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AcadianaCasts Presents:
AcadianaCasts Presents:
Crafting a Bilingual Americana with Dustin Gaspard
In this episode of AcadianaCasts Presents, singer/songwriter Dustin Gaspard opens up about his path through Louisiana’s music scene, reflecting on the challenges unique to South Louisiana. We discuss the hurdles up-and-coming musicians face, from "gatekeeping" by established artists to the pressure to cater to audiences who prefer upbeat dance music over singer/songwriter styles. Dustin also shares his experience reconnecting with his Cajun heritage through a recent French immersion program in Canada. As a special treat, he performs an original song that captures the heart and soul of his journey. Join us as we dive into Acadiana’s music culture and celebrate the resilience of local talent.
AcadianaCasts Presents: Dustin Gaspard
"AcadianaCasts Presents" is the Flagship Podcast of the ACADIANACASTS NETWORK. Lafayette, LA based host, Carter Simoneaux talks with entertainers, business owners, athletes, chefs, and more - anyone who can help tell the story of Acadiana.
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seeing a lot of the older generation that just spoke fluently my grandparents. They spoke all the time in the house but they only spoke amongst each other and they wanted to keep it the novelty, to themselves. But guess what? Now they passed and where's it at? It's stopped with them. So if we hold on to that mindset, it's never going to grow. And I think we're at a place for a lot of people, a lot of my generation and a lot of younger people, that they don't feel connected to it because it's become, it's on such a pedestal and it's out of reach so much that they think of it as just novelty, as just tourism.
Speaker 2:Dude, so it's really glad to have you back in here. First time I had an interview with you was from a different podcast and it was just audio. It was just kind of getting this thing started. Now I got you back In the meantime. It was right when Hope and. Heaven's Got a Kitchen came out. What's been going on since then, man? I've seen you sporadically coming in through this building every now and then.
Speaker 1:Once the record came out, it was a big switch for me to just play music full time. I'd been working at the bike shop for 10 years. I'd only had a bicycle to get around for a decade. So working in a bike shop kind of went hand in hand with that. And around that time I'd bought my first vehicle ever, which is an old Ford F-150 van. It was huge and disgusting on gas mileage, but it was a way to emphasize, uh, to encourage like getting to gigs and stuff and uh, I think that helped me out to kind of get to and fro for the for the record. And then it became a point where I started gigging full-time after the album was out and I knew that I'd end up having to travel further.
Speaker 2:So so you're working at the bike shop downtown lafayette, and were you only gigging places around where you can bike?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, yeah, exactly, uh, for yeah. For 10 years I stayed within the realm of biking distance downtown, freetown. That's about it, yeah exactly, yeah, and I mean there's some pictures of me going to shows where I was like I'm like carrying all my guitars and my amp on my backpack and stuff. Oh my gosh, those were, those were really amazing days, but certainly kept me here, you know, and after releasing the record it was like, oh okay, well, okay, well it's, I can't, I can't just keep this here, I have to go somewhere else.
Speaker 2:I have to keep going on so whenever you will release something like that, you know you're I see you starting to get at the time popping up gigs in like texas and other states and then, of course, like just kind of started talking about you just coming back recently from canada. How do you start getting those gigs outside? I mean, shoot, you're so used to just a certain square mileage yeah, exactly, much less the whole like parish of Lafayette. How do you get out of it?
Speaker 1:There's a number of different ways, I think. You know, staying in the hub city for a decade allowed me to collect a lot of resources and network. In that regard, it was sometimes it was like cashing in on favors that were five years in the works, 10 years in the works. It was like, oh yeah, you know, one day I'll make it to Colorado or one day I'll be out on the West coast in California, and so really it was trying to maybe follow up with those people and be like hey, hey, I know it's been 10 years and but I finally got this record out and I'm ready to start making a move.
Speaker 1:you know so that the whole record was a hope in heaven got a kitchen was a big, big deal for me, yeah. So yeah, I just reached out. Sometimes there's a lot of cold calls, uh, but mostly it had been through just networking with other artists, and louisiana lafayette, particularly, is kind of a destination spot. So you'll you'll get people from all over the country who come here wanting to explore the music and the musical scene and I just would network with them and say you know, I want to come where you are.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I know you've done a lot of like singer songwriter rounds and things like that. Is that another way to festivals specifically?
Speaker 1:Yeah, festivals but songwriter rounds. You know, I did a lot of Instagram stalking of people that were just playing the same music, that I was trying to follow up, like their strategy, and then also see you know the places that they were playing, because if there was an opportunity for them, then it was more than likely that there was probably an opportunity for me to explore the venue and say, hey, my name is Dustin Gaspard. This is what I do Tight deal.
Speaker 2:What's going down the pipe right now? What are you kind of looking at?
Speaker 1:Oh man, I'm always like.
Speaker 2:Well, first off, let me backtrack, so you were just in Canada. I'm always like Well, first off, let me backtrack, so you were just in Canada. What were you in Canada for?
Speaker 1:I'd gone up to Canada because, well, I think the way that it all begins is in 2023, I had applied for the ArtSpark grant through Acadiana Center for the Arts, which is a grant that funds artistic, let's just say, in general, the arts in Acadiana, and my project that I pitched to them was creating a folk bilingual Americana album that would tell the story of my Acadian ancestors from Nova Scotia. That would tell the story of my Acadian ancestors from Nova Scotia. My family on my mother's side, the Léger's, were original Acadians from that area who were part of Le Grand Arrangement and the whole Cajun story and their exile. So I was interested in that because my grandfather, who spoke French it was like his dream to be able to explore there and he never got to make that happen and I wanted to learn more about my Acadian heritage and my Cajun heritage and I wanted to be able to have a foot on the ground here like some something that really planted my legacy and to create a record where I would sing bilingually in my, in my idea, in my mind, was a way that I'd be able to do that and it was going to be kind of like a nurturing experience for me to learn about my, about myself, you know, um, so that's where it. That's where it started.
