Howdy everybody! This is our new website. The upcoming gigs list is being updated – a good place to find out if we are playing near you. Check out all the photos on the Pictures/Family of Bands Page and Photos from Our Musical Past. You can find info on all of our CDs in the GENERAL STORE.
Well, it looks like things are coming back into a form of normal after the pandemic. Here it is, 2022 already. We are working on a new CD that should be out sometime in June.
We will be playing some local gigs at the Farmer’s Market and at the Adobe Springs Cafe.
The Farmers Market is at the corner of Pope and College. June 4th and July 26th from 9:00 AM to 12 Noon.
Adobe Springs Cafe is at the corner of 7th and North Bullard. We will be in the Patio from 5 to 8 PM on April 30th and May 21st.
We will be up at the Festival Of American Fiddle Tunes. Port Townsend,WA from July 3rd through July 10th. Jeanie will be there with The Harmony Sisters and Ken will be there as a tutor. The website of the festival is: https://centrum.org/festival-of-american-fiddle-tunes-the-workshop/
We will also be at the Santa Fe Tradfest at Camp Stoney on the Old Santa Fe Trail, a beautiful site, on Aug 26th through 28th. We will be playing at Noon on the 27th.
There Web site is: https://www.santafetradfest.org/
check out our upcoming gigs calendar on this website for updates.
Also, here is the link to our Facebook page. www.facebook.com/pages/Bayou-Seco/129592610430882
Also check out our Roots and Branches radio show on KURU – 89.1 FM in Silver City, NM and on the web at GMCR.org. 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM every Saturday morning.
Ken Keppeler and Jeanie McLerie, BAYOU SECO’s roots are deep in the southwest but their branches reach far across the world.
WHAT DO WE DO?
We have collected music from older traditional American musicians for most of our lives and we have learned to play many of their tunes and songs. We have especially focused on Cajun music in SW Louisiana and, since 1980, we have learned from traditional Hispanic, Cowboy, and Tohono O’Odham musicians in New Mexico and Arizona. Both of us play fiddle and guitar and sing. Ken also plays one and three row diatonic accordions, 5-string banjo (fretless and freted), harmonica, and mandolin. We play concerts, dances (where we can teach Spanish Colonial dances from New Mexico and other dances), Art Centers, Schools, Museums, Folk Clubs, Weddings, Wakes, State Fairs and other types of events. For more info on our background, check out the PRESS KIT and read the interview with us by Vic Smith.
Check out the Access All Areas website and the page on us at: https://www.accessallareas.info/artist/bayou-seco/
We were awarded the New Mexico Governor’s award for Excellence in the Arts for 2017.
Artists and Arts Contributors Named for 2017 Annual Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts
New Mexico’s Highest Artistic Honors Celebrate Lifetime Achievement in the Arts
Santa Fe – Governor Susana Martinez and the New Mexico Arts Commission today announced seven artists and major contributors to the arts who will be recipients of the 2017 Annual Governor’s Awards for Excellence in the Arts.
“The work of these distinguished artists and arts supporters enriches our lives, our communities and our state,” said Governor Martinez. “Through these lifetime achievement awards for the arts, we celebrate the diverse and amazing talents of these 2017 recipients whose efforts help drive our creative economy and truly make our state the Land of Enchantment. ”
The 2017 Governor’s Arts Awards ceremonies will be held on Friday, September 15, at 5:15 pm at the St. Francis Auditorium in the New Mexico Museum of Art in Santa Fe. The ceremony is preceded by an afternoon reception and exhibition opening, 3:30 – 4:30 pm, in the Governor’s Gallery at the State Capitol. Both the awards ceremony and gallery reception are free and open to the public.
