Lost Bayou Ramblers

>The first thing you notice about the Lost Bayou Ramblers' Web site is that in order to enter, you have to choose between "English" and "Français." Once inside, click on the musical link to "Pine Island," and the site offers up another huge dose of Cajun legitimacy: a chicken-scratching fiddle melody with a long, wistful "Ahhhhhh eeeee!" Cajun yodel that makes the world seem right.

The Lost Bayou Ramblers don't practice zydeco. Theirs is traditional Louisiana country music -- bouncy dance rhythms full of crybaby steel guitar, European café squeezebox and ever-present sawing fiddle. For a bunch of relative youngsters, these Lafayette musicians do it with complete authenticity and a respectful reverence for the Cajun experience. This sounds like the pop-a-top, scoot-a-boot "Laissez les bons temps rouler" stuff on Pe-Te's Cajun Bandstand, straight from the bayou and not at all cleaned up for the sensitivities of city folk.