Speaker 1:In 2023, I actually got the grant and, um, we had this idea where I would actually tour by boat, because my ancestors toured by boat and kind of tore this record. Well, funding couldn't really stretch that far and um, in translation, what I ended up doing was just taking a trip to Canada to go play some festivals to play these songs that I had written for this ACA record, and in the meantime, I also was awarded a scholarship to go study French at St Anne, the French Emerging School in Nova Scotia. Go study French at St Anne, the French Emerging School in Nova Scotia. So it all became a giant pilgrimage to perform these songs, to talk about my music and to reconnect. None of my Léger family has been there since we were exiled in the 1700s, so it was a full circle moment for me to be a part of it all, to perform these songs and then to learn the language in the place where we were from, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's why I went back up there. Okay, and how long were you there?
Speaker 1:I was there. I left in June, I left at the end of June and, um, let's see, two months I was there for in Canada for two months. Yeah, Uh in canada for two months. Yeah, uh, because the immersion program was, uh, five weeks in total, and then I stayed an additional uh, four weeks just to spend time playing more concerts, meeting more people, um, kind of exploring more of canada and enjoying the weather and practicing my French that I'd learned.
Speaker 2:Did you find what you're looking for?
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, I really did. I really feel that I it it was. You know, as a, as a solo artist, exploring those places alone is, uh, it's very, it's very lonely, but in that place it was, I I never felt alone. I was always like on the cusp of of discovering something else that would enter my life and kind of fill that void, and it was. It was really, really beautiful to my. My main goal was to spread my grandfather's ashes in grand prix and also to learn enough French to be able to come back home and pray in French as well as write songs, and only ever get grammatically corrections, instead of me having to ask oh well, how do you say this, how do you say that? I can really find my way in writing now? Because of the school and because of the practice and because of my experience there yeah, no, uh.
Speaker 2:There is a a song that I've been kind of dabbling with, or just a concept of one that I want to write. It's essentially about the only guy in louisiana or south louisiana who can't dance that's such a great it's called like a long doll say don't uh, I'm not dancing today, or something like that.
Speaker 2:But I was kind of dabbling with that idea of mostly in English but then throw in a little bit of French. But at the same time I didn't want to feel kind of hacky while doing it and like wanting to hit it at its shrewish form. So I keep telling myself that I guess the only way to do that is to do something similar to Wii U, maybe not the extent of going all the way to the mother country, but to pick up like an Anne Savoie book or something like that and get into it.
Speaker 1:Man, you know Codafil and everything that they do To learn the French language in Louisiana, especially here, if you're not a part of the music the Acadian music scene, the Cajun music scene or if you don't actually go to college and you're not exposed to maybe French classes or something after high school, they don't tell you anything. Nobody tells you where to find it, and so in in the search itself you, the work that it takes, it's, it's kind of, it's a little disappointing, to be honest, just because I feel like it should be super easy to access all the time. I understand that it probably takes a lot of money to make that readily available for anyone at any time, but in, in wanting to search you, you develop this, um, this uh passion to really want to be able to learn. It's like, oh well, I mean, if I have to go here and have to do that you gotta really want it yeah.
Speaker 1:You gotta really want it. So I think there's the access for that, especially if you're like to write this song. You could. You can find so many different things, but going through Coda fill and some of the teachers that work for Coda fill, just having conversations with those people, it would happen instantly. You know, they'd really be able to help you out.
Speaker 2:So if someone is watching this or this is clipped on Instagram or TikTok or something and they're wanting to get a little into Louisiana French, what's a couple of ways that you would suggest people to get into it?
Speaker 1:Start with the old people first. I've never been to one, but I hear about all the Cajun tables. Yeah, find people that are going to take their time with you, and some people that I can name right off the bat are Colby Lejeune, uh. Matt Mick, um. My friend, becca Begnaud, um. All of these people have. They might not be genuinely or like, originally Cajun or Acadian or, but they have much more Cajun experience within their heart and soul, which is, I think, learning from those people. You will connect and diversify the culture, but also progress it in the right way, because those are the people that I believe are people like them are carrying it on the right way.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I mean, that's the thing in some of the conversations that I've had with Dr Barry Onsley on this show.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, barry's great.
Speaker 2:But the clips that come from it, where he's. I asked him you know what is the original, what kind of meaning, the original definition of creole cajun? And he's kind of get into it and then just from the clip, you know people are just going to see a minute long clip and then you know, jump to conclusions or whatever. But I just find it so funny that people were like this, this guy who spent his entire career basically helping create the written Louisiana French that we know today, by interviewing hundreds and hundreds of native speakers that this guy was, these people would be like no wrong, that's not what that means. My grandma taught me differently. But in that search to maybe want to learn some more of that culture or whatever, I feel like you're going to have more and more, uh, more and more people who aren't lineage directly the direct lineage from uh Akadi but, um, but like like to your point, it's you know, if, if the, the, if, the intentions and the passion is there, then you know?
Speaker 1:Yeah well, you don't have to speak French to be Cajun.
