smile. Curley, closing the show each nite, always delivers straight up Louisiana style zydeco interspersing his own compositions within the traditions of the music. Hailing from Texas with a little different styling, Leroy Thomas kept things hopping. Leroy is known to play the faster Texas zydeco beat but kept it within reason during this outing. Always impeccably dressed, he delivered a great set. The northeast dance community loves Lil’ Anne and demanded an encore in each of her two sets which she graciously delivered. Dennis Stroughmatt has become a well appreciated band with his mix of Cajun, creole, zydeco and swamp pop. He’s equally talened on both fiddle and accordion providing a diverse set of two-steps, waltzs and zydeco beats similar to Steve Reilly. At home in RI, Magnolia is well appreciated with their well honed Cajun stylings while the Zydeco Hogs are clearly a party band priming the pump for what was to build throughout both days.

The Bayou ‘n Boogie Fest is a new beginning for the partnership between Sal’s Productions and Lagniappe Productions over Memorial Day weekend. Both organizations have a long successful record in bringing this music to the northeast. The dancers responded with their support with a good turnout both days. Thank you Chuck and Joe for organizing the event and may it be the 1st of many more to come kicking off the summer season.