The Basin Brothers

The Basin Brothers, a Cajun ensemble based in Lafayette, Louisiana, generate such infectious rhythms that listeners find it nearly impossible to remain seated. Fronted by Al Berard, who handles fiddle, guitar, mandolin, and vocals, the group reshapes the traditional sounds of Louisiana’s French Triangle into a vigorous blend of two-steps and waltzes. Named after the Atchafalaya Basin where Berard spent his childhood, the band has carried its music well beyond local bayous, performing at Cajun and folk festivals across the United States.

Berard’s earliest recollections differ sharply from the traditional style he later championed. Born in 1960 as the youngest of eight children to a trapper and crawdad fisherman, he displayed musical interest from infancy by tapping rhythms on kitchen pots and pans. At age eleven he attended a rehearsal involving his brother-in-law’s younger brother and became captivated by the guitar. After purchasing a chord book, he drew a guitar outline on a cardboard box and mastered the fundamental chords on his own; within a week he obtained his first real instrument.

During his teenage years Berard refined his guitar technique through regular performances with his church choir and by recording jingles as a session musician in Lafayette studios. Following high school he spent nights playing in the hard-rock band ReFix while holding daytime positions that included dredge-boat hand, steel worker, and machinist.

His initial major opportunity arrived via a telephone call from Cajun fiddler Hadley J. Castille, who asked Berard to join his band. Despite misgivings about performing Cajun material, Berard accepted. In a later interview he recalled saying to himself, “What are you going to do here, going to play that old Frenchy Cajun?” The strong audience approval he encountered while performing with Castille shaped his subsequent artistic path. He next joined the young Cajun group File for two years before stepping away to care for his hospitalized mother, who passed away several days later. Undeterred, he renewed his dedication to Cajun music, contacting longtime friend and drummer Keith Blanchard to express interest in learning the fiddle. Encouraged by Blanchard, Berard acquired an instrument and quickly became proficient. After obtaining an eight-track recorder and composing original Cajun songs, he and Blanchard gathered additional musicians to cut an album.

A pivotal moment occurred soon after the band formed. While performing at a benefit dance hosted by the Cecelia Booster Club, the group won a $10,000 raffle that funded new instruments and a P.A. system.

The Basin Brothers spent their first six years cultivating a devoted local audience within Louisiana. In 1988 Berard relinquished his day job to pursue music full time. Shortly afterward the ensemble signed with Flying Fish Records, whose release of the debut album Let’s Get Cajun in 1989 brought the group its first Grammy nomination.