Speaker 2:Jordan Thibodeau might push back against that.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, he certainly. I mean, I believe he would. I was in Canada. I heard Jordan speak more English than he spoke French.
Speaker 2:You heard that, Jordan.
Speaker 1:Yeah, and I mean, I think it's easier to get your point across in the language that you're most familiar with, of course, but yeah, it certainly. And when I was up there, that was one thing that I hung my head on a lot, which was, man, I don't feel like I'm really Cajun because I'm not speaking the language, and I had conversations with Acadian people up there and they were upset that I would ever say such a thing. They were like you think that because you're not speaking the language, you're, you're less, and that's not true at all, because you know, like Jordan said in the podcast, it's, it's all these different things, it's dancing, it's food, it's culture. You know, all those things make up the way of life. It's not just one of those things you know.
Speaker 1:And I think if, if you get stuck on on that, then you end up saying, ah well, you know on that, then you end up saying, especially when it comes to language, language is a very difficult thing. Trying to learn it is very, very hard, but you'll find that roadblock and then you have no more courage. It'll slow you and make you kind of feel guilty and feel bad about yourself and you're like you know what. It's an easier path, just becoming the most American person that I can be or whatever you know, and I think we need to stop that. We really need to progress and come together and capture it all. I can't speak fluently. I can, I can fiddle my way through conversation, but at least I'm really, really trying and I'm writing a lot more. And when I do have the opportunity to speak and I feel like I'm my brain is going to function well enough that day, then I'm certainly going to give it a shot. But yeah, let's not hang our heads down if we can't just speak the language.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, it definitely seems. As you know, in this age of the internet, where we're more connected across the world than ever before, there's there seems to be a, a push, or a larger push from people here to want to hold on to some of those, those things that make us purely unique.
Speaker 1:Yeah, here in south louisiana yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, but and, and I think, yeah, but also we have more of an opportunity to share it, yeah and to educate people and well it's.
Speaker 1:And I think we're going to get to a place and I've seen it, you know, especially in this last decade, living here and seeing a lot of the older generation that just spoke fluently, my grandparents. They spoke all the time in the house but they only spoke amongst each other and they wanted to keep it the novelty for themselves. But guess what? Now they passed and where's it at? It's stopped with them. So if we hold on to that mindset, it's never going to grow.
Speaker 1:And I think we're at a place for a lot of people, a lot of my generation and a lot of younger people, that they don't feel connected to it because it's on such a pedestal and it's out of reach so much that they think of it as just novelty, as just tourism, and it's it's now they're changing who they are, because what who they actually are is out of reach for them and we need to put that back in touch with those people. I, I, I'm really trying to make this my new record through the JCA to inspire those listeners. It's strictly bilingual, Sometimes one line's in English, the next line's in French, so I want it to contextualize and allow people to say oh well, I kind of think I know what he's talking about here and maybe that will give them the energy to go look up. Oh well, what does this word mean? And just by, in those little increments, inspiring the language a different way.
Speaker 2:So how is it bilingual? Is it like one verse is in French, one verse is in English, or are you recording two different versions of it?
Speaker 1:Yeah, it switches back. Every song's a little different. Some are all in French, some are, like I said, line for line One, it'll kind of answer itself, you know, if it's talking about, like there's a song that I have called Areca, which is the lyrics go. I have called Adet Sa, which is the lyrics go, adet Sa, matit Fi Ofo Pak Dibrai. When I leave, so he's talking about, I don't want you to cry when I leave, so what it's like oh well, if they're just English speakers and they're going to hear the when I leave part and think, oh well, what did he say before that? Why is he leaving? You know, try to maybe encourage like the listening aspect, but also the defining of the language and then looking up and researching what it might be about. And yes, some of the songs are, some of the songs are all the verses are in English and then the choruses are in French and just things like that, you know well, kind of moving on talking more about the music and the music scene and all that um, just from a songwriting perspective.
Speaker 2:Uh, you know I've recently gotten into some songwriting. Would hope to record some of it officially soon, not with any uh goals of taking it on the road or anything, but just as an artist to see the initial idea get to its fullest form. But I guess recently I've had you mentioned the word roadblock, but you know some writer's block recently. What's your advice as far as getting past that? Or are you just a little creative energizer bunny?
Speaker 1:Oh, no, no, I wish I was. I approached a lot of things backwards. You know I never learned how to play an instrument. I would just kind of pick it up and fiddle around, which was a blessing and a burden. You know I'm paying for it.
Speaker 1:These days, when I'm trying to solo on certain songs, I'm kind of stuck in my old ways and to search for inspiration, inspiration and conviction was never a problem for me. I just close my eyes and kind of tap in uh. But now I'm at a point where to me everything kind of sounds the same. So finding inspiration is very difficult and I think, for for people that are suffering from block read, reading is like I always crack myself wide open when it comes to that Um, that just the, the transfer of words into your mind is is like allowing so many different doors to open. It's allowing all these different vocabulary and then perspectives, and then all of that subconsciously is, you know, unblocking all these doors. So I think for me, reading is the biggest thing.
Speaker 1:Sometimes playing a different instrument I mean, I've been playing guitar for a little over a decade now and finding inspiration through it is pretty difficult because I know I'm just going to lean on a lot of the things I already know. Um, so I I've actually played a lot more bass recently and banjo and banjo, so that's been, that's been a lot of fun, I think originally. In my heart too, I am a bass player, so I I I also have recency bias, but I feel like the music I've been writing uh recently is is the best stuff I've been able to put out.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, that's exciting. Decided to start hearing it. Uh, do you ever worry that whenever you pick up a new instrument, that you'll snap it because you work out so much? Your arms are just too jacked never, never. I have never thought about it at all just get a little too excited on stage and maybe go to bend a note I think that sometimes I I do play.
