OFFBEAT MAGAZINE
December 2005
By: Dan Willging

Maybe folklorist Barry Ancelet spoke too soon when he scribed in a 1993 festival guide regarding how Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys “constantly push the edge, raising the level of musicianship to hair-raising heights.” That was over 12 years ago, but little could Ancelet foresee how his observations would spiral several orders of magnitude from when those prophetic words were etched. Their eighth album, Bon Rêve, was a monumental triumph as another, even higher summit was conquered and homesteaded as their domain. Dominos continues the trend of inwardly mining forgotten treasures while once again raising the bar in the Playboys’ own inimitable style. At the disc’s very epicenter lies the domino concept that symbolizes previous generations influencing succeeding ones, leaning and falling like a series of dominoes. In the middle of this seemingly never-ending stream stands the Playboys’ metaphorical placeholder, which too leans upon and influences those emerging upstarts sprouting after them.

With a tip of the chapeau to those black-square-and-white-dots predecessors are a bluesy, bottom-thudding rendition of Canray Fontenot’s “Coulée Rodair,” a prancing Dennis McGee twin fiddle medley and an “Ardoin Medley” that conceives with “Fais Pas Tout Ca,” slides into “Midland Two-Step” and busts into “Quoi Faire.” Of course, not all their favorite dominos could be honored within a single platter but among those that are a rollicking treatment of DL Menard’s “The Bachelor’s Life” and fiddler Varise Connor’s “Mazurka,” a former instrumental that’s augmented by new lyrics written by David Greely. Yet, the digging doesn’t stop there but burrows deeper with a haunting poem adaptation of “Marie mouri” written by the 19th century slave Pierre, as well as “Les clefs de la prison,” a 1934 Lomax unearthing of ballad singer Elita Hoffpauir that’s sung a cappella in breathtaking three-part harmony.

While the aforementioned is solidly bedrocked in tradition replete with the Playboys’ signature, what’s also noteworthy is the quality of writing (“Pays des étrangers”), arrangements and subtle innovations that’s laced throughout the proceedings. During the exhilarating “Waxia,” (a 1920s Slim Doucet discovery), inventive guitarist Sam Broussard emulates the accordion line with nimble finger picking and percussive muting of strings. The title song finds Riley playing accordion in unison with fiddler Greely, an unusual feat in Cajun music. Clashing, tension-filled chords creatively bookend a tune of drummer Kevin Dugas’ pops, Nolan Dugas, “Wait Until I Finish Crying” while western swing daddy Milton Brown’s “Keep-a-Knockin’” is transformed into a Cajun Hot Club motif with Greely’s arty stylings and Broussard’s jazzy picking. If you haven’t surmised by now, this is hardly your run-of-the-mill dancehall fare or popular Cajun cover tune rerun. Rather, with the added bonus of the Wilson Savoy-filmed DVD segment (in the form of a dual disc), Riley and the Mamou Playboys personify Cajun music’s rightful progression and this time the evolution is televised.



SONGLINES
January/February 2006
By: Jeff Kalis

I stopped by Dirk Powell’s Cypress House studio near Parks, Louisiana, while this album was coming into being last spring. Bandleader Steve Riley explained that the title song, by fiddler David Greely, was intended to be a reference to “the domino effect that one generation has on the next”. This theme is borne out by the lustrous cover photograph, showing the five Playboys surrounded by extended familial and musical relations. They include veteran DL Menard, whose Cajun country & western-flavoured ‘La Vie D’un Vieux Garçon’ figures on the album’s song list, and Morris Ardoin, whose Creole music bloodline is represented here by an ‘Ardoin Medley’, harking back to Morris’ father Bois-Sec and Bois-Sec’s legendary cousin Amédé. There’s an infectious medley of tunes by the late Denis McGee, with Riley putting aside his handsomely decorative accordion style (learned from Marc Savoy) to second Greely on fiddle, as he also does on Varise Conner’s ‘Mazurka’. Unique in origin and emotional appeal are the mournful ‘Marie Mouri’, set to a poem by an antebellum slave, and ‘Les Clefs De La Prison’, transferred to three-part a capella male harmony by Greely and Linda Handelsman from the adolescent female solo by Elita Hoffpauir on a 1934 recording by John and Alan Lomax.

In their original contributions to the album, the Playboys showcase their considerable instrumental and vocal skill and render the disc as superbly suited to a Saturday evening dance as to a Sunday evening contemplation. Wilson Savoy, son of Marc, makes use of the DualDisc DVD format – a welcome bonus – to visually document a Playboys dance in progress, as well as capturing some studio performances and testimony by the Playboys about their heritage.


NASHVILLE CITY PAPER
December 2005

Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys' newest release Dominos (Rounder) celebrates both traditional French music and the contemporary Cajun fare that it spawned. Riley and the Playboys go extremely deep into the traditional French compositional vaults, doing numbers from D.L. Menard ("Vie d'un vieux garcon,") Canray Fontenot's ("Coulee Rodair") and Nolan Dugas ("Espere jusqu'a je finis de pleurer") and also cover vintage pieces from Bois-Sec Ardoin and Dennis McGee. But this isn't exclusively a historical session, as Riley also includes some fresh pieces, among them the exuberant "Elise," a number composed for his daughter, and the rousing pieces "River of Time" and "Dominos" contributed by group members Sam Broussard and David Greeley respectively. But whether singing in French or English, Riley and fellow vocalists Greeley and Broussard are outstanding, and the exchanges between Riley on accordion, Greeley on violin and fiddle, and Broussard on guitar range from flashy to combative. Anchored by bassist Brazos Huval and drummer Kevin Dugas, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys simultaneously acknowledge the history of Cajun music and continue moving it ahead.