Beausoleil

Always the bridesmaid, never the bride, Beausoleil's multiple Grammy nominations have yet to bear fruit. Undaunted, "the best Cajun band in the world" and what Rolling Stone once called "America's best dance band" have labored on through three decades of simultaneously innovative and traditional performances. Band leader Michael Doucet ought to be regarded as a national treasure for his efforts to popularize the Cajun waltzes and two-steps of the Acadian community dances known as "fais do do." By incorporating age-old Creole influences into songs accessible to modern ears such as "Iko, Iko" and "Bo Diddley," Doucet and his confreres succeeded in bringing Cajun music out of the swamps and taking it as far abroad as Europe (where the band's following is large). Accordion, fiddle and Doucet's grainy French patois are the band's musical mainstays.