Mountain Valley Music and Red Wing Roots Music Festival present
Event Schedule
Saturday, March 8, 2025
Mountain Valley Music and Red Wing Roots Music Festival present The Cajun Banquet on Saturday, March 8, 2025, at The Alpine Goat Brewery in Weyers Cave, VA. We are bringing Cajun music, food and festivities from LA to VA (Louisiana to Virginia) for a day of cultural immersion and celebration.
The Cajun Banquet will feature performances by Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole and Furnace Mountain. Plus, a full buffet featuring Cajun staples such as Jambalaya and Etouffee will be provided by Hank’s Smokehouse Catering. Throughout the event, patrons will have the opportunity to explore the history, culture, food and music of the Acadians/Cajuns from Louisiana.
Pardi Pass (Early Bird $39) includes music line up, cajun buffet, one beer or non-alcoholic beverage, one Kline’s ice-cream, along with all the fun and festivities!
Cajun Buffet Menu
by Hanks Smokehouse & Catering
Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole
One of the brightest young talents to emerge in Cajun, Creole and Zydeco (Louisiana French) music over the last decade, Cedric Watson is a four-time Grammy-nominated fiddler, singer, accordionist & songwriter with seemingly unlimited potential.
Originally from San Felipe, TX (population 868), Cedric made his first appearance at the age of 19 at the Zydeco Jam at The Big Easy in Houston, TX. Just two years later, he moved to south Louisiana, quickly immersing himself in French music and language. Over the next several years, Cedric performed French music in 17 countries and on 7 full-length albums with various groups, including the Pine Leaf Boys, Corey Ledet, Les Amis Creole with Ed Poullard and J.B. Adams, and with his own group, Bijou Creole.
Cedric Watson & Bijou Creole resurrect the ancient sounds of the French and Spanish contra dance and bourré alongside the spiritual rhythms of the Congo tribes of West Africa, who were sold as slaves in the Carribean and Louisiana by the French and Spanish.
With an apparently bottomless repertoire of songs at his fingertips, Cedric plays everything from forgotten Creole melodies and obscure Dennis McGee reels to more modern Cajun and Zydeco songs, even occasionally throwing in a bluegrass fiddle tune or an old string band number. Unlike many of his contemporaries, he is also a prolific songwriter, writing almost all of his songs on his double row Hohner accordion. Cedric’s songs channel his diverse ancestry (African, French, Native American and Spanish) to create his own brand of sounds.
Cedric’s albums are a tapestry of pulsing rhythms and Creole poetry, and his live performances are unforgettable, all at once progressive and nostalgic.
“We don’t want to forget that one of the biggest contributions to our culture, music and heritage was made by the Native Americans. I find that the old Zydeco rhythms sound like a mix of African and Native American ceremonial rhythms. This mélange very possibly came about through the intermingling of the Native American population and the Maroons.” – Cedric Watson
Furnace Mountain Band
Furnace Mountain consists of Aimee Curl on bass and vocals, , Dave Van Deventer on fiddle and vocals, and Morgan Morrison on guitar, bouzouki, and vocals, Danny Knicely on mandolin and fiddle. The band creates music that is at times lively and raucous, with spirited fiddle melodies weaving in and around the powerful rhythms of the bass and bouzouki, and other times poignant and poetic, with sublime vocal harmonies beautifully interpreting some of the oldest songs ever written.
Furnace Mountain Band has performed throughout the world, from the Yangtze River in China to the banks of the Shenandoah River, where they are the host band of Watermelon Pickers’ Festival. Furnace Mountain Band plays music from the American Appalachian traditions, as well as original compositions, and songs penned by their favorite song writing friends.
The region is situated between the Appalachian hills of West Virginia and the culturally diverse and ever-changing Washington, D.C., metropolitan area, and is known for producing musicians who transcend generic categories, deftly taking traditional music styles in new directions. Furnace Mountain Band, named for a mountain near where band members grew up, consists of some of the most innovative and gifted musicians in Virginia. -Jon Lohman, Virginia Folklife Program
