NEWBURYPORT — A week ago, they were jetting off to Los Angeles to bask in the glow created by their latest album, "Grand Isle," which was nominated to receive a Grammy Award this year in the Best Regional Roots category.
Now that the Grammy Awards are over, the Cajun band Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys are headed to Newburyport to rock a much more intimate venue, the Belleville Church Meeting House, while also aiming to help local fans pay homage to Louisiana's famous Mardi Gras celebration.
Their performance tonight at 8 is part of the church's new Roots Concert Series. The evening will also include an authentic Louisiana-style, sit-down dinner for $15.
Catered by Karen Kelly Dardin, the menu features Louisiana delicacies like jambalaya, cassoulet, red beans, and rice and bread pudding. Proceeds from the ticket sales help fund restoration projects for the historic 1867 Belleville Church Meeting House.
In addition to dinner and dance, the Mardi Gras celebration will also offer a silent auction. Items up for bid include gift cards from local merchants and a collection of music from the Rounder Records label.
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys were nominated three times for their authentic French Cajun/zydeco sound, born in the bayous of southwestern Louisiana.
"The guy in the middle holds a button box that squeezes like an accordion, but shouts 'hallelujah' like a big brass band," according to a post on the band's website. "The fiddle cracks wise and warm, the guitar falls off the edge of the Earth, and the rhythm section is purring rumble like a Coupe DeVille of shark-fin vintage."
Their tracks feature the harmonics of three band members, who, for 20 years, have been producing compilations that borrow from both of Louisiana's two spoken languages: English and 17th-century French.
The band's sound ebbs and flows and dances somewhere in between the two languages — producing a unique sound that can change suddenly.
"When all that heart and all that skill focus on the revelry of a hot two-step, then turn on a dime and deliver an a cappella ballad, then play something that sounds like Howlin' Wolf fell in lust with a Creole girl, you've found the most Cajun music you can find in any one spot," the band writes on their website.
According to Rounder Records founder Ken Erwin, whose label represents Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, the band's visit to Newburyport is a welcome one, coming off the recent trip to the Grammy Awards.
Riley and his band will travel to Newburyport after playing a gig at New York City's Let's Zydeco at Connolly's. Following their show at the Belleville, the band will play just one more venue in New England before heading back home to Louisiana.
IF YOU GO
What: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys
When: Tonight at 8
Where: Belleville Church Meeting House, 300 High St., Newburyport
How: Tickets can be purchased for $20 prior to the show, $10 for children age 12 and under, $25 at the door. They are sold at the Belleville Church office and Thrift Shop at 300 High St., Dyno Records on Middle Street and online at www.mktix.com/bc.