Speaker 1:I could benefit from um it's just my insecurity talking from not working out the past couple months well, I you know, and I convince myself and I don't know if this is like a like some sort of uh, mind trick that I play on myself, but I convince myself that if I am working out, my voice is actually better because I'm more, my body's more warmed up and fluid, and so all my muscles are a little more relaxed and able to fire. So I think my hobbies have ran hand in hand now.
Speaker 2:And sometimes others outshine what I'm actually trying to do. So you're working full-time as as a musician, yep, and how do you create any sort of uh, continuity or habits or like, like you're going to a nine to five or you know, making it your job and not sleeping till 11 o'clock in the morning.
Speaker 1:If you tell me, I could really use it. I have pretty terrible habits, I think. For me there's just a bottom line, and it's, you know, often, more times than not, wednesday to Sunday don't plan a single thing. This is my work week. Um, I know I'm really a night owl too, so my schedule is wacky as hell.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I will get to a gig at five, you know, after I finish at eight and nine o'clock, then I'll go to the gym and my day's kind of really kicking off. I'll go back home by this time it's, you know, 12, one o'clock in the morning. I'll have a little bit of writing, because I write the best and more fluently when it's just completely quiet, there's nobody else around. I like existing in that world, and then I will sleep until you know 10, 11 o'clock. And people get pissed off, but they don't understand that my day doesn't. Their day started at nine o'clock. And people get pissed off, but they don't understand that my day doesn't. Their day started at nine o'clock, mine started at one in the afternoon. Right, you know, it's the same thing, except we're just a little bit shifted.
Speaker 2:For sure. Um, how many times a week are you gigging on average?
Speaker 1:Uh, right now. Well before I should go to before I left. Before I left I was gigging four days on average. Some days it was six, some days it was two. I mean some weeks it was two. Right now, work's been pretty slow. You disappear for a whole summer. People forget that you exist, which is like a super bummer, but there's always new people playing. Performing music in the South is the most difficult place in the whole wide world.
Speaker 2:Please elaborate.
Speaker 1:Because, especially in Louisiana and Acadiana, there's an expectation Music can be there, but the expectation is not about the music. It's about the drinking and the dancing first, and then it's about the socializing Uh, and then it's about the music. It's about the drinking and the dancing first, and then it's about the socializing Uh, and then it's about the music. So there the options for how you can break into those gigs and make those gigs work is you have to be extremely entertaining and extremely um and extremely adapted to that environment. If you're performing music that doesn't do any of those things that can't exist in the background and entertain as like a jukebox, or it can't completely grab somebody and make them dance and instill their night away, then you will not be able to play.
Speaker 1:It's nonexistent here. The singer-songwriters I mean. I remember I went to an Amos Lee concert. I've seen this with Ryan Adams too Wilco, all these songwriter-esque, more probably acoustic-driven bands, but Amos Lee said it best he's like. I've never been so disrespected as a place that I played in the South. I don't know if you remember this, but a couple years ago Ray LaMontagne had played at the Hyman Center.
Speaker 4:Right.
Speaker 1:Sold out show and the entire balcony was rambunctious Really, and people were pissed, absolutely pissed, because now I've gotten to meet Ray and he's a super humble guy, but what that does is, even for performers like him, just makes you feel. I mean, it makes you feel less than makes you feel unheard, and then it makes people not want to come back here. There needs it's just the most difficult to play because there's so many expectations that are other than sitting and listening to the music yeah I'm not saying come to my gigs and shut the hell up.
Speaker 1:That's not at all what I'm saying. There's a time and a place for everything. There's just not a lot of places, um, to do anything other than drink and dance and party, and that's why people like coming to the South.
Speaker 2:Yeah, no, I relate very heavily to a songwriter by the name of Michael McLeod. He basically has might be finally retired now, but kind of an older guy really got famous or well known in the songwriting world around like age 40, if I had to guess but just hauled home Key West for several years. And he's got this great line in the song called Tourist Town Bar where he says I'm an alcohol-powered jukebox in this tourist town bar, wow. Or I'm tired of playing Jimmy Buffett songs in this tourist town bar, and I often relate to that because you're playing at a bar or something and they want live music, but at the same time, the music is just part of the whole thing. Yeah, the atmosphere. Yeah, it's not the thing. You're literally a jukebox.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, freebird, exactly, gosh. I saw recently there's a guy that wrote a song called Freebird oh really, and it's like talking about that. Yeah.
Speaker 1:It's a really great folk song too, Uh, cause he's obviously like complaining but being like very poetic and sarcastic about the whole thing. And since the song's called free bird, it's like anytime somebody would say that in the crowd it really it gets a laugh too. So I mean I think call it free burn. It's like anytime somebody would say that in the crowd it really it gets a laugh too. So I mean I think that's another, it's another way to kind of deal with things in the south. Is you? You have to be adjusted and prepared to have your performance reflect that. It shouldn't you? There's, uh, there's always a difference between gigs and shows.
Speaker 1:Right, I think I've talked to you about that before where a gig is, when you're hired to be the atmosphere, to be background entertainment, possibly take a request. It's usually going to be between two and four hours. You're going to get played at a flat rate, whatever that might be, but you're not going to be asked to do anything than this role, this wheel in the cog, and a show is when you know. Usually it's 45 minutes to an hour and a half. You're storytelling and performing your art, promoting your brand and actually having people engage with their heart, instead of you know people engage with their heart instead of, you know, try to drink and and and waste away a little.
