SANTA MONICA, CA. (Top40 Charts/ Conqueroo Music) - The Pine Leaf Boys, the young Cajun band from Louisiana whose last album, Blues de Musicien, was one of the first to be nominated for a Grammy Award in the new Best Cajun/Zydeco Album category, have signed to Lionsgate
Music and have completed their new album Homage Au Passe (translated as Homage to the Past), slated for release on February 3, 2009. The youthful Southwest Louisianans celebrate their Cajun heritage with a rollicking and often rowdy collection of soulful original songs and traditional classics.
The Homage au Passe album received a 2009 Grammy nomination in the Best Cajun or Zydeco category for its digital-only release on iTunes. February 3, 2009 is its brick-and-mortar retail street date.
In a 2007 New York Times profile on the band, a performance was described thusly: 'A spell was cast, combining a mysterious past - the nearly forgotten dialect and the archaic squeezebox's red bellows - with an unabashed rock 'n' roll energy conducive to the elbow-flying, hip-swiveling spirit on the dance floor.' Rolling Stone describes the group as 'steeped in tradition . . . but with free-range ambitions in soul.' NPR recently featured the Pine Leaf Boys on "Morning Edition," crediting the band with keeping Cajun music alive.
It's precisely this unvarnished vitality that inspired Lionsgate's president of music Jay Faires to sign the Pine Leaf Boys. 'Lionsgate works mainly with more contemporary-sounding bands, or commercial music, if you will,' he explains. 'And we are heavily involved in film soundtracks. But we are also interested in niche signings of premium next generation acts, and the Pine Leaf Boys are the best band in their genre - very respectful of tradition, yet they're also pushing tradition forward.'
The Pine Leaf Boys banded together in 2005 in Lafayette, La. Since the mid-1970s, Lafayette has served as the epicenter of the Cajun/Creole cultural renaissance, spawning such pioneering crusaders as Zachary Richard and Michael Doucet avec BeauSoliel. Today that cultural movement is led by a third generation of torch-bearers - the Pine Leaf Boys and their colleagues in several other hot young bands who collectively embody the adventurous enthusiasm of the burgeoning Lafayette scene.
Each Pine Leaf boy comes to the band with deep personal ties to the Cajun tradition. Wilson Savoy, accordionist and singer, is the son of accordionist and accordion maker Marc Savoy and the Grammy-nominated guitarist, singer, producer and author Ann Savoy - both major figures in the Cajun renaissance. Fiddler and singer Courtney Granger, a relative of the famed Balfa Brothers, is an in-demand player who has worked with Balfa Toujours and renowned producer/multi-instrumentalist Dirk Powell. Drummer, accordionist and singer Drew Simon epitomizes the unadorned, less-is-more approach of classic Cajun music that he was raised with: 'No computer or synthesizers,' Simon explains. Guitarist Jon Bertrand was raised as a cowboy on the South Louisiana prairies and brings the band an eclectic approach and modern influences. Bassist Thomas David grew up with Cajun music thanks to his dad, Ken, bassist with the popular Jambalaya Cajun Band.
The Pine Leaf Boys are the real deal - sincere cultural crusaders who love their land and who play its venerable music with genuine gusto, There's no studied revivalism on their Lionsgate debut, Homage au Passe. Au contraire, the album stomps, sweats, loves and loses, and raises no small amount of hell in the process. In an age of rampant homogenization, when vital regional cultures are eroding just like Louisiana's endangered wetlands, Homage au Passe proves that the steamroller of bland conformity will never flatten all in its path.
About LIONSGATE MUSIC AND PUBLISHING
Lionsgate Music oversees music for Lionsgate's film and TV slate, releases its soundtracks and scores and signs artists for publishing and records. The music team has received two Oscar nominations with Marco Beltrami's score for 3:10 To Yuma and Bird York's song 'In the Deep' for Best Picture Winner Crash. On the film and TV music front, they have brought in new music from Linkin Park, Serj Tankian, The Flaming Lips, Dr. Dre, Elvis Costello, John Legend, James Blunt, Amy Winehouse. Recent soundtracks include Punisher: War Zone featuring songs from Rob Zombie and Seether, Vol. 2 of 'Madmen' featuring songs from Chubby Checker and Peter, Paul and Mary and the next volume in the 'Weeds' series. Building on LG's top 10 iTunes album for Iron Man for Paramount, will be the release of David Newman's score for Frank Miller's The Spirit, Michael Wandmacher's scores for Punisher and My Bloody Valentine 3D, and David Carbonara's score for 'Madmen.' On the heels of signing Grammy winning reggae legend Lee Scratch Perry, three-time International Bluegrass Music Association award winners The Infamous Stringdusters, and breaking alternative act Glacier Hiking, the music team is readying the new release from Grammy-nominated Cajun act, the Pine Leaf Boys.
