Join us for the SECOND Episode of TONES & TRADITIONS - a new LIVE musical podcast event with a focus on musical stories and what inspired musicians to continue the traditions of their ancestors. 

The SECOND Episode features Grammy Award Winning Artists - Louis Michot & Leyla McCalla!

Louis Michot is best known as the fiddle player and lead-singer for the Grammy award winning Lost Bayou Ramblers, but his passion for Louisiana French and local folklore, and sustainability in the fastest disappearing landmass in the world are what fuels his career as a musician. With over 20 LPs under his belt, his music career continues to push the boundaries of the Louisiana French music traditions.

Born in New York City to Haitian emigrants and activists, Leyla McCalla finds inspiration from her past and present– her music vibrates with three centuries of history and influences from around the globe. McCalla possesses a stunning mastery of the cello, tenor banjo and guitar and, as a multilingual singer and songwriter, has risen to produce a distinctive sound that reflects the union of her roots and experience. In addition to her solo work, McCalla is a founding member of Our Native Daughters (with Rhiannon Giddens, Amythyst Kiah and Allison Russell) and alumna of Grammy award-winning Black string band The Carolina Chocolate Drops. 

"With fiddle, cello, banjo and voice, Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla present one of the oldest folk traditions in the United States: French-language songs and dances from Louisiana. Situated on the Gulf of Mexico, the southern state has long been shaped by its French heritage and francophone communities. Singer and multi-instrumentalist Leyla McCalla, a long-time musical collaborator of Rhiannon Giddens, is dedicated to preserving the traditions of these communities in Louisiana.

Together with Louis Michot, she explores the music of Creole, Cajun and Haitian cultures – spirited, danceable melodies influenced by the sounds of the American South, yet retaining a character all their own. Louisiana remains the most distinctly French-influenced of all US states. Named after King Louis XIV of France, traces of its French past can still be found throughout the region, from the bayous of the Mississippi Delta to the coastal city of New Orleans.

Louisiana is also home to a significant francophone population. It includes Creoles, descendants of enslaved people and migrants who arrived from former French colonies in the Caribbean, such as Haiti, as well as Cajuns, descendants of French settlers who were expelled from Acadia by the British in the mid-18th century and eventually settled in Louisiana.

It is these two cultural traditions that Louis Michot and Leyla McCalla bring together in this programme. Michot performs on instruments associated with traditional bayou music and is the lead singer of the Grammy-winning band Lost Bayou Ramblers. McCalla plays cello, tenor banjo and guitar, and sings in several languages. Together with Rhiannon Giddens, she co-founded the group Our Native Daughters and previously performed alongside her in the celebrated old-time band Carolina Chocolate Drops."

See this live musical podcast on Saturday, July 25th! Doors open at 7:00 pm and the show starts at 8:00 pm.

TICKETS are $20 in ADVANCE, and $25 DAY of SHOW.

Produced by Good Earth Records