Springtime marks the start of the festival season in the Northeast and this year's Bayou n' Boogie Fest in Smithfield, RI was in high gear and the place to be. This year marks the third time out for this young festival and the word is getting out about this intimate event. The festival is co-produced by Sal's Production and Lagniappe Productions, both of whom have extensive experience in bringing in top talent from Louisiana for dances and festivals in the Northeast.

Bayou n' Boogie featured a non-stop dance event from 12:00pm to 11:00pm on Saturday and 11:00am – 10:00pm on Sunday over Memorial Day weekend. Attendance was strong with hard core dancers from RI, MA, NH, VT, ME, CT, NY, NJ, PA, DC plus a few others from other parts of the US. People were commenting about how it feels like a big happy family reunion each year.

The line up was exciting with a mix of regional talents and bands from Louisiana playing Cajun, zydeco and honky tonk swing throughout the weekend. Featured bands included:

• Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble
• Li'L Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers
• Dennis Stroughmatt & Creole Stomp
• Cajun Hobos Band
• Corey Ledet & his Zydeco Revue
• Planet Zydeco
• Li'l Anne & the Hot Cayenne Band
• Girl Howdy

In order to make a small festival economically viable, the bands will cross pollinate to fill out the sound. This creates some interesting fusions with the Cajun Hobos consisting of members from RI's Magnolia Cajun Band, Corey Ledet, Dennis Stroughmatt, and Planet Zydeco. During Corey Ledet's set, member's of Dennis' band and Curley Taylor's band created a wild set mixed with both Zydeco and Cajun dance tunes. Koray Broussard, coming out from behind the bass in Curley's band, is quickly showing us his Broussard heritage. Watch out for this up and coming Zydeco musician.

Most festivals have remarkable unplanned moments and no one can deny the excitement of Joel Guzman from Los Lobos and Aztec joining Li'l Anne on stage at the end of her Sunday's set. Wearing a Li'l Anne and Hot Cayenne Band tee shirt, this dazzling accordionist with a Texas/southwest flair just burned with searing hot licks to a dance floor full of enthusiastic and cheering dancers. Seems he was in town for a Sunday night gig with Los Lobos and came looking for some afternoon musical excitement and EXCITEMENT was what he delivered!

Li'l Nathan & the Zydeco Big Timers were in RI for the 1st time. This young band did well playing a set of traditional Zydeco tunes. Son of Nathan Williams, Li'l Nathan's playing kept a strong and steady Zydeco beat without matching his dad's signature lightening speed. With some additional experience and polish, Li'l Nathan and his band should make a good name for themselves.

Girl Howdy brought a swinging honky-tonk sound to the stage early Sunday afternoon. This band is tight and rich with harmonies. The dance floor remained hopping throughout their set with crossover swing dancers. Rose Sinclair worked hard this weekend as a member of Girl Howdy, Planet Zydeco and filling in on Pedal Steel with the Cajun Hobos. The other hard working musicians that that played double duty to make the Bayou n' Boogie Fest a jamming success were Dennis Stroughmatt and the members of his band who filled in where ever needed. The dancer's in the Northeast love Dennis' highly danceable and diverse brand of music from LA.

Thanks to Joe and Paula Giocastro and Chuck and Debbie Wentworth for organizing this wonderful event. These people work tirelessly behind the scenes so that we can dance the weekend away. Let's make this festival grow while keeping it intimate. Spend Memorial Day Weekend having the most fun possible at the Bayou n' Boogie Fest.

Take a look at the catalog of pictures from the festival as seen through the eyes of Cyndy Moniz.