Speaker 2:So what's? I mean, it might be a chicken and the egg scenario, but you know, first off, how many venues are really offering that to artists around here.
Speaker 1:Well, I think you have to define venue. You know, I think establishments is how I would play it. There are establishments for gigs all the time. Right, you know, that can be a coffee shop, that can be a bar that's open until 2 o'clock in the morning. That can be, you know, it can be pretty much anything. A Mexican restaurant A Mexican restaurant, mexican restaurant, but as far as shows go, there's no places that promote listening room type events. Right.
Speaker 2:And I know you've tried to do it in the past and I've seen other artists like Zach Edwards, I think Miles Meagle with the Good Dudes. I've seen several people around our age trying to create or get a listening room atmosphere at an establishment to.
Speaker 4:Unfortunately, really no avail yeah.
Speaker 2:But it's not necessarily. I don't necessarily put it all on these venues or these establishments, because at the end of the day, they got to make their money, yeah, and if the crowds aren't coming in for that, then they can't pay the artist to do it, and so they got to do it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's so. That's completely correct. You know, it's ingrained in the people to not have that experience. So when we and we have coached them to not have that experience, well, just like we've coached the genres to be like a very specific, just Cajun, zydeco-centric thing here, all the free concerts and stuff that we promoted through decades of live music have only been a very specific thing. And so now I'm asking you to come in and pay $10 to $15 and sit down and shut up and not get the experience that you're so accustomed to. That's really not fair to the customer at all, and the only way that venues and establishments are going to make their money is to keep promoting the same thing that we've been doing for years and years. I don't know how to break that cycle. I really don't.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I wouldn't begin to know either. But yeah, you're right. So much of Cajun in Zydeco is predicated around having a good time dancing and so people are so used to that. And of course, with all these festivals that are often free to get into, you're not paying for music and so many people. And we've talked about ad nauseum on this show about that whole concept.
Speaker 2:but people know people will scoff at a at a cover when there's a way I got to pay for music now, like well, that's not, that's. That's what why I live in Lafayette, yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I think, I think it's. It's. It's just a bummer. A lot, of, a lot of the places in Acadiana are like really great listening room in Baton Rouge called the Red Dragon Room, which is a super promotional place for exactly what we're talking about, it being a sit down, shut up, experience, this artist type vibe. But since it's such a novelty thing, it's very hard to be a part of and very hard to get into and it's held at such prestige that it's it's booked up for years and stuff. Wow.
Speaker 1:I mean we don't. We don't have the population or the the scene itself is not connected to the population enough to be able to have those retrieve those customers. I think if there's any place that could really help benefit, that, I think, like the college, would be a great spot. You know, if there was anybody there that wanted, because I know there's a lot of people in college and a lot of younger people that aren't sitting in their dorms jamming Cajun, zydeco music, you know.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And they're probably playing lo-fi, which I'm closer to lo-fi than I am to anything else you know here. So for acoustic like listening room performances, having those type of people, that clientele, come to your shows, however, we need to connect that that. I think that would be a great way to access and maybe even get the needle moving yeah, target, target the audience of people whose, uh, opinions are being formed that haven't already.
Speaker 2:They're not already set in their ways, you know they're.
Speaker 2:They're more open-minded, at least, of how to approach the world, and not just music and entertainment.
Speaker 2:But you know what they want to do career-wise, family-wise, what type of person they want to be, and I feel like that'd be a great way to start. And then, if you create I mean I had this argument with sports all the time and I've been angry at the university and how they've kind of pushed away students and angered students over the years, because the more you do that, you're not going to give these students a good memories of their time in college and so there's less likely to come back and support the university when it comes to athletics and come to games and whatnot. And it's the same thing kind of with with music, um, albeit, you know there's less of like a power structure, it's more up to like a have to have some bold venue and some in a group of artists who are willing to, you know, kind of do that and maybe not make the most money, but it's hard to convince someone to like put their ass on the line, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:I don't think you'll make the most money now, but given us the fact that it's not happening at all, I think there can be an opportunity to make something happen.
Speaker 2:Sure, yeah, there's. There's an emptiness in the market.
Speaker 1:Yeah, Huge, huge emptiness and you just got to find those people. You have to be willing to find those people and, yeah, like you said, you have to find them kind of with an undeveloped attachment to whatever is happening now, because you know there's about 10 groups in Acadiana that are fighting for the. It's like, it's like politics in a way. You know, they're fighting for the highest paying, most lucrative gigs here and they they're all within bands, within themselves, and they keep getting those gigs over and over and over again. Um, and those people and I mean for that too, for Cajun Exotico music, sometimes it's that's their shows, their gigs are actually shows for them. So there's a benefit to that and a return as far as their artistry. But you know, if they're making 90% of the majority of the money that's going into Acadiana, this other 10%, all these other people, are just left to the scrums, you know.
Speaker 2:It's why. It's why so many artists, really talented ones, leave and go to Nashville or LA or anywhere else.
Speaker 1:Yeah, anywhere else. Yeah, I a lot of people, I know a lot of people that have gone out to Austin and immediately like see genuine success.
