Camile Baudoin (The Radiators) - This Old House (2021)

Personnel:
Camile Baudoin – guitar, vocals
Frank Bua Jr. – drums
Reggie Scanlan – bass
Sonny Landreth – slide guitar on “Gemini Blues”
Andre Bohren – vocals on “Straight Eight” & “Deep Ellum”
Mike Burkhart – organ, piano
Jake Eckert – rhythm guitar
ohn Fohl – rhythm guitar
Josh Paxton – piano, organ
The Cambronne Chorus – Andre Bohren, Missy Bowen, Frank Bua, Jake Eckert

For over 33 years, guitarist Camile Baudoin laid down the groove for the epic New Orleans rock band The Radiators, defining that lugubrious Crescent City sound known as “fishhead music” with his funk-driven rhythms, powerful slide work, and incendiary solos.

After 4,000 performances, 17 CDs, and hundreds of major festival and television appearances, and with thousands of loyal fans nation-wide, Camile and The Radiators have earned a top berth as American rock and roll icons. His success is marked by a slew of accolades, including a Big Easy Lifetime Achievement Award and induction into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.

Camile has played with some of the most influential talents of modern American music: Professor Longhair, Earl King, Eddie Bo, Taj Mahal, Jaco Pastorius, Steve Cropper, Dr. John, Travis Tritt, David Bromberg, Warren Haynes, George Porter, Jr. (The Meters), Paul Barrere and Richie Hayward (Little Feat), Greg Allman, Karl Denson, Derek Trucks, the Tower of Power Horns, David Hidalgo, Jim Dickinson, John Popper, (Blues Traveler), and Levon Helm; and with Hollywood favorites such as Dan Akroyd, Bruce Willis, and Harry Shearer. He has appeared on Late Night with Conan O’Brien, served in the house band for the nationally-televised Comic Relief, and been featured in both seasons of HBO’s Treme.

Despite the Radiators’ relentless touring, Camile has always found time for side projects, including the acoustic blues band The Back Porch Rockers (with legendary bluesmen Dave “Snaker” Ray and Tony Glover), a stint in Zigaboo Modeliste’s Funk Revue, a founding member of the cutting-edge classical/street funk Mardi Gras Indian Orchestra, and the acoustic Bayou Brothers, with Radiators’ band mate Dave Malone (and on occasion the Grateful Dead’s Bob Weir).

In June, 2011, the Radiators played their final shows. The next night, Camile debuted his new acoustic band, The Living Rumors (with David Doucet and Harry Hardin) to a packed house, garnering rave reviews and making the statement that he, like New Orleans, is a multi-dimensional musical force.

Camile Baudoin and the Living Rumors’ Old Bayou Blues CD, explores Camile’s Cajun roots with acoustic performances of songs he grew up playing with playing and singing in the family living room along Bayou Lafourche in south-central Louisiana. Camile’s family gathered around the living room to sing the popular songs of the day—tunes by Fats Domino, Hank Williams, and Elvis Presley. At night The Dufrene Brothers played along the bayou at clubs like The Old Spanish Trail, where shrimp boats pulled up underneath and seafood hauled up through trap doors, boiled and served to patrons hungry for dancing and good times. Old Bayou Blues is, like Camile, honest, down-home, sophisticated, and compelling.

In addition to his acoustic adventures, Camile is a sought-after funk/blues/rock guitar powerhouse, lighting up audiences from New York City’s Canal Room (attracting the likes of Keith Richards) to Houma, Louisiana with Anders Osborne, Tab Benoit, and Little Feat’s Paul Barrere as a member of the Voice of the Wetlands Allstars, invoking the power of music to preserve and restore America’s critical coastal shorelines.

Elegant, subtle rhythms. Smooth, snaky slide. Fiery solos elevating a packed house. Sunday afternoons in the living room. Electric. Acoustic. Camile Baudoin’s versatile guitar, assured rhythms, creative compositions, and easy nature represent the best of New Orleans, and every Louisiana musician born on the bayou.