Bayou X

Downhome Music From the Bayou & Beyond

Bayou X at Roots on the River, June 2018

Bayou X at Roots on the River, June 2018

From Langdon NH & Brattleboro VT, Bayou X is southern VT/NH area’s signature high energy Cajun/Creole dance band, performing both original and traditional Cajun & Zydeco dance music of southwest Louisiana, as well as original and traditional music derived from the global Creole diaspora, including New Orleans R&B, popular and folkloric tunes from Haiti, Martinique, Guadeloupe & St Lucia, Trinidadian calypso, West African Hi-Life, Congolese Rhumba, and an ever evolving variety of Southern roots music genres.

Bayou X is led by New Orleans native, Peter Simoneaux on fiddle and vocals, with spouse & partner Linda Simoneaux on various accordions, fiddle and vocals. Other core members of the band as of 2023, include Steve Frankel on electric bass, Bob Everingham on electric guitar, Ben Carr on drums and percussion, as well as an extensive list of auxiliary musicians on rubboard, percussion and reed instruments.

The Bayou X band plays driving, contemporary Cajun & Creole dance music, reflecting the full history of Louisiana French music, from classic Cajun 2-steps and waltzes, to old-time country music, the blues, zydeco, swamp pop, jazz, New Orleans R&B and Mardi Gras standards, and a whole panoply of pan-African and Caribbean musical genres. While Bayou X maintains a deep book of time tested tunes, its focus is increasingly on original music in a broad range of southern roots styles.

Peter & Linda Simoneaux have entertained audiences at dances, concerts, festivals and folk music venues since 1989, first as members of the Schuylkill Bayou Ramblers in Philadelphia, and since 1997, in New England, as the acoustic duo/combo Lil' Orphans. They have shared the stage with acts as renowned as Beausoleil, Savoy Doucet, C.J. Chenier, Mamou, the Mamou Playboys, and Buckwheat Zydeco. They released their debut CD, Big Powerful Woman, in 2011, under the name Lil Orphans Cajun Express. Their new CD, Your Mother Must Be… Something Special, was released in March 2018. Both CDs are available for purchase on this website, and through CD Baby.

Back O’Town Cajun Band plays classic, acoustic Cajun music, straight up. Pete & Linda Simoneaux on fiddle, accordion(s) and vocals, with Michael Pattavina on acoustic guitar on vocals. Augmented as needed by Bayou X mainstays Steve Frankel on electric bass, and Ben Carr on drums. Back O’Town’s repertoire encompasses the work of artists such as Amadee Ardoin & Dennis McGee, Joe & Cleoma Falcon, Leo Soileau with Mayeuse LaFleur and Moise Robin, Angela LeJeune, Iry LeJeune, Nathan Abshire, Lawrence Walker, the Balfa Brothers, and more, from from the legendary recordings of late 1920s and early 1930s, through the postwar periods of the 1940s and 50s, and the great Cajun music revival of the 1960s and 70s. Pete & Linda & Mike each bring over three decades experience playing and studying and dancing to this music. Dance instruction at all levels is also a staple of their repertoire.