Description
Track List
- J’ Suis Apres Me Soutenir
- Les BLues D’ Ennui
- Ya Juste Toi
- Tu Peux Congner
- Cher’ Tit Couer
- J’ Sus Apres M’ Ennuyer
- Mama’s Two Step
- Si J’ Ai Pas Toi
- J’ Ai Gone Fou
- Dockside Special
- Tit Cheveux Noir
- J’sus Apres Te Quitter
- Mais Yeaux Bleu
Personnel
- Jo-El Sonnier – Vocals, Accordion & Harmonica
- Shane Theriot – Guitar & Percussion
- Doug Belote – Drums
- Kevin Hare – Bass
- Beau Thomas – Fiddle
- Michael Doucet – Fiddle
- Joe Rogers – Steel Guitar
- Laine Thibodeaux – Steel Guitar
Release Date – 2013
REVIEW FROM OFFBEAT MAGAZINE, AUG 2014
Jo-El Sonnier
The Legacy
(Takau Records)
Jo-El Sonnier wrote and recorded his first song “Tes Yeux Bleu,” now an immortal classic, as a precocious 11-year-old. Only now 57 years later, following an illustrious career as a Nashville recording artist/sideman and several Grammy-nominated traditional Cajun albums, does Sonnier deliver his first recording of all Cajun-French originals, 14 years in the making. Hence the idea of The Legacy―adding new songs to the culture just as his idols Iry LeJeune and Lawrence Walker did in their day. It’s a solid composite sketch of Sonnier’s sonic persona, driving wet-tuned accordion with full-chord embellishments, emotive vocals and arrangements that are sometimes country influenced. Sonnier’s sizzling studio band, which includes fiddlers Beau Thomas and Michael Doucet, co-producer/guitarist Shane Theriot and steel guitarist Laine Thibodeaux, is consistently torrid, frequently pushing tempos and rocking boulders. Though Sonnier’s voice has deepened somewhat, he’s still able to convey heartbreaking loneliness (“J’sus Après M’Ennuyer”) and celebratory joy (“Mama’s Two Step”). The closing song, “Mais Yeaux Blue,” austerely rendered on accordion and rhythm guitar, not only showcases Sonnier’s accordion mastery but also symbolizes the auspicious journey that began over a half-century ago.
—Dan Willging
