Event

Jane & John Vidrine

Focal Point Friends of Old-time Music Presents: Jane & John Vidrine

John and Jane Vidrine have been playing Cajun music together since the 1980s for festivals, gatherings, and concerts around their home region of Acadiana in Louisiana, at music camps, in France and Denmark. Their repertoire ranges from crusty old fiddle duets and unaccompanied French ballads to exciting dancehall favorites. Johns stories will have your smile muscles hurting. A special treat for this concert at Focal Point, John and Jane will reunite with fiddler, Les Lewis who played with them in their band called Gris Gris back in New Orleans. Les was also founding member of the legendary St. Louis string band, Cousin Curtis and his Cash Rebates.

John is from Mamou, Louisiana, where Cajun music and folk traditionsare virtually a way of life. Hes played accordion, fiddle and guitar since he was very young and was influenced by legendary figures fromthe area including Nathan Abshire, Dewey Balfa, Marc Savoy and others. Jane came on the Louisiana music scene in 1983 after growing up in St. Louis and being quite central to the folklife community here (MFFA, Frontier Folklife Festival, Focal Point, Music Folk). A founding member of the two time Grammy-nominated Magnolia Sisters Cajun Band. Together they are known for their investment in their community to promote regional traditional music and for supporting young people in their efforts to bring Cajun music, language and cultural traditions into the future.