AAA Southern Traveler Magazine has awarded Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys the title of "Best Local Musician" in the South.

Here is what the had to say:

Best local musicians: The Mamou Playboys

More than 20 years ago, Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys came on the scene with their brand of Cajun French music. Today, the band performs around the world and frequently appears in their home state of Louisiana. The current CD, “Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys Live” garnered their third Grammy nomination.

Catch them Aug. 14 in Breaux Bridge, La., at La Poussière, a traditional Cajun dance hall. Later in the month, the band heads for Europe. Information: www.mamouplayboys.com

Second place: Kermit Ruffins, New Orleans
Third place: Hardrick Rivers, Natchitoches, La.

The band is called Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys. The guy in the middle holds a button-box that squeezes like an accordion, but shouts hallelujah like a big brass band. The fiddle cracks wise and warm, the guitar falls off the edge of the earth, and the rhythm section is purring rumble like a Coupe DeVille of shark-fin vintage. It all flows as a liquid-smooth groove, topped with three heartfelt voices harmonizing in 17th-century French from the steamy sub-tropics.

Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys began over twenty years ago with a reputation for excellence. Their stunningly clean and cohesive performance of Cajun French music from the backwaters of Southwest Louisiana propelled them into the world music limelight early on, and by their third release had garnered them a Grammy nomination in the worldwide field of traditional folk music, another in 2004, and then another in 2009.

From the day they started, they have gone from strength to strength. Never before in Cajun music has a comparable wealth of skills been brought to the same table.