It’s a dang good day when Los Lobos comes to town and David Hidalgo reaches out. Terrance has a long history with these remarkable artists and people. In 1987 they took the young 22 year old Simien and his Mallet Playboys band on tour with them for 2 weeks when La Bamba was the number …
read more »
It’s happenin y’all! Next year, 2024 Disneyland, California and Walt Disneyworld, Florida will debut a new ride attraction based on the 2009 film, The Princess & The Frog, that ft. their very first Black Princess, Tiana – “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.” The wildly talented Terence Blanchard and PJ Morton of New Orleans composed and produced most …
read more »
Terrance did a lil accordion/rubboard diddy for this new Disney film, thanks to our friend Tom MacD, President of Music at Disney. The music supervisor in Los Angeles contacted us and with the help of D (Danny Williams), we tracked here in Danny’s studio. Directed by Justin Simien (how cool is that, y’all?!), set in …
read more »
We’ve received so much pure love, support and kind words over the years for our music and live performances, that we cannot even begin to express our gratitude to everyone, but will definitely die trying! The kind words people have so freely shared over the years following performances are priceless and it makes us know …
read more »
We’re obsessed with these two remarkably articulate students whose comments at the top off the video, and we cannot get enough of them! These two very impressive young students give us great hope that the future is definitely in good hands. They were actually two of 3000+ students we reached during our 5 day residency with …
read more »
Did we mention how obsessed we are with history?! Of course we did, for the 1000th time. If you love New Orleans Jazz & Heritage fest like we love NOJHF, then you too will love this cool archive tool. Drop in your fav Louisiana artist and just like that you will see every year they …
read more »
Big thanks to Ashley Wakefield, Capital Center for the Arts, Concord, NH – for this fabulous footage of “Goin Down The Bayou” the song we did for Disney’s The Princess & The Frog”. Look at those happy, bouncing little people who came to the student matinee to experience zydeco music and Creole culture on March …
read more »
From The Florida Theatre, Jacksonville, Florida, Creole 4 Kidz! school time performance in January 2023. A very thoughtful teacher named Ellen Despres from the high school that attended the performance, reached out to us and then this – along with 30 more wonderful handwritten notes – appeared in our mailbox one day! Our hearts are …
read more »
It was 1983 when 18 year old Terrance Simien graduated from Lawtell High School in St. Landry Parish near Opelousas, LA. Two years earlier he had already started his first band, Terrance Simien and the Mallet Playboys, performing in the rural dancehalls and church halls of Louisiana and east Texas. He already had a solid …
read more »
Once again this remarkable organization shows the world that: 1. Black American Roots Music does matter and 2. the performing arts in our country can be equitable for all, including BIPOC artists. We are extremely grateful to the grant review panelists for approving our USArtists International application for funding of travel expenses for an upcoming performances at …
read more »