Samantha Brown's Places to Love

-I'm in the heart of Cajun country, where its iconic culture is on full display for all to see, and you are never far from a good dance, fantastic music, and a great meal.

You really want me to eat all this?

-You will.

-Challenge accepted.

-Okay.

-It's a destination that not only moves to its own beat but speaks its own language, where hospitality isn't a travel buzzword but a way of life enjoyed through every person you meet and everything you do.

I'm in Lafayette and Cajun country, Louisiana.

I'm Samantha Brown, and I've traveled all over this world.

And I'm always looking to find the destinations, the experiences, and, most importantly, the people who make us feel like we're really a part of a place.

That's why I have a love of travel and why these are my places to love.

Samantha Brown's "Places to Love" is made possible by... -We believe watching the world go by isn't enough.

That's why we climb... pedal... and journey beyond the beaten path, on storied rivers, with a goal of making sure that every mile traveled turns into another memory.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

-To travel is to live, and at AAA, we've been passionate about travel for over 100 years.

That's why we created AAA Vacations, member travel experiences around the world.

Learn more at AAA.com/LiveTV.

-My name is is Wayne Singleton, and I've been playing music since I was 7 years old.

Yes, indeed, Breaux Bridge -It's the weekend of the famous annual Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival.

The town of Breaux Bridge was designated the crawfish capital of the world by the state of Louisiana.

It's also where the first crawfish touffe was made.

It's about 92 degrees, so I'm going to pass on that today, but here, all of the elements that make this part of the world so unique are on display -- family, food, music, and dancing.

- Sometimes I feel like I just want to stay at home Sometimes I feel like I just can't go on Sometimes I feel like Like going, going nowhere But I thank the Lord above for keeping me... -Maybe I should pass on the dancing as well.

- Take me to the place that I love -And while I'm not entirely confident with my dancing abilities here, I do know one thing -- I love this music.

-Zydeco is a feel-good music that derived from Louisiana years ago and that has been passed on from generation to generation, and us Creoles and Cajuns take a lot of pride in the music and the culture.

-You've got to be in shape to play this kind of music day in and day out.

-Yes, yes.

It happens to be, in my opinion, one of the greatest forms of aerobics.

Four hours of nonstop pulling and pushing on these things can take a toll on your body.

-Cajun and Zydeco -- They obviously come from very different origins.

They're two different musical styles, but they do influence each other.

What is that relationship between the two styles?

-Zydeco and Cajun are considered first cousins.

-[ Singing in Creole ] -Cajun and Zydeco to me is pretty much alike.

It's just different cultures came with it, and we -- A lot of times we mesh the two together to make one sound.

-That's a great way to describe where we are in Louisiana.

It just feels like there are so many different people and cultures and histories coming together from literally all parts of the world.

-Right, right.

-And they settled here, and they adapted, and they used and they influenced each other, and sort of this festival shows you that in one instant.

-Right, and the one thing that I'm pretty sure you realize is the hospitality of the people.

Everybody here is so nice and welcoming.

It's just a big mixture of all different cultures, so there's no other place I would rather live, at least.

-Oh yeah.

Merci beaucoup.

-[ Speaking Creole ] -I think when they decide that I'm dead, then they can just carry me away from here later.

This is where I want to be.

-You were a contractor.

-Mm-hmm.

-Were you not an accordion player?

-Well, I learned how to play accordion years ago because that's what I wanted to learn how to play, but this is in 1954, and my uncle says, "You know you're making a mistake buying an accordion."

He says, "In probably five years from now, there won't be one accordion left."

He said, "But, God, listen to this music.

This is Hanks William music."

He said, "This is a steel guitar being played, so you need to learn how to play steel guitar," so I went ahead and buy this steel guitar.

Brought that with me, and now 62 years I'm playing steel guitar.

-So your approach to the accordion is really one of craftsmanship and woodworking and being more -- -Yes, and I love it, you know.

-But how many parts make up an accordion?

-I don't know.

I'm asked that question a lot of time.

-Yeah.

-I never have asked.

-You've never counted?

-No, there's just so many parts, it's unbelievable.

I mean, you run out of one little part -- If you run out of little nails or a little screw somewhere... -Uh-huh?

-...you can't go on.

You got to stop and go find what you need.

-So you build these, but you repair every type of accordion.