Speaker 1:Just because there is something here but there's no, people aren't sharing it. And they aren't sharing it because, if they do, that takes food off their table. Sure, they'll wait until their tenure is up, and then, after 20, 25 years, then it's then it, then it might be yours if you've followed the exact suit to get there. Um, the further we get, though, the smaller that pool becomes, and sooner or later it's just going to be, you know, two or three premier bands that are just going to be related to Cajun Zodical art, and from that it's not. It's no longer a lucrative career to be a Cajun Zodical artist, you know, and we really have to find a way to expand it.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you'll just have one artist representing the entire genre. Yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That would be truly demoralizing, it would be really sad.
Speaker 2:So this is really fascinating to me. Break this down a little bit more. This kind of gatekeeping and these kind of 10, I guess bands, or is it venues.
Speaker 1:Yeah. So from my experience over the past years, there's always like a group of artists that collaborate amongst each other. These are usually, I would say, there's a Cajun Zydeco genre, like the culturally significant, tourist promoting type genre, and then there's, of course, the cover band genre, and in each of these groups that are getting these Like party bands.
Speaker 1:Like party bands. They're getting these giant bands. They all share members amongst themselves. So in this realm the Cajun Zydeco place, if you have the best fiddle player, well that best fiddle player probably has his own lead band. So when he gets a call for a gig, he's not calling somebody from below, he's going to call the person that got him the other gig from the band from the other night and then they end up all intermingling with themselves and keeping it amongst themselves and pop potage which is not sharing.
Speaker 1:Uh, that that's unfortunate, because all these people are like really struggling to get into that group. Maybe you have a family member, maybe you're the absolutely most excellent player that they've ever seen before. Rarely in my experience are you just a cool person and a good musician and a good artist. That's not how it goes. Even if there was just opportunity for you know somebody just to be opening up for these people, that would kind of share the loaf a little and at least get some promotion for art besides these people's selves. But if you share that, it's food off the table.
Speaker 1:Same thing with the cover genre. All those bands are mixtures within themselves. The same bass player learns the 50 know the 50 song set list and then he could play with all these groups until they're too busy and they have to find another bass player that does the same thing. But essentially that's where it stands. I think you really have more success in the cover genre business because you can just learn those songs and show up and be like I'm a badass, I can do these Boogie shoes, got these, yeah.
Speaker 2:And then Boogie shoes Got it.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly, Maybe you have, maybe you have tryouts there. But, like I said, if you do, if you just, if you're not sharing, it's really. It's slowly getting smaller and smaller. It's not growing anymore.
Speaker 2:Well, I do find it. I kind of chuckle sometimes when I look at the lineups, at like the the boudin fest or the crawfish fest or the rice fest, and it's kind of like a rotating list of the same bands. Yeah, you know, it's totally they don't it's like, well, is this just the same festival? Do we're just changing the food in the location?
Speaker 1:yeah, yeah, that's essentially what is.
Speaker 2:I mean, that's what's happening, because you know at the same time, though, someone like a Wayne Tubes has a draw.
Speaker 1:Yeah, right, well, that's the point. But also because he's been doing this for 30 years and put in that system, so he worked his way to that spot and now he's not retiring it. Yeah, Rightfully so, because he understands the way that this world works.
Speaker 2:Cool to see guys that we're friends with, like Gino and Josh, you know, get opportunities with them.
Speaker 1:Well, and then the two people that you just named absolute killers.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:You have to be undeniable at what you are capable of, and if you're not undeniable then you're not going to get granted any opportunity. You have to work yourself into being the absolute best to bust through that ceiling, or you got to just know somebody and know somebody. It's the same thing as politics.
Speaker 2:Well yeah, which you know. There's a level of like meritocracy that I do agree with. Like I don't want someone who is a half-assed player or musician to like have the main slot at a festival or something you know. Yeah.
Speaker 1:You want a good, high quality level of music yeah, um, and maybe I'm maybe I'm all screwed up because I think that there's other people.
Speaker 2:I believe that there are actually other people that can hold that spot, but maybe my, my perspective is what here's the thing as a performer, you need stage time, you need, you need those reps, and there's always so much little grinding that you can do in your you know bedroom yeah, exactly um, and yeah sure you can go do the the tex-mex tour to get your chops up, yeah, um, but to to be on a stage in front of you know, 500 people or a thousand people, you know that's.
Speaker 1:That's such a valuable experience for any performer, because the pressure's on yeah, I remember I had talked to mark a couple years ago this was in 2019 mark broussard, we had opened up for him and we got him backstage and we when gino and josh and I and kant, baity, stratton doyle we were all in the freetown sound big funk jam band which we we created that band in general. Um, I made that because there were songs that I was writing and then, and then I was like, okay, nobody's listening to these because I'm not loud enough. I need to be loud and to grab their attention, to make them dance. Like I said, that's like the criteria for booking gigs here and, uh, so, so I, we assembled that group and kind of broke through and started getting these opportunities where people, other people were paying attention and I and so I was backstage with mark and I was like man, you know, this is actually kind of starting to happen. It's a lot of fun. Um, but I'm a songwriter at heart. I want to write songs and sing for crowds.
Speaker 1:I'd seen that he's done solo tours and stuff like that. And he looks at me and he just says get the fuck out of here. And I was like no, no, there has to be a way. He's like, no, there isn't, you have to leave. He's like, no, there isn't, you have to leave. He's like no one will ever care until you leave.
