Also on the bill are zydeco masters Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas and the Rhode Island-based Knickerbocker All-Stars, who will be performing a tribute to the late Fats Domino.
Michael Doucet — fiddler, singer, songwriter and leader of Cajun band BeauSoleil — has been an important figure in the revival of Cajun music and culture that began in the mid-1980s. But he shrugs off talk that he's some sort of cultural ambassador from French Louisiana to the world.
"For us, we just played the music because we loved it," he said. (Doucet generally refers to it as French music.)
Doucet, who went to college to study history, psychology and literature, remembers taking a folklore class at Louisiana State University in the late 1960s. He asked about Louisiana French music, and the teacher brushed him off, saying those were just English songs translated into another language.
Doucet disagreed, and began doing his research. He was able to track down some of the old masters, musicians such as Dewey Balfa, Dennis McGee, Varise Conner, Canray Fontenot, and more. He studied Irene Whitfield, who compiled "Louisiana French Folk Songs" in 1939. Eventually, he was awarded a Folk Arts Apprenticeship from the National Endowment for the Arts.
"I learned from the great masters," Doucet said. "I sat down with them and got to know them as musicians. I got to know them one-on-one."
So is Doucet, 66, one of the old masters now?
"Don't start that!" he said.
BeauSoleil, formally known as BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, will be among the performers on Saturday, Feb. 10, at the 26th annual Mardi Gras Ball at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet in Cranston. The Mardi Gras Ball has become a welcome tradition among fans of Louisiana music (and food), bringing a blast of warmth to Rhode Island in the depths of winter.
Along with BeauSoleil, performers will include zydeco masters Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas and the Rhode Island-based Knickerbocker All-Stars, who will be performing a tribute to the late Fats Domino.
Louisiana food will be available from The Chili Brothers Food Company.
The band BeauSoleil formed in 1975, and released its first album in 1977. At about that time Doucet got a grant to teach the music in Louisiana schools. "We had principals turn us down," Doucet said. "They didn't want the music in their schools."
But in the late 1980s and into the 1990s, Cajun music (and food) became far more popular. BeauSoleil became huge favorites on "A Prairie Home Companion" and began touring nationally.
While BeauSoleil can play traditional Cajun music with deep knowledge and skill, the band has also pushed the boundaries, bringing in elements of country, jazz, R&B, rock, blues — all of which, Doucet notes, can be found in southwestern Louisiana or New Orleans.
Doucet said he sometimes thinks of French Louisiana music as a wagon wheel, with sturdy wooden spokes. In between the spokes, though, are the gaps that contemporary musicians can fill in.
The band's latest album, "From Bamako to Carencro" refers to the connection between Bamako, capital of Mali in Africa, and Carencro, a suburb of Lafayette, Louisiana. Doucet said he and the band were playing a benefit concert at Bard College in upstate New York after Hurricane Katrina when he met trombone player Roswell Rudd, who died Dec. 21. Rudd and Doucet became friends and played on each other's albums.
Rudd wrote "Bamako" for the record, while Doucet himself wrote "Carencro." Other songs include a Cajun swing version of John Coltrane's "Bessie's Blues" and a cover of James Brown's "I'll Go Crazy."
"Such a fun record," Doucet said.
The band will no doubt be playing some cuts off "From Bamako to Carencro" at the Mardi Gras Ball, but they like to keep their shows spontaneous. "We've done 36 albums," Doucet said. "That's why we don't use a set list."
Doucet said a fan approached him after a recent show and said he was glad he got to see BeauSoleil, because now he could cross it off his bucket list. "I don't want to be on someone's bucket list," Doucet said. "I'm just playing music and having fun."
The Mardi Gras Ball takes place on Saturday at Rhodes on the Pawtuxet, 60 Rhodes Place, Cranston. Doors open at 6 p.m. Tickets are $30 in advance, $40 at the door, available at rhythmandroots.com.