-Yes, we repair every kind of accordion in the world.

-So is your right side keeping the melody?

-Mm-hmm.

-And then your left side is just... -The rhythm.

-...is the rhythm.

May I try?

-Yes.

I would love you to.

-I've never held an accordion.

-There you go.

The easy part -- -Thank you!

-The easy part about learning an accordion... -Yeah?

-...is the fingering, finding the notes.

-Oh, my goodness.

-The hard part is to have it in your mind that you can sing it.

You know, the best thing for me is what's happening with all these kids learning, you know?

-Mm-hmm.

-Kids that are 10 years old, been playing since they were 5 years old, so they come here and buy accordion, so it's been wonderful for us.

-So your uncle was wrong.

-Oh, yes, very wrong, you know, but you don't know the future until it happens, you know?

-Mm-hmm.

Junior told me that if I wanted to fit in down here, I either had to know how to play, how to cook, or how to dance.

Clearly this was something I needed help with.

-I'm Harold Bernard.

I'm a dance instructor and a dancer from a long line of dancers in my family, and I've been fortunate enough to dance and teach dance all over the world.

Basically, if you know how to do to a waltz and a two-step, you can go to a dance and dance to every song.

-Mm-hmm.

-The musicians are playing for the dancers.

This is dance music.

You get bands always when they finish the song, they thank the dancers.

-Right.

-Uh-huh.

Thank you to the dancers.

-Yeah!

-I don't think I've ever seen it anywhere else.

-I don't think it exists anywhere else where they're together, you know?

They're feeding off of each other's energy.

-They love to see people dance, and, you know, not everybody is a perfect dancer, and not everybody knows all the steps, but they see smiles, and that's what they're looking for.

-So what is the basic step of any Cajun dance?

What is the most important step?

-Well, let's start out with the waltz.

It's going to be a one, two, three, one, two, three, and we're going to do three counts.

You're going to have a long and then two shorts.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

One, two, three.

So most of these places, you dance counterclockwise around the floor... -Uh-huh.

-...and turning the corners.

-Counterclockwise, okay.

-Right.

-All right.

-One, and you're turning the corners.

-But when I've been watching the people dance, it's all to me very low, right?

So there's no, like, grand, kind of like a waltz, when you're just like this.

-It's too hot!

It's too hot!

[ Both laugh ] -Okay, so now the two-step.

Okay.

-All right.

-So the waltz would be, like, slower music, and now the two-step is where we can really... -Right.

-Okay.

-The two-step is going to actually be 4/4 time.

It's going to be four steps in one direction, then four steps in the other, so when the song is playing, it's one, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

One, two, three, four.

-Where am I looking?

-At all the other people in the dance hall, see what they have on.

-See what they're doing, okay.

-See if there are any better dances than me in the place.

-One, two.

Beautiful.

-Nice.

-How's that?

-Yeah, feels good, feels great.

-Yeah.

-Wish I would have known that at the Crawfish Festival.

This is me.

I was just bouncing.

-So I'm going to give you something else.

One, two, three, touch, step.

One, two, three, touch, step.

Beautiful.

That's it.

-So when you come here, don't worry about knowing all the steps.

Just jump in.

That's your -- -I think that's the best thing to do because the music is infectious, like we talked about earlier.

-Yeah.

-It's the connection between the musicians and the dancers and the music.

-There's something else that deeply connects the people of this region.

What's my job?

-Everything that falls through is too small.

Those that don't fall through, you put them in the sack.

-Do you have to pick them up a certain way so they don't, like, pinch your little fingers off?

-They won't hurt you.

They won't hurt you.

-They won't?

Oh, no, no.

Trying to save you, trying to save you!

I'm sorry.

-They got invited to the crawfish boil.

-This is Barry Toups.

He's the owner of Mrs. Rose's Bed and Breakfast in nearby Kaplan, Louisiana.

So just grab them.

-Yep.

-It has the distinction of being the only B&B in the state where you can learn how to crawfish.

Where we are right now, this sort of pond?

-It's a crawfish pond.

-A crawfish pond, so -- -Man-made, man-made crawfish pond.

-All right.

And this contraption we are on is fascinating.

-It also has tires underneath it.

We can cross the levies.

We can get on the levy and drive all the way back to the house.

-On this boat?

-On this boat.

