LAFAYETTE, La. — Today, Northside Eric and the Southside Playboys can be heard in Lafayette, but you soon, you may hear them all across the country.
"I think that our band is the epitome of Lafayette," said Eric Schexnayder, singer-songwriter for Northside Eric and the Southside Playboys. "It's really exciting to, kind of, represent Lafayette on a national scale, when all the guys in the band are from Lafayette, and everybody in the studio's from Lafayette."
Northside Eric and the Southside Playboys is a group of guys playing music for fun.
"Me, I'm not a professional musician. I kind of started just—it's like a hobby, really, so everything, kind of, since we started is kind of lagniappe," Schexnayder said.
After 15 years of sets around the city, the band has gotten the chance to go national, along with 35 other local artists, including Renee Reed, Louis Michot, Amis du Teche, Luke Huval Band, Poisson Rouge, Mark Broussard, Marcella Simien, Armed Rhymery, The Debtors, Zach Edwards & the Medicine, Good Problems, Major Handy, Corey Ledet, Jeffery Broussard, Jourdan Thibodeaux and many more.
KRVS Radio Acadie has teamed up with World Cafe, a nationally-syndicated radio show, to show case Acadiana musicians.
"Their show is broadcast over 216 stations across the country, and these live, local performances will be aired once a month," said Megan Constantin, assistant general manager at KRVS.
The chosen performances will hit the air starting in September.
The songs—and artists—selected for showcasing genuinely represent the area's music.
"You cannot deny the influence of Acadiana if you are a creator. It comes through, no matter what genre you play," said Constantin. "The melody and the music, they just—the lyrics—they all kind of blend together and come out, and the expression is genuinely Acadiana."
"Something like this, of course, is awesome, but you know, it's not going to change, you know, the whole vibe of the group and how we're just going to do it until we croak, I think," Schexnayder said.
