A Minute in New Orleans with Sarah Quintana and Michael Doucet

This is Sarah Quintana, singer/guitarist in Michael Doucet’s new solo project, Lâcher-Prise, and I love being a tourist in my own hometown, New Orleans. Michael and I met one Mardi Gras day, following a brass band through the French Quarter. Music is everywhere! Cajun and zydeco dancing, good Creole cooking and historic scenes. Here are some of our favourite places to perform, shop and eat!

Michael loves to go to Cane and Table on Decatur for his favourite Cuban cocktail, the Hotel Nacionale. Marjie’s Grill on N. Broad is one of his favourite places to eat. I sing for the Sunday Brunches at Emeril’s Delmonico. The atmosphere, the menu and the live music make this one of the best dining experiences in New Orleans.

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One of our favourite clubs to play at and go dancing is d.b.a. on Frenchman Street. They have a wood floor series in the early evening that is acoustic and magic, dance lessons, lots of craft beer and rocking late-night shows. Need a coffee fix? Spitfire Coffee in the French Quarter is Michael’s favourite espresso bar.

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Water here, Water there! My favourite neighborhood is Bayou St. John in Mid-City. Get your tour of frontier New Orleans by boat! Book a Kayak tour from Kayakitiyat! If you go on a gallery art walk down Royal Street in the French Quarter, stop by Antieau Gallery to see the artist who created our cover art for our album.

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Photo credit: Daniel Kadar

The String – Michael Doucet

Fiddler, singer/songwriter, bandleader, and folk music scholar Michael Doucet is synonymous with Beausoleil, the neo-traditional Louisiana band he co-founded forty-plus years ago.

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Still, Doucet relishes collaborations. His upcoming album with a new band, L’acher Prise, is a real Americana hybrid. The Compass Records release is Cajun at its core, but full of ideas from four other musicians a generation younger than he is. We talk about his legendary career in roots music, dedicated to rediscovery and reclaiming of a marginalized culture that made Louisiana the special place that it is. Also on this episode, the legacy and music of Warren Storm with musician, author, and record producer Yvette Landry.