The Lost Bayou Ramblers are returning to their roots to help victims of historic South Louisiana flooding with a re-release of their maiden recording, which also happens to be a recording of their very first performance way back in 1999.
Rue Vermilion Revival was released Wednesday as a $5 download on Bandcamp.com. The group is also making available a special fundraiser cassette tape — remember those? — for $10, with proceeds from both the download and the cassette going to flooding relief efforts.
Scions of a family steeped in Cajun music history, Andre and Louis Michot started Lost Bayou Ramblers in 1999 and performed their first gig at Café Rue Vermilion, a coffee shop that no longer exists. On Friday, the band will host a roving fundraiser beginning at 6 p.m. at Lagniappe records (313 Jefferson St.) that will ramble around Downtown, stopping at Rêve Coffee (200 Jefferson St.) and Jefferson Street Pub (500 Jefferson St.). The cavalcade will end at the site of that first performance on Vermilion Street, which is now home to photographer Travis Gauthier’s Zoom Photo Studio.
To listen to and order the download, click here.