One of Cajun Country’s most vibrant (but paradoxically most ignored) communities dominates the southern stretch of Louisiana’s longest highway, LA HWY 1. Houses and businesses straddle the road between the narrow banks of the Bayou Lafourche and brackish marsh, from Raceland to Grand Isle, where Louisiana’s coast eventually gives way to the Gulf of Mexico. It’s a place where town names describe the area’s distinctive terrain; La Rose, Golden Meadow, Cut Off.

“Down the bayou” is a place where communities seem to blur into a single municipality with a shared main street. It’s the physical and cultural landscape that produced swamp pop legend Joe Barry (“I’m a Fool to Care”) and the Franco-country stylings of Vin Bruce, who performed at Hank William Sr’s wedding.

Yet, Les Malfecteurs (The Outlaws) and their powerful brand of Cajun honky tonk are more than a simple product of their home parish. The group builds upon the legacy of Nathan Abshire while infusing the country music currents so prevalent in the Lafourche region.

Following accordionist Ryan Brunet’s lead, Les Malfecteurs offer the promise of things to come. Their emotive bandleader’s vocals, a driving rhythm section, and pining steel guitar are the very reason this band will be a powerful creative force not only in south Louisiana, but across the country. Ryan André Brasseaux Author of Cajun Breakdown (Oxford Press)