It's a good Cajun time with the Bayou Brothers

Most people have heard the term Cajun. Most people have heard of Zydeco. Yet, when it comes to music, there’s no simple way to define the two that will encompass all the varieties that are possible.

“A lot of the songs are chord songs and very basic,” said Rich Lee of Bayou Brothers, who will perform Friday night at the Old Town Temecula Theater. “The music, like the culture, does a lot with very little. We take almost anything and twist it into a song.”

The band’s performances are something right out of the backyards and festivals of Louisiana, complete with accordion, keyboards, guitar bass, drums, and rub boards.

“First of all, it seems first we get the kids going and then the parents follow,” Lee said. “It’s perfect for the family because Cajun and Zydeco is your backyard barbecue-style music where everything is fun and not serious. It is just great dance music.”

For Lee, it was a tape of Queen Ida, the famed Louisiana accordion player, that got him started.

“My family played all kinds of music from the Dukes of Disneyland to The Band to Herb Alpert,” he said. “I discovered zydeco when I got a tape of Queen Ida. That was quite a revelation for me.”

He got to experience the music and culture first-hand when he was with a touring band in Louisiana.

“A year after I got that tape, I was in a touring band going through Louisiana, and we played in clubs and I just loved that experience,” he said.

He got to experience the culture, which was invaluable.

“As a culture, it’s really because they do a lot with very little,” he said. “They enjoy life and music, and part of their creed is the music; it’s a dominant part of their life. They have fun. A lot of them make a modest living off the land or bayou or maybe running a small restaurant.”

The key is that the musical style is designed so that anyone of all ages can play.

“A lot of people play instruments and a lot of Cajuns are untrained,” he said. “They become very good at one or two-chord songs. The music is very accessible. It’s real feel good music.”

The Cajun band began when Lee formed the group with John Chambers in 1995. The rest of the band is Charles Burton, Roger Daschle, Thomas Podgoretsky and Judy Seid.

“We started to get together on Friday afternoons to play for fun, never believing it would come to this,” he said. “We had all toured the South, but when we started there were up the music just a few people interested in it in San Diego at that time. We got one backyard party gig, then two then ten then a hundred. Now we play thousands.”

They are also the ambassador for the Gator by the Bay Zydeco festival, which imports three or four tons of crawfish.

“It’s a great festival, a lot of fun,” Lee said.

As for the show, they have patterned it after the typical Cajun backyard party.

“We do the classic dance music and just toss it around,” he said. “We have lots of storytelling because it’s an interesting process. We bring extra rub boards and bring people out of the audience - you never know who it will be. We use the boards to bridge the gap and get the audience involved so we are all one by the end of the show.”

And how difficult are the boards?

“Anybody can play the rub board,” he said.

And the songs?

“There’s a lot of good standards we do, like ‘Jole Blon,’ which is the Cajun national anthem,” he said. “It’s fun to take other songs and twist them. We even do some Beatles songs.”

Part of it is the fact that the style is easily adaptable.

“Any song can be played in that style and that’s the beauty,” he said. “It’s kind of like jazz. You can make it your own and have it be fun and interesting.”

Ultimately, Lee sees the rise of interest in shows like this as part of the growth in nostalgia for Americana. And he thinks there’s only one way to know for sure whether a person likes it.

“If people haven’t been exposed to it, they should listen to it a little bit and give it a try,” he said.