K. Jones and the Benzie Playboyz let Zee Good Times Roll

A new cajun band on the scene is whipping up more excitement than a ‘gator in the chicken coop on laying day, and the amazing thing is they‘re home-grown on the “bayous“ of Benzie County.
For K. Jones and the Benzie Playboyz, this has been one red hot chile pepper summer, with appearances at the Blissfest, Elberta‘s new park dedication, the Dunegrass and Blues Fest in Empire, and this weekend‘s Farmfest in Johannesburg, to name a few. Few local bands play that many big gigs each summer, and at several events the Playboyz have been headliners.
Give a listen and you‘ll understand why. With up to 10 members in the band, the music choogles, stomps and whirls with the grace and energy of a Louisiana backcountry barn dance.
“I must say that this music makes babies dance, and old folks dance, and many many ‘twixt and ‘tween,“ says Steven Fernand, one of the band‘s founders and its French-speaking vocalist. “Its chord structure is simple, but its rhythms get folks moving. The French lyrics are often about silly things, often tragic things, but the words are foreign, mellifluous, mysterious, like opera to English ears. When I sing the French phrases, the tones are more important than the meaning, and my Franco-American spine enjoys the roots vibration.“
The owner of Fernand Footwear in Benzonia, Fernand bought a cajun music CD several years ago and began singing along to it. “I started playing some open mikes and began getting some response. Then a friend from Louisiana put on a *fais do-do* which is a house dance or a barn dance. Kirk Jones was playing guitar then, but he bought an accordion that fall and we began having Tuesday night jam sessions at my house.“
The Tuesday jams attracted talented local musicians, honing their skills on a music that has roots 1,500 miles to the south. Fernand says that cajun and zydeco music originates from southwest Louisiana, where it “grew from traditional French folk tunes into dance music played at house parties, then dance halls. The old time fiddle music, with a ten-button accordian, bass and drums, rhythm and steel guitar, evolved into a unique American sound.
“Zydeco music came out of the African people in Lousiana, taking the French dance tunes, and giving them the delta blues,“ he adds. “Both cajun and zydeco music have the accordian out front.“
Kirk Jones, a beekeeper who owns Sleeping Bear Farms and BeeDazzled in Benzonia with his wife Shannon, says he began playing cajun fiddle 20 years ago and then switched to guitar before impulsively buying an accordion two years ago.
He notes that the Playboyz had “more enthusiasm than skill at first,“ and that his first attempt at playing the accordion was on a cheap Chinese squeeze box that fell apart in three months. “I wore out the first one and then ordered a hand-built accordion from Louisiana.“
Playing the accordion is no cherry-pick. “It has a different note with each push and pull and it‘s very challenging,“ Jones says. Adding to the challenge is that it‘s the lead instrument and has to keep the music jigging along at a lively pace.

CULTURE CLASH
Jones and Fernand got so into the music that they traveled to Louisiana‘s cajun country to soak up the culture. “It‘s the prairie country in the southwest part of the state where they grow rice,“ Jones says. “They have street parties almost every day during Mardi Gras. It‘s kind of rundown and poor there, but there are a lot of really nice people and a rich culture.“
Fernand says the authentic cajun sound is quieter and tamer than what the Playboyz cook up. “We‘re taking the same songs and giving them some Yankee hot sauce.“
Members of the band have also learned new licks at the Cajun Heritage Camp held in Augusta, West Virginia. Yet although they‘re individually roaming far afield to soak up cajun sounds, Fernand doesn‘t envision any big tour for the immediate future. “We‘re just riding a wave now, I think. A lot of the bandmembers have families and jobs, so I don‘t think we‘ll go far as far as distance is concerned -- we plan to keep our day jobs for the present.“
Both Fernand and Jones have bona fide roots in the cajun world. In Fernand‘s case, his sixth generation great-grandfather escaped deportation to Louisiana by British troops in Canadian French Acadia back in 1755. “He got his gun out, organized some guerillas and got some Brits,“ Fernand says. “After the war, they settled in New Brunswick, so I have some French Canadian background.“
In Jones‘ case, he spent part of his youth on the southern bayous. “I lived in Louisiana during my teenage years,“ he recalls. “I had my own pirogue (a type of flat-bottomed canoe) and crawfished in the bayous.“
And how did the band get that name?
“We were all playing together and agonizing over a name,“ Jones says. “We had lists of 80 names or so. Then we were playing at my house for my birthday and someone said how about K. Jones as a play on ‘cajun.‘ Everyone laughed, but once you start, you‘re stuck. The Playboyz was added because it‘s a traditional cajun band thing.“

Check out K. Jones and the Benzie Playboyz at the Farmfest in Johannesburg this weekend, closing the show on Saturday night.

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