Back O'Town Cajun Band

Peter Simoneaux

peter.simoneaux@gmail.com

Back O'Town Cajun Band

Back O'Town Cajun Band is the latest project of Langdon NH musicians Pete & Linda Simoneaux, on fiddle & accordion, joining forces with longtime Greenfield MA multi-instrumentalist Michael Pattavina on acoustic guitar and/or bass, and various other area musicians, in particular multi-instrumentalist Steve Frankel on electric bass and/or Steel Guitar, and Ben Carr or Jim MacNutt on drums. Back O'Town Cajun Band plays traditional, acoustic Louisiana Cajun & Creole dance music, "straight up," with a repertoire ranging from the legendary recordings of late 1920s and early 1930s, through the postwar periods of the 1940s and 50s, and the great Cajun music revival of the 1960s and 70s.  

Pete & Linda Simoneaux have been performing together since 1986, first in Philadelphia as the Schuylkill Bayou Ramblers, then throughout Vermont and southern New Hampshire as Lil Orphans, Lil Orphans Cajun Express, Bayou X, and now Back O'Town. Over the past decade, they have released two CDs, Big Powerful Woman (as Lil Orphans Cajun Express) and Your Mother Must Be Something Special (as Bayou X). Michael Pattavina has been a mainstay of the Pioneer Valley music scene for at least 35 years, with bands including the Cajun band Dirty Rice, the Bluegrass inclined Boys of the Landfill, Old Time Country band The NiteCaps (and others too numerous to list). Steve Frankel has spent the last 40 odd years playing music of every conceivable genre, in Washington DC, Richmond VA, Asheville NC, and Brattleboro VT. In Brattleboro, he has done yeoman's duty with both Lil Orphans Cajun Express and Bayou X, in addition to other name brand local bands, Broadband, Shakin' All Over, Patty & the Cakes & Sunny Lowdown. Ben Carr is a veteran of many Brattleboro area bands, including the reggae band Mo Anbesa, the Louisiana Roots band Bayou X, and his own various solo and ensemble projects.

In addition to playing authentic Cajun music, Pete Simoneaux and Michael Pattavina are also seasoned dance instructors, so it can be expected that dance instruction will be a regular facet of Back O'Town gigs. Also worth noting, Pete & Linda Simoneaux are founding members of the Brattleboro based New Orleans style brass band, Celebration Brass Band.