Comeaux Chair Songwriter Showcase
Wednesday, April 25 2012
7:30 pm
Doors open at 7:00 pm
Burke Theatre (Burke-Hawthorne Hall, 211 Hebrard Blvd)
Guest-Artists:
Sam Broussard, David Egan, Yvette Landry & Nathan Williams
With Student Songwriters from UL Lafayette’s first-ever songwriting course
** Free Admission **
Sponsored by The Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair in Traditional Music and The UL Lafayette Concert Committee
This semester the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Chair for Traditional Music presented its first-ever songwriting class at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette. Professor Mark DeWitt invited accomplished local songwriters to share their experience and knowledge with the class of budding songwriters. The guest artists helped students with their songs in progress as well as presented lessons on lyrics, phrasing, composing and creativity.
The outcome of the class is a concert of select students and guest artists Sam Broussard, David Egan, Yvette Landry and Nathan Williams. The artists will perform original songs from their repertoires in this Songwriter’s Concert on Wednesday, April 25 at 7:30 pm, Burke Theatre in Burke-Hawthorne Hall. Each of the guest artists will perform individually or with other songwriters. Never before have all of these artists performed on the same night.
Class Highlights:
Guitarist and songwriter Sam Broussard is a solo artist and also a member of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. He brought to class two lines and challenged the students to come up with two more lines that rhymed, complemented the first two lines and created dramatic tension. After several attempts and several trips to his dog-eared rhyming dictionary, Broussard was satisfied with the next two lines. He then asked, "What's this song about?" A response came from a student that delighted Broussard and then more ideas poured forth on the white board. The subject of this song will remain a surprise until the April 25 concert, where it may receive its world premiere performance.
Songwriter and pianist David Egan, has toured with bands Filé and Jo-El Sonnier, and has written songs performed by Irma Thomas, Marcia Ball, John Mayall, among many other performers. His latest album is entitled, You Don’t Know Your Mind. Egan emphasized that it is more important to keep writing than to wait for the perfect song to appear. He led the students through a session of putting music to lyrics written by their peers.
Multi-instrumentalist Yvette Landry, is a member of Bonsoir Catin and Lafayette Rhythm Devils and the Yvette Landry band. Her CD, Should Have Known, recently won Best of the Beat, OffBeat Magazine’s "Best Country/Folk Album" and "Best Country/Folk Artist" of the year. Her mission in class was to show the students what it means to pay attention to detail when writing a song. Students were asked in small groups to develop a song about a parking lot. At the end of the session, they listened together to "Out in the Parking Lot," a song written and recorded by Guy Clark and Darrell Scott, whose level of songwriting craft was immediately clear to everyone present after completing Landry's assignment.
Accordionist, pianist and 2012 recipient of the Zydeco Music Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award , Nathan Williams Sr. has led Nathan and the Zydeco Cha-Chas for a quarter century. He showed students the demo recordings of some of his songs-in-progress on his smart phone that he uses to work on songs when on the road. He invited students to jam with him and led them through his own music as well as zydeco standards. For many of the students, this was their first attempt at playing zydeco. They learned about song form and about the importance of the ability to communicate their music to other musicians.
At the concert you may just catch a glimpse of the next hot songwriter, and you will be treated to some of the best of the established songwriters in Acadiana.
The mission of the Dr. Tommy Comeaux Endowed Chair in Traditional Music at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette is to promote an appreciation for the foundations and diversity of traditional music worldwide and to advance the preservation, instruction, and performance of traditional music from all cultures and historical periods with special emphasis on the music indigenous to the Acadiana region. The program began in the Fall of 2010. It is now possible to pursue a Minor in Traditional Music. New classes and programs continue to be developed with involvement from musicians in the community.
For more information about the concert, please call 337-482-6012.
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