BATON ROUGE ADVOCATE
10/3/03
By: John Wirt

Though Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys are relatively young, the group has been among Cajun music’s best bands for years. The band’s reputation can only grow with Bon Rêve. Following some musical experiments, including the cool Cajun-rock ‘n’ roll hybrid act Lil’ Band O’ Gold, Riley and the boys return to traditional Cajun two-steps and waltzes, but with a difference. This isn’t museum music, but the sound of inspired, inventive roots-connected contemporary singers and players carrying Cajun repertoire to the 21st Century.

Bon Rêve’s generous 17 tracks includes the fiddle-filled title track (“Sweet Dream” in English), which makes the natural connection between Cajun and country music. Two songs written and originally recorded by the innovative Belton Richard, “Jamais une autre chance” (“Never Another Chance”), and “Paradis des musicians” (“Musicians’ Paradise”), masterfully blend Cajun music with swamp pop and honky tonk respectively. The band gives Creole musician Amedée Ardoin’s “Prison Blues”, recorded in 1934, a great groove and bluesy sound, thanks in part to multi-instrumentalist David Greely’s sax.

Riley and the Mamou Playboys’ flair for hitting a groove, no matter what the genre, is among their strong points. They seem to do it by instinct. That groove plus imaginative arrangements, lots of chops and joie de vivre make this group one of the brighter lights on the Cajun music horizon.


OFFBEAT MAGAZINE
Cajun Music Played Right
By: Dan Willging

Sixteen years and a nine album discography is enough to test any band's mettle but for Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, such a fortuitous run can only mean the making of incomparable dynasty within Cajun music. With each and every subsequent release, the Playboys have continuously climbed to higher ground while never glancing back at the last launching site. By now you'd think complacency and interruption of service would be part of the equation, but here, a strong case could be made that this is their meatiest affair yet.

While it appears that Riley and his band's best lineup to date have reached full circle by returning to traditionalism, it's a far different playing brand from whence they began their career. The cover photo shot featuring octogenarian fiddler Milton Vanicor with the Mamou Playboys as phantom images in the background practically shouts volumes in terms of deeply rooted symbolism and passing the muse onwards. Of course, there will always be a reverence for those stalwarts who lit the inspirational flame but amazingly this isn't solely a revisit to traditionalism. Rather it's a forward thinking acoustic-centric affair that subtly encompasses every modicum of the Cajun-Creole music and culture itself. Yet unlike the last two progressive outings, Bayou Ruler and Happytown, every influence here comes from within.

And all of this is beyond soul satisfying, rather soul nurturing with the richest of ingredients. Guitarist Sam Broussard wrote the incredibly beautiful title song that pays homage to Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot. It unfolds as an unassumingly pristine fiddle duet before sprouting into a rockin' little dandy involving the whole band. Similarly engaging is "Vini, Jile," a nimble-fingered, breathtaking chamber folk composition that interestingly lists three distinct co-authors: Dennis McGee (intro/outro), 19th-century slave/poet Pierre (lyrics) and Broussard (vocal melody). "Eyes at the Bottom of the Well" is an infectious Greely fiddle tune that morphs into a jazzy styled counterpoint and then bursts into an accordion-fueled finale.

If you haven't surmised already, there are more twists and turns here than a Telluride ski slope. As the great Lawrence Walker would often transform a two-step into a waltz, on "Evangeline Waltz Two-Step," this time Greely churns a Walker waltz into a throttling two-step. Another facet that'll likely guarantee surprises is how the diversely arranged tunes are sequenced so no two are ever similar while still flowing cohesively together. A glorious rendition of Aldus Roger steel guitarist Phillip Alleman's "Last Waltz" is followed by Creole fiddler Carlton Frank's "Oh, Mom," a song whose hidden treasure is the little pause that momentarily infuses an elevating sensation.

Best of all, Bon Rêve serves as a strong reminder that when Cajun music is played right, it's the most formidable sonic art on this planet. Dancehall rave-ups "OST Special" and "The Unlucky Waltz" are teeth clenching, fist waving affairs while a version of Belton Richard's "Never Another Chance," sung by Riley's passionate tenor, is off-the-charts soulful. A second Richard tune, "Musician's Paradise," grooves like crazy with a western swing section. Additionally, all the great Mamou Playboy signature attributes, the three-part harmonies, impeccable timekeeping and the insatiable throbbing picking rhythms, are still solidly intact. A magically crafted masterpiece, Bon Rêve is a desert island disc for eternity.


TIMES OF ACADIANA
9/24/03
By: Arsenio Orteza

What keeps this, Riley’s most traditional-sounding album in six years, from sounding all that traditional is that even at its rootsiest it resonates (if ever so faintly at times) with the less traditional and/or more exploratory aspects of Bayou Ruler and Happytown. This time, however, the experimentation emerges less in the sound than in an overall relaxation of strictures: David Greely and Sam Broussard shine in their allotted songwriting and lead-singing roles, and Brazos Huval and Kevin Dugas keep even the most venerable of the many trad cover tunes stepping lively. As for “La chanson de Savoy,” if it isn’t the most gorgeous 1:48 of a cappella singing I’ve gotten free in the mail this year, I’m the King’s Singers. Rating: Four-and-a-half sweet dreams out of five.