“Tommy Michot, my and Andre’s father and accordion player for Les Freres Michot, grew up in the ’60s. When Andre came to the age of appreciation and started pulling out all the amazing records from dad’s fairly large collection, it seems our life changed forever. We had obviously heard of Jimi Hendrix, Led Zeppelin, and Yes, but when Andre started spinning them on LP in the 1980s, it was like a whole new portal to music was opened.”
“I was 12 years old when I got my hands on my first guitar (a pawn-shop Les Paul copy from our uncle David) but the year before, I started sneaking into Andre’s room while he was practicing with his bands, and the first song I picked out on guitar was Jimi Hendrix’s “Star Spangled Banner.”
Some people talk about how their minds opened the first time they heard The Balfa Brothers’ Play Traditional Cajun Music on vinyl, but I don’t think I heard that record until 10 years later. The number one vinyl I can remember seeing and hearing as a child was Les Freres Michot’s 1987 release on cassette tape and vinyl, Elevés a Pilette.
Their next release wouldn’t come until 2002, and featured Andre and me on fiddle, bass, and guitar, the year before the first LBR album, Pilette Breakdown.
—Louis Michot
Lost Bayou Ramblers’ Kalenda—a Grammy nominee for Best Regional Roots Music Album—is in stores now—on vinyl.
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PHOTO: ZACH SMITH
