Country Mike Blog

Louisiana and Enterprise

Mike Sudhalter  |  December 14, 2008

I recently took a trip to the heart of Cajun Country - Lafayette, Louisiana. I had such a great time, listening to CDs during the entire 3.5 hour trip from Houston. It wasn't very scenic, unless you enjoy looking at oil refineries, but it seemed like the traffic moved a lot quicker as soon as I crossed the Sabine River.

For those of you who don't know, that's the river that separates Texas and Louisiana.

While in Louisiana, I dined on some excellent Cajun foods - at Prejeans in Lafayette and Cafe De Ami in Breaux Bridge. The latter was a brunch, and for the first time since I can remember, the meal was so good that I didn't eat again for 24 hours. The easiest fast ever.

I also had the opportunity to listen to some live Cajun/Zydeco bands. Is there a difference between the two? If so, I don't know what it is.

I asked someone at the bar if the band would play "Jambalaya" by Hank Williams, and they looked at me strangely and said there wouldn't be any "English songs" played on this night.

I'd still like to explore Louisiana another time, but Im certainly glad to be back in the great state of Texas.

Fellow Texans Clint Black and George Jones lended their voices to an important project -"We Are Enterprise" - a fundraiser for the high school in Enterprise, Ala. that was destroyed by a tornado in 2007.

The 11-song album has a gospel feel to it, with Jones singing "Amazing Grace" and others like Tracy Lawrence ("Dear Lord"), Richie McDonald ("God's Still in America) and Aaron Tippin ("Mighty Good God") going in that direction.

One of the more interesting selections is Joe Diffie's cover of Carole King's "You've Got A Friend."

Enterprise High, which is scheduled to be rebuilt in 2010, certainly has a friend in these Nashville artists.