Speaker 1:And we're talking about Mark Broussard. He's your favorite singer's favorite singer. Yeah, he's undeniable. His band is some of the best on the entire planet. And he's telling me that it's not going to happen. You know, my grandfather said he used to tell me I was like you know, I can't do it. And my grandpa would tell me can't died before you were born. And so now it's like, okay, I don't want to say I can't do it. So what am I going to have to do to make it all work here? And I think, like I said, that kind of all goes back to making this bilingual record. You know, trying to bridge all the gaps, touch all the bases. I'm really, really stubborn and I'm just giving it my damnedest to make it work.
Speaker 2:Well, I'm really excited for that. But I want to talk about some more. I guess more like positive things. So let's shift gears for a second. And what are some of your favorite little small towns in Acadiana to play at? Or maybe a venue or establishment, oh man, great.
Speaker 1:That's great. Shout out to Cafe Sydney, madbro Bridge. David has paid my bills. Uh, he's also put food in my belly and he's always greeted me with extreme kindness. That place is probably my favorite spot to play. There's a I'm trying to think of any other little spot.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, and maybe you know not just how they've treated you, but have you found little pockets in Acadiana where you can do your thing, your songwriting, and?
Speaker 1:sharing and storytelling. Well, broadbridge and Cabby City, maine, was certainly one of those places, because I remember talking to David. I was like, man, you know that I don't do any of this big, big cover stuff. I'm not going to play Boogie Shoes 20 times, I'm not going to do your country, your your country pop radio stuff. And he's like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know all that. It's like I know like your music and what you do and that's what we want here. So I mean it's it certainly becomes a, a balance. You're not getting a, it's not your show, you're still entertainment, but you're more respected and represented there as an artist because it is a more, it's a lower type of atmosphere where people are dining and they're there to experience all forms of the art. It doesn't have to be a Cajun Zydeco group, it can be whatever. So I mean I was really lucky to to have met David. I think we met in 2021 and he brought me in.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I will say, you know I come from the wedding party band music scene and when I started playing by myself or even in a band I had in college here in Lafayette, you know I was playing a lot of those same songs and getting to more of the solo stuff and I was like I remember seeing a gig on the counter and being like, oh God, I got to do these same songs again.
Speaker 2:And a couple years ago I started playing, you know, still covers Maybe I'll throw in one of my own every now and then, but more songs that I loved, yeah, and I truly found that when I started doing that, audiences were more receptive. I was getting tipped more, I was getting complimented more. I was, you know, not having empty breaks in between songs with at least someone not like applauding or something which that can get so just grueling whenever you're playing and then like no response in between songs, even like the background alcohol-powered jukebox gigs, you know, in between songs, even like the background alcohol-powered jukebox gigs. But there was truly something to me, even playing still cover songs, but more songs that I loved. I loved singing and I loved playing and that really comes out in a performance. So that's advice I give a lot of guys who are starting out for the first time. Gigging it's like play the songs you love.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, I would say make an eclectic set list. It's like play the songs you love. Yeah, yeah, I would say make an eclectic set list. Um, try not to stray too far away from what would be appropriate. Like I'm not going to go play the saddest song ever, even though it's like my favorite song, but I do. I do a lot more besides from artists that are all like the. The rage around this area, you know, I do want to mention is a lot of the standards for this area. Just going anywhere else, like the far west coast or even the northeast, where I was, it's not the same standards there. So having that repertoire is just like people are like whoa, you're the coolest music I've ever heard before. So I mean Acadiana being in a bubble. We're kind of stuck in this echo chamber where we only hear and do the same thing. But Escape in this place. It really is super having this in our back pocket and this place in our back pocket is super beneficial.
Speaker 2:Well, let me ask you a couple of kind of rapid fire questions. And then, do you mind you bought? So you bought the guitar, Mind playing a song.
Speaker 1:Oh yeah, I can play.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we'll kind of knock out a couple of these and then we'll. We'll kind of wrap with that. What do you get when?
Speaker 1:when you get a meal.
Speaker 2:If I have money to purchase a meal, or you're cooking a meal, you're at a family dinner or something.
Speaker 1:Okay well, I try to eat pretty healthy, so I'm probably separating things. Okay, yeah, I'm probably keeping it separate, unless it comes to Thanksgiving and you know there's turkey and jambalaya and ice. I'm a potato salad in the gumbo dude, but I'm not swirling it around. You know, I'm not mixing it all up, I'm just sharing it a little bite by bite. So, yeah, I'd probably keep it separate.
Speaker 2:Okay, what's your favorites? I mean, once again, this is probably a bad question for you because you eat healthy, but gas station to get food at.
Speaker 1:Ooh no, Any place where there's fried chicken.
Speaker 2:Okay, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:Or Hunt's Brothers Pizza Right yeah. Oh my God, I destroy it. Dude, I've eaten so much pizza in New York City and it's delicious, but give me a good old piece of cardboard Huntsman Brothers pizza and I will mange that.
Speaker 2:That's hilarious. Let's see how often are you tuning a guitar in between? Songs Absolutely You're tuning your voice to your guitar.
Speaker 1:Yeah, yeah, yeah, Until I pull up my harmonica and I'm like holy hell, I was way out of tune this whole time.
Speaker 2:Are you a DI guy or are you going? I am a DI guy, okay, I am a DI guy?
Speaker 1:Yeah, because I move around too much and I usually use a pretty junky acoustic that takes some proper EQ.
Speaker 2:Do you dust your crawfish?
Speaker 1:Can't eat crawfish. I'm allergic. You're allergic to crawfish? Yeah, all shellfish. But I have been able to eat shrimp as of the last two years.
Speaker 2:Now, knowing that you're allergic to shellfish, how do you make the jump into trying?
