Ric
Lee, the drummer from the Bayou Brothers, became one of Chi’s first
friends when The Panache Orchestra relocated from Tokyo, Japan to San
Diego, California in late 2004. Chi would often sit in with them on all
three instruments he plays (bass, guitar and drums) when they performed
at Patrick’s II, San Diego’s premiere blues shop that was down the
street from where we lived. We stayed in touch after TPO relocated to
L.A., and finally at the very end of 2010, Chi’s prediction he made not
long after meeting the Bayou Brothers for the first time that “I have a
feeling that some day we’ll be working together” came true.
When
TPO and Ric Lee happened to meet again at a year-end holiday party
hosted by the San Diego Troubadour music newspaper, Ric invited us to
perform on a couple tracks of their new album that they were just at
that time putting the finishing touches on: “Music for the Feet”.
Brenda recorded the violin tracks on “Alligator Waltz”, and Chi &
Brenda both played on “Boil Them Crawfish Down”. This album can be
purchased by visiting the Bayou Brothers website, or better yet, at a
live performance.
The
first collaborative performance took place in late February, 2011, when
the Bayou Brothers were able to hook up with a major promoter who put
them on as the headline act at the Colorado River Music Festival since
that festival wanted a band with a female violinist (guess who? No, not
Lisa Haley!) This led to an invitation for TPO to reinforce the Bayou
Brothers’ line-up at the Gator by the Bay Cajun/Zydeco/Blues Festival in
San Diego in May, 2011, with an appearance at a pre-Gator showcase at
the Belly Up Tavern in April. Bayou Brothers fans were well pleased
with the enhanced sound produced by the addition of the acoustic
strings, and the promoter for the Gator by the Bay Festival even gave
Panache their own set at the festival, giving us another great entry for
our resume.
Another
great thing that came from the Gator joint appearance was making the
acquaintance of premiere blues fiddler Dave Sugarbeet of Cornwall, England,
who the Bayou Brothers met during their recent tour of the UK and who
happened to be visiting San Diego during the Gator by the Bay Festival.
He and Brenda K traded tunes throughout the Bayou Brothers set, and
traded CDs after the show. We highly recommend checking out Dave’s
music too. Dave's and Brenda's musical approach bear an eerily close resemblance even though the two had never met nor even heard of each other
before Gator by the Bay 2011!
Dave Sugarbeet
We look forward to ongoing collaboration with the Bayou Brothers!
