David Doucet: That’s a really good question because I don't know. I’ve never played in another band. I’ve played solo, but it's different. I get to yell at myself. Michael called up in ’77 and says, “You want to make a record?” I was, you know–he had left the guitar under the bed, I looked at it, and there was these–“What’s those little diagrams all over the music?” So I started playing guitar; I figured out what that was. And he came back. I could play some chords, but he asked me in ’77, “Let’s go make a record.” That's when we did the blue one. Met Elemore Morgan–
Nick Spitzer: Right, the great photographer.
DD: –who at that time said, “You guys are going to have a future. You should get a big map of the world and start putting pins in it.” He said this more than once: “You're going to forget where you played at.” ‘Course did we do it? No. [laughter]
NS: No, you forgot to put the pins in.
DD: But that's what we did. So we played and played and played, and we didn't even pay attention. But we loved the old guys: Dennis, Octa Clark.
NS: Well, speaking of elders, you also had an elder that you looked up to and loved greatly, and that's Doc Watson.
DD: As a rhythm guitar player, that's your job, as a drum basically. But when given the opportunity, said, “You know, Doc does this too. He just starts playing.” So I started figuring out these leads, and on that first album we sat down, and we figured out the “Reel De Dennis McGee.” Note for note, we did this on guitar, and I never really tried that before, and that's how that happened. And, you know, as technology got better, sound got better, we got a bass player, you know, we had a drummer could play a little more on the guitar, you know, picked up a ukulele and realized all the notes you can actually really play on it. And that's how that happened.
NS: Well, I’ll give Michael a rebuttal in a minute, not that he really needs to rebut too much. He's right with it. But, Matt, you're down there, and you've been a fiddle maker, and you are obviously a fiddler, and you're playing ’tit fer this night, and you've come and gone with Cajun music, but you're very much here with it now.
Matthew Doucet: Yeah, yeah, I recently just kind of retired about a year ago, and then so, been playing a lot with Dad, and he suffered another injury, so then I get a phone call from David saying, “Hey, you think you could come out on the road? Your dad can't make it.” I’m like, “Uh…uh…” “It’ll be fine!” I said, “All right, let's do it.”
NS: So you went out and played fiddle.
MD: Yeah, so it was Matthew Doucet avec BeauSoleil [laughter]
NS: But what got you into making fiddles? I mean, just because there's music in your family doesn't mean you're going to pick up the skills to do that kind of thing.
MD: Well, my dad's maker–his name is Jonathan Cooper in Portland, Maine. And I would go up to Nova Scotia–and this was like in ’99 and 2000s–to go study at the Université Sainte-Anne. So I went in the middle part to Maine, just to hang out with him and build, and so I skipped school for that semester, which my parents were not very happy about–
NS: But you learn to make fiddles.
MD: I did.
NS: Well, that's a learning experience.
MD: Yeah I stayed in Maine for three month.
NS: Hey I teach. I'd be giving you an A for doing that.
MD: My mom was worried I wasn't going to come home, but I did.
NS: So, one other question, and you know, I'll leave it to your judgment, but what was it like growing up with, you know, Mike as a dad? How could you answer that in a minute?
MD: Well, this is what it would be like: I could come home, and Sonny Landreth would be just sitting on the couch playing guitar, like, "Hey, Sonny. Hey, Matt. You know, just, like it was like family. I'd go on the road with them sometimes as a kid and all the local gigs and stuff. And so, you know. This is my uncle, but I called them all my uncles, you know?
NS: Yeah, well you've kind of got an extended family. Any comments on what you've been hearing, Michael?
Michael Doucet: There’s nothing like playing with your family, because, I mean, everybody's family now is spread out, you know? And for David and I to be together all this time, at least we keep in touch. I mean, once our parents died, it’s, you know, it's kind of hard to keep going. So it's a tradition, and we never listened to what anybody told us. We only wanted to do things our way. Not one record anybody told me which song to play. It was always our decision good or bad, but here we are. [applause] I wrote this song called “L’Amour ou la Folie.” This song won a Grammy, and I don’t know, that’s that. Love or folly, it means “Is it love or is it a folly?”
“L’Amour ou la Folie” BeauSoleil
American Routes original recording
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