Dallas Morning News

LAFAYETTE, LA. — Don’t go hunting for the spa at the Blue Moon Saloon & Guest House. It’s not that sort of place. But if you’re out to marinate in Louisiana music, this is where you want to tuck yourself in. Late.

It’s cheap, too: $75 to $90 for a room (some with shared bath, some with private bath) in the little turn-of-century frame house in downtown.

Or grab a bunk in one of the hostel rooms — the Couche-Couche, its walls festooned with old House & Garden magazine covers, is my favorite — for $18 a bed. The Guest House also offers a private two-bedroom bungalow with bath for about $250, depending on the days and season.

What do you get, besides a cute room? Free Wi-Fi, morning coffee or tea, use of a stocked kitchen, use of the piano, off-street parking and a free drink ticket for the Blue Moon Saloon, when it’s open, which is most Wednesdays through Sundays. You definitely want to be there when it’s open, because that saloon is the top perk to staying at the Blue Moon.

Featuring top Cajun, zydeco and assorted other roots music, the saloon is essentially the porch. A roof and wooden wall partially enclose it, but, unlike the guest house rooms, the bar’s not air-conditioned. A giant fan behind the stage does what it can, but if it’s hot, you’re going to be sweaty, and you’re going to like it.

On a recent night, the Grammy-nominated local Pine Leaf Boys tore it up for about 200 people, many dancing in a delirious frenzy that only Louisianians seem to be able to muster. So spellbinding was the evening that it was well into the next day before I realized that while I was immersed in the music, mosquitoes had made mincemeat of my left shoulder.

Helen Anders is an Austin freelance writer.

When you go

Blue Moon Saloon & Guest House, 215 E. Convent St., Lafayette, La.; 337-234-2422; bluemoonpresents.com. Lafayette is about two hours west of New Orleans and a six-hour drive from Dallas.