It's got a wheel in the back, hydraulic... -Mm-hmm.

-...and it pushes the boat.

-It's perfect, so you've got perfect shade.

-Mm-hmm.

-You can use both your hands.

You're operating the boat with your feet.

-That's correct.

-So you can work at the same time and just kind of go about your day.

-It's very quiet and peaceful.

-Is there a season to crawfish fishing?

-We normally start in November... -Okay.

-...and we'll fish all the way till June the 1st.

-But you have a lot of competition getting these guys.

-Predators, otters.

Otters will get in these fields, and they'll flip 150 cages in a night.

-Wow.

-A mink will get in and eat all the crawfish and get out without flipping it over.

Bullfrogs, but that's okay because we catch the bullfrogs, and we eat them, too.

[ Both laugh ] -Spoken like a true Cajun.

-That's it.

That's it.

-So what I love about this and what you provide is just this everyday life... -That's correct.

-...in a very unique part of the world.

This is what you do almost every day out of your life, and why do you think it's important for people who are traveling and coming here to understand sort of your way of life?

-Well, first of all, we're preserving the Cajun culture, what we doing here, our Cajun cooking ways.

We fish with the nets the old-fashioned way.

We introduce them to that, and we just preserving the Cajun culture.

-And if you stay at Barry's B&B, it isn't just breakfast that he offers.

I can't think of anything that is more synonymous with the Cajun culture than crawfish.

-That's right.

-And it's interesting how, you know, Maine is famous for the lobster, Maryland the crab, and the crawfish looks like seafood, it acts like seafood, but it's from freshwater.

-Exactly.

-I'll have one big scoop, please.

Oh, my God.

You really want me to eat all that?

People eat all this?

-You will.

-Challenge accepted.

So I feel like I'm in an eating competition.

-That's it.

-And I'm clearly going to lose because I don't know how to eat these.

-We normally figure five pounds per person when we do the bowl.

-Five pounds.

How many pounds is that?

-You've got about four to five pounds right there.

-But how much meat is that?

-About one pound.

-I got to work for my dinner, and I still have no idea what to do.

-I'ma show you.

I'ma peel the first one for you.

-Okay.

-You break the tail completely off.

-Mm-hmm.

-Pinch the bottom of the tail... -Pinch.

-...and pull it out.

-Okay.

-You see this part right here?

You take this part out.

-Take that out, just like you would with a shrimp?

-And you dip it in your sauce.

-Dip that here in your special sauce.

-Eat it without the sauce right now.

Just try it.

-That is good.

That to me tastes like lobster.

-Here is another thing that we do.

-So you're, like, cracking it while you -- -Cracking it and squeezing it all at one time.

-She did it.

-I got nothing.

-Well, you got one that probably didn't have anything in it.

-It sounded good.

So I'm in Cajun country.

-Absolutely.

-And now I really feel it.

I really feel like I'm in a different part of the world, and I love that it is called Cajun country because it is -- You are your own country here.

-We are.

-You're separate from the one that you're in, very different.

When you say Cajun country, what's the first thing that springs to your mind?

What's the most important part about where you live?

-Lifestyle.

-Hospitality.

-Hospitality?

-Hospitality for sure.

-Family.

-Yep.

-Everybody is welcome.

-Everybody is welcome.

-Never met a stranger.

-You hear that phrase, "Never met a stranger," a lot around here.

There's no doubt about the fact that Cajuns today are fascinating people who have held onto their culture in ways very few others in the United States were able to do.

-Well, Vermilionville is a historical living history museum we have here which talks about life in this area between 1765 and 1890.

-David Cheramie is showing me some of the original structures within Vermilionville, some of them dating from the 18th century.

In addition to celebrating the heritage and legacy of the Cajun people, some of the buildings, like this schoolhouse, speak volumes about the struggles they faced as immigrants from France by way of Nova Scotia.

-For a long time, it was against the law to speak French in Louisiana.

It wasn't until really Reconstruction after the Civil War that the French language was actively suppressed.

-Hmm.

-For a long time, we were told that what we were doing was wrong.

-Yeah.

-The language we were speaking was wrong, and even we started speaking French with people from outside of Louisiana, we're told, "That's broken French.

That's not Parisian French," you know, but it was a very a severe and traumatic experience, so naturally those children grew up, they didn't want to teach French to their kids, you know?

