A&E

Fest Focus: The Figs

by Van McNeil

Fair warning: These Festival International performers' tunes are so easy to dance to that you may want to do some stretching before the show.

“Where are all the talented female alt-country bands nowadays?” you may ask yourself. It’s a valid question. The answer is Lafayette and The Figs, an enduring, folksy group rooted in an old-fashioned tradition. Gambit Weekly of New Orleans wrote that the “all-women sextet The Figs looks like a country-time tea party of pretty girls in pretty dresses, but it rocks, Cajun-style, like a roadhouse full of moonshine and buckshot.”

Recently reunited at the Blue Moon Saloon in December after a two-year hiatus, The Figs began as a fun little regular jam session in 2006 by some local women who “aren’t musicians” and soon evolved into a celebrated harmony-centric and decidedly fun band. Fair warning: Their tunes are so easy to dance to that you may want to do some stretching before the show.

They’ve described their shows as “swanky, sassy song singing!” and their particular genre as “High-Heeled Stomp.” That there’s a pretty spot-on assessment. And yes, they sing about boats, guns, and trains — some originals and some classic country and swing, all of which is made unique through The Fig’s sultry instrumentation.

The Figs will perform April 25 from 8:45-9:45 p.m. at the LUS LA Craft Biergarten stage.

Here’s the group performing “Spoonin’ in the Twilight” for a Knoxville, Tenn., television program: