Bonsoir Catin LIVE Festival International de Louisine 2015 "Jours Si Long"

http://www.bonsoircatin.com/web/
"Talent,friendships fuel Bonsoir Catin"
Herman Fuselier /The Advertiser
Feb 2015
Magic can happen around a campfire, especially when that warm blaze is glowing at the Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week. That's when music lovers from across the globe journey here to learn music, dance, language and culture in the heart of Cajun and Creole country.

Jam sessions, which sometimes last until sunrise, can spark tears and inspiration. A campfire jam connected Christine Balfa with Kristi Guillory and Yvette Landry, three women who live within a few miles of each other, but had never played music together.

After that night, they didn't want the music to end. The almost all-female Cajun band Bonsoir, Catin was born.

"Kristi hadn't been playing much music," said Balfa. "We were hanging around the campfire and Kristi was like, 'I really want to start playing more.' I was like 'Wow.' Yvette was right there and she just started learning how to play bass.

"I hit it off with both of them so easily. I said, 'Who could we get to play fiddle?' I said, 'her (Anya Burgess), right there, because she's awesome.' So we set up an acoustic gig at the Welcome Center at Butte La Rose. It had just opened. That was our first gig.

"It was so easy. It has been so easy ever since. It's very, very organic, very natural. They've all become some of my best friends. I feel very fortunate. I'm grateful."

Ten years and three CDs later and Bonsoir, Catin is enjoying its first Grammy nomination. The band's 2014 release, "Light the Stars," is in the running for the Best Regional Roots Album Grammy.

Bonsoir Catin's "Light the Stars" CD contains eight original songs with touches of electric guitar, harmonies, swamp pop, blues and even Hammond B-3 organ, courtesy of Eric Adcock from the Hub City All Stars. The recording is the first for new band member, Maegan Berard, daughter of the late musician Al Berard.

Berard sings and plays electric guitar solo in the swamp-pop flavored tearjerker, "Jour Si Longs" (These Longs Days.). She also adds harmony to "Je Vais Jamais Faire Ca" (I Will Never Do That) and "Fait Tu Voir" (You Better See).

Guillory, the band's accordionist and songwriter, said song ideas can come at unexpected times and places.

"When I sit down to write a song, sometimes the melody will come first," said Guillory. "I might be washing dishes or blow drying my hair and I'll hear a melody and record it. I've had some stuff that sat there for months and I'll go back and write a story around it.

"When I write in French, I write in French. I used to translate but now, when I hear the lyric it comes to me in French. But it works out."

Berard praises Guillory's songwriting and has felt right at home, after initial fears of joining the Catins.

"I started going out and I used to see them," said Berard. "I always thought they were so awesome. Kristi was like, 'You need to come jam with us.' I was too scared.

"But the stars aligned. In 2012, Yvette couldn't make a gig in Ohio. So I went and played bass. I had so much fun. We all just hit it off.

"Kristi said, 'You need to join the band.' She originally wanted me to play lap steel, but I couldn't play lap steel. We decided on electric guitar and I joined the band. It's amazing, and I love it."

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Check out Bonsior Catin's 2017 CD release " L'aurore" Here:
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