FOLK/Music Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, Cajun

Friday: 9:15 p.m. Kenduskeag; Saturday: 2:30 p.m. Kenduskeag, 9:45 p.m. Railroad; Sunday: 2 p.m. Railroad

The renaissance in Cajun dance music has brought forth a whole new group of young musicians from southwestern Louisiana who have breathed new life into the genre. At the forefront is Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, defining modern Cajun music on its own terms while simultaneously digging at its roots and extending the branches. Widely celebrated as the best young Cajun band in the country, the band applies tradition-steeped sensibilities and skills to songs that can reach out to a broad contemporary audience. “The Playboys are not just a great Cajun band anymore – they’re a great band,” extolled The Times-Picayune of New Orleans.

The group is led by accordion wizard and fiddler Steve Riley, who formed the Mamou Playboys in 1989. Since then they have played all over Louisiana, throughout the United States and in Europe. Performances have included the Montreal and Toronto jazz festivals, the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and public radio’s “Prairie Home Companion.” The group has several recordings on Rounder, the latest of which was nominated for a Grammy. The band features Steve Riley (accordion and vocals), David Greely (fiddle and vocals), Sam Broussard (guitar), Brazos Huval (bass and fiddle) and Kevin Dugas (drums).

Their sound is compelling and diverse. Folklorist Barry Ancelet says of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys: “They actually do what those old masters were doing. They improvise and create within the tradition, finding poetry in historical manuscripts and in the language of real life, and they manage to do this in a way that both innovates and preserves at the same time. [Dewey] Balfa challenged us all to ‘preserve the very life of the tradition,’ cautioning that we not try to preserve artifacts, but rather the process that produces the music and its makers. Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys answer that challenge with this stunning combination of brand-new old songs and venerable new songs, all driven by breathtaking musicianship and deeply thoughtful creativity.”