(Above: Michael Doucet of BeauSoleil; photo from Facebook)

By Randi Bjornstad

Of the many groups that come to town to perform at The Shedd Institute in downtown Eugene, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet has got to be among the favorites, and they will be onstage again on Thursday, Oct. 28.

The Grammy Award-winning group that plays Cajun/Creole/New Orleans Jazz (with hints of blues rock, folk, swamp pop, Zydeco, country, and bluegrass) is a perennial favorite at The Shedd, and their upcoming appearance will be “for the what, 15th or 16th time?” executive director James Ralph estimated in a news release announcing the show. “We can’t get enough of these guys,” and this time, he added in boldface type,  there will even be a dance floor at the back of the main performance hall for those who can’t keep their hands and and feet still and their seats on their seats.

The group has been on the scene for well over 40 years, which still leaves founder, bandleader, fiddler and singer Michael Doucet almost a decade younger than Mick Jagger of Rolling Stones fame.

BeauSoleil — French for beautiful sun(shine) — has developed such a following that the group was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame a decade ago and last year received the Folk Alliance International Lifetime Achievement Award. (The previous year, the honor had gone to Joni Mitchell, and to Peter, Paul & Mary the year before that. Go to https://member.folk.org/page/Lifetime to see videos of performances by various honorees of the awards.)

The band also has been nominated for Grammy awards 10 times in categories as far-reaching as Traditional Folk Album (which it won in 1995 and 1998), Contemporary Folk, and Zydeco or Cajun Music Album (which it won in 2009 and 2010).

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet has played on the soundtrack of several movies, including The Big Easy, as well as performing on many television and radio shows, among them Late Night with Conan O’Brien and Garrison Keillor’s Prairie Home Companion, and opened for the Grateful Dead. Since its inception in the mid-70s, the group has issued at least 25 albums and five compilations.

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet

When: 7:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 28

Where: Jaqua Concert Hall, The Shedd Institute, 868 High St., Eugene

Tickets: $32-$36, available at the ticket office, 541-434-7000, or online at theshedd.org

 

BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet returns to play at The Shedd on Oct. 28, 2021