This year marks the 44th annual celebration of the Governor’s Arts Awards, which was established in 1974 to celebrate the extensive role that artists and their work have played in New Mexico. A diverse and noteworthy list of painters, weavers, sculptors, dancers, musicians, storytellers, poets, actors, playwrights, and potters have been honored by the Governor’s Arts Awards, New Mexico’s most prestigious arts awards. Past awardees include: Georgia O’Keeffe, Robert Redford, George R.R. Martin, Maria Martinez, Tony Abeyta, Glenna Goodacre, Tony Hillerman, N. Scott Momaday, Tammy Garcia, and Catherine Oppenheimer.
1. Bayou Seco of Silver City, Artists, Music: Ken Keppeler and Jeanie McLerie, known the world over as Bayou Seco, are not only extraordinary performers but they are ambassadors of New Mexico music. They have made significant contributions to New Mexico by preserving the cultural heritage of Hispanic and Cowboy folk music, and bringing it to life for future generations through their performances and teaching. McLerie has been a professional musician since 1962, performing in the United States, Canada and Europe with the groups Sandy & Jeanie, The Harmony Sisters and the Delta Sisters. For more than 30 years, she has taught fiddle instruction to children through “The Fiddling Friends,” which focuses on an international repertoire of fiddle styles and music, with an emphasis on the sources of the music. Keppeler, a fourth generation Southwesterner with roots in New Mexico, Arizona and California, grew up with the music of the region and has been a professional musician since 1972. He plays fiddle, harmonica, banjo, and accordion and is also a violin maker. Together in Bayou Seco they are renowned for their “chilegumbo music,” which celebrates the cross-cultural music of the Southwest. Former State Folklorist Claude Stephenson said Keppeler and McLerie were instrumental in helping to bring the old traditional Hispanic style music of such New Mexico legends as Cleofes Ortiz, a violinist from Bernal, into the mainstream of the folk music scene. Cipriano Vigil of El Rito, who received a Governor’s Arts Award in 1994 for traditional music, said he has known and admired Keppeler and McLerie since the early 1980s. “ So many other people know our music because of their efforts,” Vigil said. Rus Bradburd, an associate professor at New Mexico State University, said Bayou Seco have found and kept alive traditional dances in Albuquerque, Silver City, Las Cruces and Mesilla. “Simply put, nobody else in the history of our great state has done so much for the music and gotten so little personal gain,” Bradburd said. “In a world overrun with smart phones, iPads, iTunes and technology gone wild, Keppeler and McLerie have pushed in the other direction. To them, the oldest magic is the best kind – the music that gets you dancing, the love of tradition, the respect for roots and older people.”
For more information: www.nmarts.org/2017-governors-awards-for-excellence-in-the-arts.html
For information on the Ceremony: www.santafenewmexican.com/life/features/n-m-artists-winners-of-governor-s-awards-for-excellence/article_63f132aa-1e5a-54bb-b278-1bbdfbc27f9b.html
We have started a community radio station for the Silver City, Mimbres and Gila area. We have an office and studio in downtown Silver City and we have been on the air since late December, 2013. Anybody who lives where there is a community radio station will appreciate the many ways it benefits the community. We are also streaming online and you can access the stream at the website below.
Jeanie and I do a trad/folk show on Saturday mornings from 8:00 AM to 10:00 AM – it’s called Roots and Branches. You can check out the stations web site at: https://gmcr.org/
We are looking for members and donations. The web site for Gila Mimbres Community Radio is: https://gmcr.org/ and you can stream the show from there. And, if you are in SW New Mexico we are at KURU 89.1 FM. at the corner of 6th and Bullard, across from the Silver City Co-op.
The web site for donations and memberships is: gmcr.org/support/
Thank you.
BUYING CDS: If you wish to purchase a CD, please go directly to the GENERAL STORE and follow the instructions. THANK YOU
TO REACH BAYOU SECO:
E-Mail: you can contact us through the CONTACT page on the menu.
Or at: bayouseco@aol.com
Address: Bayou Seco, PO Box 1393, Silver City, NM 88062
Tel. 575-534-0298 or 575-313-4314