Swire from Grand Chenier
JIN 9093 | 2009
*also available as digital downloads
| A brief history...
If you ever are fortunate enough to see and hear him perform, or perhaps have met him in person and laughed at his quick wit, I'm sure you'll agree that Lil' Abe is a Cajun combination of Ray Stephens and the late Roger Miller, with a little Merle Haggard thrown in for lagniappe. I first saw him perform in Branson with Merle's band, and he and his brother Joe stole the show while Merle went on break! What an entertainer he is! If you ask him why he's not touring with some big country music act full time, he'll tell you, "I like being home with my wife and family in Lil Chenier, where I can fish and hunt, and I play music when I want to. It gives me time to write songs and be at home with my family and friends."
He's part of the Moe-D band, the Honky Tonk band, and also Zydecane, but this album is Lil' Abe's first solo album, with nearly all of the songs in the album written or co-written by him. I'm proud he chose our record company to release it, offering the rest of the world a chance to enjoy the extraordinary and exciting talent of this super singer, song writer, musician and entertainer, Lil' Abe Manuel, Jr. ~Floyd Soileau, Jin Records/Flat Town Music Co.
Several of the songs on his Swire from Grand Chenier CD, along with Abe himself, appeared in the 2006 movie, Little Chenier: A Cajun Story, which was filmed in the beautiful bayous of Louisiana.
Reviews...
Bluesrag, June-July 2010
Swire from Grand Chenier (JIN 9093)
Better buckle up, as madcap Lil' Abe Manuel's Swire from Grand Chenier is a ride through a Cajun funhouse. The craziness begins outside, with its adorning artwork of him grappling an accordion-squeezing alligator, then baring more than his soul on the "rear" accordion shot. But the real mischief is inside, where, with impish delight, Acadian dancehall melodies get commandeered for Manuel's own cracked muse. that's when the musician-singer-songwriter with the cartoonishly backwater inflection springs forth the repetitive repetition of "I Don't Repeat Myself," "Pickin' the Piquants," a certifiably whacked "Ka Ka Song," and the sing-along title track, which towered as 2008's biggest single on southwest Louisiana radio. Although it accurately likened to a bayou blend of Ray Stevens and Roger Miller, Manuel is more than a downhome jester. He's long been the right-hand man in Merle Haggard's band. And he can readily temper the clowning with steadfast Cajun pride and heartfelt poignancy (as with the post-Katrina lament of "Hurricane Women"). Yet it's that capacity to twist chank-a-chank into "My Baby Chews Tobacco (But She Won't Choose Me)" that's pure warped genius.
Dennis Rozanski |