Pine Leaf Boys

Based in Lafayette, in the heart of French Louisiana, the Pine Leaf Boys come from deep in the Cajun tradition. Founder Wilson Savoy, who plays accordion and piano and sings, is the son of Marc and Ann Savoy, Cajun music royalty. His first instrument was boogie-woogie piano; in his teens, his father made him his first accordion out of a sassafras tree his grandfather planted. Other band members—Jon Bertrand (guitar), Drew Simon (drums, vocals), and Thomas David (bass)—also have longstanding family connections to the living cultural heritage of southwest Louisiana. 

Cajun music developed from a blending of older French and Acadian lyrics, themes, and tunes with country, western, blues and Caribbean influences. A large Acadian migration came to Louisiana following their expulsion from Canada’s maritime provinces by the British in the mid-1700s. Cajun culture emerged as Acadians interacted with southwest Louisiana’s diverse cultural groups. 

The Pine Leaf Boys add to that blend. Savoy and David contribute a touch of zydeco, Cajun music’s black French Creole counterpart. Bertrand, the resident cowboy from Louisiana’s prairies, adds rock ’n’ roll energy. Fiddler Daniel Gale came to Cajun music in his late teens; he performs regularly with Wilson and his brother, Joel Savoy, as well as the renowned Cajun band BeauSoleil. The Pine Leaf Boys share a passion for forgotten Cajun classics, digging for songs “buried under a rock for decades,” reminding listeners that Cajun music is not frozen in time; it is a continually evolving tradition.