Recorded in Louisiana in April 1974, half of these 20 tracks were previously released on LP, although half of them make their first appearance on this CD. Although
Linton Broussard
plays unobtrusive drums on four numbers, for the most part it's just
Bebe Carriere
on fiddle and
Dolan Carriere
on accordion, playing a humid brand of
zydeco
-influenced
Cajun
music. The textures of the instruments are thick enough -- and amplified yet more by the way the fiddle and accordion blend -- that you might think at times that there are more than two instruments at work. At times both brothers add vocals, but the emphasis is predominantly on their playing.
enthusiasts may bristle at the notion, but really, this is too similar in pacing and melody to keep the attention of the non-specialist. It's more a snapshot of a particularly unfettered Louisiana brand of
folk
music, bringing to mind lazy evenings on the porch, though perhaps better heard as appropriate live or
ambient
music in that setting than on 20 consecutive songs on an album. ~ Richie Unterberger