Cajun & Creole Week 2025

Jane Vidrine – Advisor

Jane Vidrine is a musician and music educator from Lafayette, Louisiana. She’s a founding member of the Grammy nominated Magnolia Sisters Cajun Band. She also plays in the family Cajun band with her husband, John Vidrine and son, Jo. And Jane stays musically in touch with her Missouri old-time music roots. “Teaching adults who are interested in delving deep into the traditional music I love is a true privilege that brings me so much joy.” Jane has taught guitar, fiddle, and vocals several times for Cajun & Creole Week at the Augusta Heritage Center.

Amelia Biere

Originally from a small town in Wisconsin, Amelia was exposed to many forms of traditional music at an early age. She grew up listening to her dad sing, play guitar, piano, and fiddle. Fate took her to Minneapolis for college, where there were regular Cajun dances. She got hooked! Mentored by a few of the stalwart musicians of the Twin City music scene, Amelia started learning French, playing and singing.  Two bands resulted: Ana and the Bel-tones and Millie and the Mill City Heavyweights. In 2014, Amelia decided to move to the source of it all – Lafayette, LA. There she has been soaking it all in, ever expanding her love for the culture. In addition to playing cajun music, she plays old-time guitar and loves to dance. When not playing music, she is a wedding florist.

Jimmy Breaux

Jimmy Breaux is acknowledged to be one of the best Cajun accordionists of the modern era. The accordion player for the Grammy Award-winning group Beausoleil for over 25 years, he is in the fourth generation of his family to play Cajun music. His great-grandfather was Auguste Breaux and his great aunt, Cléoma Falcon Breaux, sang and played on the first Cajun recording, “Allons à Lafayette.” His grandfather, Amédée Breaux, made the first recording of “Jolie Blonde.” Jimmy’s first solo album, Un ‘Tit Peu Plus Cajun, was recorded in 1991 and is mainly a collection of traditional tunes. His second, Le Chemin Que T’as Pris, was chosen as the best album of 1997 by the Cajun French Music Association. Jimmy Breaux and Friends: Live at Festivals Acadiens was released in 2008. Since retiring from Beausoleil he has enjoyed playing around home with a variety of great musicians.

Greg Brown

Michelle Brown

I was born and raised in rural South Louisiana on a farm and I learned to cook at an early age. My mom was a homemaker and cooked 3 meals everyday. I watched and learned from her the ways of Cajun cooking. My culture is known for our great food and where there is food there are many friends. We talk about our next meal while we are eating the one we just prepared. I also like to bake and some of my pastries are served fresh at the local coffee shop downtown Eunice, LA. I am a retired school bus operator of 25 years service to rural schools in Acadia Parish. In my spare time I do sewing and alterations for the public. My passion for sewing began at the age of 9 and is a joyful hobby. Both of my girls wore wedding gowns designed by them and I fashioned the gowns to their unique specifications! I have since taken on quilting and old fashioned tatting. My husband Greg and I have 3 children and 6 grandchildren. Our 2 youngest children Megan Brown Constantin and Briggs Brown are both involved in Cajun music and preservation of our Cajun culture and heritage.

I am looking forward to making new friends thru my Cajun cooking demonstration here at Augusta.

Luke Huval

Luke has been immersed in the world of Cajun music and culture for as long as he can remember. Between his parents Terry and Annette, and their love and passion for every facet of Cajun culture, it was hard not to get hooked in one way or another. Luke started learning to sing and play guitar from a young age, and soon after began playing music with other young talents Zach Fuselier and Cameron Dupuy. Nowadays you can find him playing Cajun and country fiddle with a number of groups, and playing accordion with his own group, the Luke Huval Band.