-But things have changed, especially over the last 50 years, and a resurgence in Cajun pride has led to a desire to reclaim the language.

-What we do now is, since the early '80s, French is not taught per se.

All the subjects are taught in French, and they pick up French just as naturally as they pick up any language, every language.

-What I don't understand is that my understanding of Cajuns is that tough, extremely resilient.

They came here.

They settled along the bayou.

This is a very nice neighborhood.

I feel like there isn't as much suffering as I thought I was going to see when I'd, you know, come to this part.

-Yeah, well, we work hard, and we play hard.

We enjoy the finer things in life, for sure.

-So Cajuns came from all around the world to settle here, and now they've gone out in the world, but this really tells the tale of where they got their start.

-The water -- it all goes back to the water.

This was a superhighway.

It was a lot easier, and in a lot of parts of Louisiana even today, it's a lot easier to get from one -- point A to Point B by boat than it is by car.

-Keep your paddle nice and low.

-Keep it low and shallow?

Okay.

-Because when you bring it up high, you're going to drip all over yourself.

-Yeah, exactly.

Whew!

Ahh.

-You caught something?

-I caught something.

I got a little bit of Cajun salad on me.

If you visit this area of Louisiana, you might be interested in a kayak tour of the bayou.

Cory Werk will take you out in a kayak, but not on the body of water you'd expect.

So are we in a swamp, or are we in a bayou?

-We are in a swamp.

-Okay.

-We're in the swamp at Lake Martin.

-And a swamp is basically a flooded forest, right?

-Correct, exactly.

Not to be confused with the bayou, which is a slow-moving river.

-How big is this swamp?

-For us to paddle, we have about four miles of this to paddle.

-Mm-hmm.

-You can circumnavigate this whole swamp in about two to three hours comfortably.

This particular swamp is a cypress-tupelo swamp.

Those are the two trees we have here in this swamp.

-And these look like old cypress trees to me.

-Yeah, the cypress trees in this swamp right here are about 300 to 500 years old.

-Oh, my gosh.

-Which, they're babies.

-Is that right?

-The cypress live for thousands of years.

-Where does this water come from?

-Pretty much it comes from the Mississippi.

-Okay.

-So if you look at the North American continent, all that watershed, all that snow melt from the Rocky Mountains to the Appalachians?

-Mm-hmm.

-All that water comes to Louisiana.

-Via Mississippi River?

-Via the Mississippi.

-Okay.

-By the time it gets down here, it turns into swamp.

-This is Louisiana snow.

-That's right.

That's a funny way to put it, but it's true.

-Kayaking through the swamp has a way of putting me into a more Louisiana pace of life as I enjoy a few of the tens of thousands of migratory birds that are passing through this time of year.

-All the plumage on the birds is more colorful.

They actually grow extra mating plumage this time of year, during springtime.

-Uh-huh.

-It's nesting season, so the birds have extra feathers, and their colors are extra vibrant.

-This is just lovely.

-It's a very serene place.

It's very quiet.

You know, sometimes you want to paddle.

Sometimes you just want to sit and just observe and listen.

That's one of my favorite things to do is actually while you're moving, other things are still.

When you're still, other things start moving, so you've noticed how everything is a little bit more comfortable with us sitting here?

-Mm-hmm.

-Starting to hear more frogs, more birds, the insects.

Everything is coming alive.

-It's such a beautiful place, and I feel like it's so misunderstood.

Of course, it has sort of a bad rap.

People use it in a way, "Oh, it's, you know, draining the swamp," that kind of stuff.

It's always -- but then when you get into a swamp, you just realize it's just as beautiful as the biggest national park.

-I've had people tell me in surprise how they expected a smelly location, or... -A buggy location.

-...a buggy location.

-This is not buggy at all.

-No, no.

I mean, it's a very healthy ecosystem, very clean.

It kind of rejuvenates itself very quickly, but, yeah, this place is full of wildlife.

-Wow.

-Did anyone share with you the difference between a regular zoo and a Cajun zoo?

-No.

-A regular zoo has the animal and a description of the animal.

-Mm-hmm.

-A Cajun zoo has the animal and a recipe.

-[ Laughs ] Everything is good eating.

-Everything is on the menu around here.

There definitely needs to be efforts made to preserve it because there is a lot of pressure on the environment from different things, yes.