Speaker 1:Well, I have to be at a pretty low point in my life, I'm so hungry. No, I think, just accessibility. Once a year I try a pinky size of crawfish. See what happens Like bald crawfish. I'll take about that big and every year never fails that. Immediately my throat swells up and I get real itchy and, uh, it's hard for me to breathe.
Speaker 2:And I just know, well, maybe next year, you know um, whenever you got your car, uh, for the first time after riding your bike all around town, um, how quickly did you start avoiding ambassador caffrey?
Speaker 1:uh, yeah, oh yeah, and johnston, yeah. Well, actually I would drive it closer to the bike lane as a safe driver, like I was the shield for people that were ever in the lane because you, you consider it with I've been hit 50 times on Johnson Street. Really, oh, absolutely. Yeah, I've been rear-ended. I took out somebody's rear-view mirror once. People have turned directly into me, just ended up on their hooves.
Speaker 2:Do you have a personal injury lawyer on speed dial?
Speaker 1:No, no, I have a broken wrist still, but deal with it.
Speaker 2:Battle scars, yeah, truly All right. Well, so before we grab the guitar and take a little break to get everything kind of resituated, do you have a song in mind, and if so, can you give us a little backstory?
Speaker 1:Hmm, I wonder if I'll play my banjo potentially. Okay, yeah, I think I'll do my banjo and sing in French a little bit I love, just so I can display kind of where I am hoping to take Cajun French music in the future. The song that I'll play, I'll play Areza, and then I can just show you kind of demonstrate what I'm trying to do.
Speaker 2:Cool, all right, let's set it up. All right, here he is Dustin Gaspar. I'd hate somatic feet.
Speaker 5:Won't fall back too bright when I leave. I hate sad. My tick feet Go for back to bright when I leave. My belle femme, my baby, Quand vous optez, just think of me.
Speaker 3:Tout quelque chose va bien. Je suis prêt à travailler pour vous.
Speaker 5:Écoutez votre cœur, écoutez mes mains. Va au béchamel, and that's when I get back. Just think of me, yes, ma'am. Just think of me as a man. I love you. Wow, that was freaking awesome man.
Speaker 2:Definitely, just talking to you in between, the kind of set change. I like how you said, you kind of created your own little tuning, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 1:The tuning for the banjo, just because I mean you can play those six string band TARS and they just sound like crap If you just keep them in standard tuning. So I just tried to mimic as closely to a banjo sound and put some doubles in there. That'll wait. Kind of rolls a little bit.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you can hear it. And just to kind of recap what was the song about?
Speaker 1:Audit Saw is about. It's one of the first songs from the record. The story goes from before exile for my ancestors and then kind of goes through the entire process and then how they ended up here, and it's all from the perspective of my grandmother. But that song, particularly, is from my grandfather, my ancestral grandfather, michel Jean Leger, and he's singing to his wife and his daughter on the shore and he's saying and aretsa is a kind of like a Cajun phrase that you know, you might've heard your grandparents say when you're doing something wrong, they'll say stop that. And he, he sees his wife and his daughter's crying and he says aretha, my little girl, stop like, stop crying when I leave. Like you, I don't want you to cry anymore when I leave. So that's what the song's about just him leaving. And he says, uh, the chorus is uh, two kicks shows vibe, yeah, like he's going to go. Essentially he's going to go work for them. Every time he's leaving, he's going to work for them.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's really pretty. You can find Dustin's music on Spotify, apple Music, wherever, probably, youtube, all the streaming platforms. Where else can people follow you, get in touch with you, all that?
Speaker 1:You can go to my website too. That'll have a lot of updated information on what to expect and what is that?
Speaker 1:That is just dustingospamusiccom and you'll follow me on. Click that follow button on Spotify. Subscribe to the YouTube. I'm always uploading videos. I do a lot of videos for a series called yells at nature, which is just me and absolutely scenic places along my tour where they're, like, extremely remote and hard to get to spots, but then I just perform a song. Um, so subscribe to youtube, follow the website and, uh yeah, you'll be able to see kind of updates on tour for next year yeah, man keep, keep hitting that content, because I've seen some of those.
Speaker 2:They're really cool stuff.
Speaker 1:Thanks.
Speaker 2:And obviously the landscapes are absolutely beautiful, oh, super beautiful, very lucky. Yeah, music's really cool as well, and people be on the lookout for your next album.
Speaker 1:Avec le Coudon. I released a jumble of singles as an EP last week and the full record will be out, sometimes middle of the year, next year.
Speaker 2:Okay, so you can go. Guys, go check that out, go support Dustin. Appreciate you coming and shooting the shit with me about the music scene and all that and talking about some of your adventures. Thanks for letting me be part of it. Absolutely Open platform, brother. As we end every single episode, you can take a look at your single cam right there and it could be a word, a phrase, a slogan, could be in French or English, could be advice, could be anything that you want to end this episode with. Uh, to give to the internet audience at large.
Speaker 1:Oh man, I wish I was more prepared for this. Well, yeah, I'll just. I'll reference the thing my grandfather would tell me, and that's can't die before you were born.
Speaker 4:Hey, thanks for tuning into the show. Since you made it this far, might as well give us a like, a follow, a subscribe. You know whatever you gotta do to alert you that there's a new episode out. Look, it helps us grow and it allows us to give you the content that, well, you deserve. If you want to be a sponsor, if you want to be a guest, if you just want to berate me, hey, all goes in the same place. Info at Acadianacastcom, email info at Acadianacastcom and for more lovely source podcasts, go to Acadianacastcom. Bye.