Kelli Jones

Kelli has been playing fiddle since the age of fifteen and started out playing old time music in North Carolina, where she is from. In 2006 she moved to Lafayette, Louisiana to study dance at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette and learn Cajun fiddle as well. She has been living in Lafayette since, soaking up the culture and touring the world with Lafayette’s own powerhouse psychedelic Cajun band, Feufollet and her fellow band mates Drew Simon and Megan Constantin. She has also traveled beyond Louisiana to perform and teach at festivals throughout the United States and Canada, including Ashokan Fiddle & Dance Camp, Augusta Heritage Center Cajun & Creole week, the Festival of American Fiddle Tunes, and Centrum’s Voiceworks.

Jesse Lége

For more than 40 years Jesse Lege, originally from Guydan LA, has been bringing traditional Cajun dance hall music from the dusty back roads of southwest Louisiana, coast to coast and around the world, playing everywhere from local neighborhood dance halls to the largest international festivals.

Today, Lege is one of the most-admired Cajun accordionists and vocalists from Southwest Louisiana. He has garnered numerous Cajun French Music Association awards in many categories, including original song for “Memoires Dans Mon Coeur”. In addition to his rich accordion style and soulful singing, his knowledge and vast repertoire that includes many of the earliest recorded and shared Cajun songs is treasured by everyone from other Cajun musicians to the first-time listener.

Blake Miller

Grandson of well known accordion builder Larry Miller, Blake has been surrounded by Cajun music and culture his entire life. Hailing from the small town of Iota Louisiana, Blake, a fluent french speaker and songwriter, managed to acquire a degree in Francophone studier from The University Of Louisiana at Lafayette and in the mean time founded the popular young Cajun band The Pine Leaf Boys and became a member of the premiere Louisiana roots Band The Red Stick Ramblers. He has also served stints in just about every other cajun/creole band of note including Balfa Toujours, Les Malfecteurs and Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole bringing his strong cultural identity and accomplished musicianship to the world. Now plays with the world traveled Revelers for the past 10 years singing and playing his own songs on fiddle and accordion.

John Vidrine

John has remained deeply immersed in the Culture and Music he was born into in around Mamou Louisiana. John has taught Cajun music on accordion at the Augusta Heritage program for several years, as well as performed with his wife Jane and son Jo, on the Augusta stages. John started learning to play music as a youngster watching and listening to old timers who played at the venues and porches of his hometown and in later years performing those tunes with friends and the family band across the US and in Europe by invitation. The key to playing this music is to be able to hear the melody line and feel the meter intensely. Being able to sing the lyrics or dance to the tune helps tremendously.

Randy Vidrine

Randy Vidrine was born and raised in Ville Platte, Louisiana, in a family that spoke predominantly French. In high school he began playing guitar in a “ French” band, as it was known in those days. They did not call the music they were playing “Cajun” until a few years later. After going off to college and starting a family, he was introduced to Cory McCauley, and he began to get more serious about playing traditional Cajun music. McCauley Reed Vidrine recorded one album on vinyl before splitting up. Randy continued to play on guitar and vocals with Mitch Reed on fiddle. This duo played together for many years, touring and recording CDs with Tasso, Mamou Prairie Band, Charivari, and The Lafayette Rhythm Devils. The Rhythm Devils continue today, although Mitch has since departed from the band. Charivari recorded CDs for Rounder Records, including I Want to Dance With You, and A Trip to the Holiday. The band toured across the entire United States and countries such as England, Portugal, and others. Many of these tours included music and vocal workshops on Cajun music. Randy’s vocals have been described as “high and lonesome” and are all done in the French dialect of the Prairie Cajuns that live in the area where Randy was raised. In 2012 Randy was inducted into the Wall of Fame at the world famous Fred’s Lounge in Mamou, LA, where he still plays monthly with The Lafayette Rhythm Devils and with Jamie Berzas and Cajun Tradition. When not playing with The Lafayette Rhythm Devils or Cajun Tradition, Randy can usually be seen playing trio gigs with Jimmy Breaux and occasionally with his old bandmate, Mitch Reed.

Nancy Weston