Keeping the water clean, keeping the air clean, allowing the water to flow it's natural path -- Those are all things that help keep the environment like it was.

-Mm-hmm.

-So are you really sisters?

-No, musical sisters.

-We're soul sisters, yes.

-How long you been playing together as the Magnolia Sisters?

-Pretty much 15, 20 years.

-Holy mackerel!

-We started it when our kids were babies.

That's how we learned.

We were in our kitchens cooking our lunch, and the kids were running around, and Jane and I would sit there and play music.

And this record company heard us, and he said, "Y'all want to make a record?"

And we went, "Yeah, sure, why not."

-[ Singing in Creole ] -I'm Ann Savoy.

I'm a musician here in Cajun country, a Cajun musician and the author of the book "Cajun Music: A Reflection of a People, Volume 1."

-The vision we had, we liked really old, old Cajun music and stuff like that, so... -What is the date of old Cajun music?

-Well, the first record was 1929.

-Okay, so you like those.

-Yeah, we like that section, from there to about '35.

They were on 78s.

They had a certain soulfulness about them, you know?

And when you listen to old records, you don't need all of that polish.

It's just the soul comes through, and it's so great.

-I mean, we are modern women, you know, and so we have all these sounds that we've grown up with, and that just kind of comes out through music.

-We're taking recordings that were initially done by just country people, and we're polishing up just a little bit, you know, to make them a little more palatable to the modern ear, but not polishing them up in a way that detracts from the original spirit of the music.

-You still want the scratches.

-Yeah.

-Still want those honest.

-Yes, definitely.

-How rare is an all-female Cajun band?

-Pretty rare.

There's two.

-You know, a lot of women bands can't make it, and we've been together forever.

We just get along well.

-We all have the same vision.

-Yeah, same vision, absolutely.

-Trying to honor the old music.

-Mm-hmm.

-That's the main thing.

I think we all have the same thing in mind.

-And you travel all over the United States with Magnolia Sisters?

-The world, I have to say.

-The world.

-So moms who sing, and then you went on tour.

-Mm-hmm.

-How did the children feel about that?

-We had to get babysitters.

They still resent it.

[ Laughter ] Truth is -- -I'll tell you what.

-Oh, I'm in trouble.

-"You're in big trouble."

-Yeah, they're like, "Well, you missed my piano recital when I was 5 years old," but, honey, you're 35 now.

You should get over this.

-Sort of like Cajun music is that Grandma's jewelry that you just keep polishing.

-Mm-hmm.

-It just keeps getting better and better.

Like Grandma, you always want to wear it.

-You may not see relationships between dance and music and musicians and dancers in other places in this country, but here in south Louisiana, the dancers go with the music.

The musicians go with the dancers, and it all becomes one, and that's why people are joyous.

That's why they are feeling the music, and that's why they're having fun dancing.

-[ Singing in Creole ] -I fell in love with Louisiana because of the smell of it.

It's very fecund.

It's very wet.

There are jungle plants.

There are people speaking French.

There's spicy food.

There's music that breaks my heart, and I fell in love with a Cajun man, too.

-That old saying, you know, "There's no stranger in my life."

It's all friends.

Friendship is the whole thing.

We feel that everybody comes here, falls in love with the family and with us and want to be friends with us and to keep coming back.

-And the joie de vivre that you witness here if you travel to south Louisiana is that combination and that exchange between the food, the music, and the dance.

-When the joie de vivre of a place picks you up from the beginning and doesn't let you go, when there's always room at the table, when as a traveler you don't want to just go where the locals go, you want to laugh with them and move like them... ...that is when we share a love of travel, and that's why Lafayette, Louisiana, is a place to love.

-Uh-huh.

Thank you to the dancers.

[ Cheers and applause ] -For more information about this and other episodes, destination guides, or links to follow me on social media, log on to placestolove.com.

"Samantha Brown's Places to Love" was made possible by... -We believe watching the world go by isn't enough.

That's why we climb... pedal... and journey beyond the beaten path, on storied rivers, with a goal of making sure that every mile traveled turns into another memory.

You can find out more at amawaterways.com.

-To travel is to live, and at AAA, we've been passionate about travel for over 100 years.

That's why we created AAA Vacations, member travel experiences around the world.

Learn more at AAA.com/LiveTV.