Sauce Piquante

SAUCE PIQUANTE plays stirring old time Cajun-Creole music. It's the back porch music of South Louisiana's bayous and prairies, the fuel for dancers at fais-do-do's and honky tonks and crawfish boils. They have an infectious joie de vivre that lets the good times roll!

Since 1999, the band has played an active part in the San Francisco Bay Area's vibrant Cajun-Creole-Zydeco music scene, the largest outside the Gulf Coast. SAUCE PIQUANTE plays regularly for dancers at local venues like Ashkenaz, McGrath's, Bobby's Back Door, the West Sacramento Moose Lodge, DeMarco's, and others. The band has performed at many festivals, including the Isleton Crawdad Festival, Boogie on the Bayou, the Berkeley Farmer's Market Cajun Festival, the San Francisco Free Folk Festival. They have enlivened private events ranging from church Mardi Gras festivals to weddings to corporate functions. Sauce Piquante has also volunteered at many hurricane fundraisers.

A little more about the band members:

BLAIR KILPATRICK, who founded the band, plays the 10 button Cajun accordion and does most of the singing. (It's all in French!) She fell in love with this haunting music almost twenty years ago, during the first of many visits to Louisiana, and she's never looked back. She has studied with many of the accordion "greats" (Steve Riley, Bois Sec Ardoin, Eddie LeJeune, Delton Broussard, Jesse Lege.) Her primary teacher and mentor was legendary Creole accordionist Danny Poullard, the guiding spirit of the Bay Area's Louisiana French music community until his death in 2001. Blair is also the author of "Accordion Dreams: A Journey into Cajun and Creole Music" (University Press of Mississippi, January 2009.)

STEVE TABAK plays the fiddle. He started out as a bluegrass mandolinist, but happily followed Blair into the world of Louisiana French music. He has been particularly influenced by Creole fiddle styles, and he considers Ed Poullard his primary influence. He also makes a fine gumbo. He and Blair host regular jam sessions at their Berkeley home.

KATHY "KP" PRICE grew up singing and playing piano. Her years of Cajun-zydeco dancing in the Bay Area rekindled her desire to make music, so she took up the electric bass. For a change of pace, she sometimes plays stand-up bass and triangle.

JIM RUTH is a rock-solid rhythm guitarist who looks to Rodney Balfa and Ann Savoy for inspiration. He has a strong background in Irish and Old Time music and is also a fine singer.

The band often adds a drummer, especially when they play for dancers. They usually call on Bay Area favorite David "Killer" Hymowitz but have also played with Kathy Dodge and Lisa Leal.