BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet: Alligator Purse

BeauSoleil has long been a band easily taken for granted. After all, being a keeper of such a rich cultural flame can be a blessing and a curse. Because it’s all about how the music moves you, and too often BeauSoleil has felt too reverent and not vital enough. Alligator Purse changes that dynamic. There’s something more kinetic, more freewheeling going on here that makes reprisals of such classics as “Theogene Creole” feel more like museum pieces. Hell, it almost rocks. Alligator Purse showcases BeauSoleil fully in command. How else could you explain the magic of a song like “Rouler et Tourner,” a French-language cover of Bob Dylan’s version of Muddy Waters’ “Rollin’ and Tumblin’”? The energetic interplay of Michael Doucet’s fiddle and brother David’s guitar feels part duel, part harmonic convergence. This time around, BeauSoleil gets right to the heart of the matter. 4 stars.