<h2>Doors 6:30</h2><h2>6:30 to 7:00:&nbsp; Honky tonk and Cajun dance lesson with Sarah Travis</h2><h2>7:00&nbsp; HONKY TONK DANCE with Marley's Ghost. &nbsp;</h2><h2>8:15 ish til ??:&nbsp; Front room, CAJUN-CREOLE DANCE with Ed Poullard &amp; Cedric Watson backed by Thompsonia. Back studio, old time jam hosted by BOTMC performers</h2>INSTRUMENT CHECK AVAILABLE<h1>BIOS:</h1><h2>Cedric Watson</h2>One of the brightest young talents to emerge in Cajun, Creole and Zydeco (Louisiana French) music over the last decade, Cedric Watson is a four-time Grammy-nominated fiddler, singer, accordionist, banjo player &amp; songwriter with seemingly unlimited potential. Originally from San Felipe, TX (population 868), Cedric made his first appearance at the age of 19 at the Zydeco Jam at The Big Easy in Houston, TX. Two years later, he moved to south Louisiana, immersing himself in French music and language.&nbsp; Cedric has performed French music in 17 countries and on 7 full-length albums with various groups, including the Pine Leaf Boys, Corey Ledet, Les Amis Creole with Ed Poullard and J.B. Adams, and with his own group, Bijou Creole. With an apparently bottomless repertoire of songs at his fingertips, Cedric plays everything from forgotten Creole melodies and obscure Dennis McGee reels to more modern Cajun and Zydeco songs, even occasionally throwing in a bluegrass fiddle tune or an old string band number. He is also a prolific songwriter, writing almost all of his songs on his double row Hohner accordion. Cedric’s songs channel his diverse ancestry (African, French, Native American and Spanish) to create his own brand of sounds. “We don’t want to forget that one of the biggest contributions to our culture, music and heritage was made by the Native Americans. I find that the old Zydeco rhythms sound like a mix of African and Native American ceremonial rhythms. This mélange very possibly came about through the intermingling of the Native American population and the Maroons.” – Cedric Watson Note: &nbsp;Cedric Watson also will be appearing at Freight &amp; Salvage on Thurs. Sept. 19. <h2>Ed Poullard</h2>Ed Poullard is regarded as the most significant Creole fiddler of his generation. Born in Eunice, Louisiana in 1952, the Poullard family relocated to east Texas in search of better work when Ed was still a baby. &nbsp;The Poullard family was rich in musicians on both sides. Ed’s father, John Poullard Sr., three uncles and Ed’s late brother, Danny Poullard, all played accordion and Ed’s grandfather was a fiddler. Ed learned the music by watching his father; his first instruments were drums, guitar and accordion. When he began to play his grandfather’s fiddle, he embarked upon a long apprenticeship with legendary Creole fiddler Canray Fontenot. &nbsp;Ed has played with Jesse Legé, Lawrence Ardoin, Preston Frank, his late brother Danny Poullard, and many others. He has recorded numerous albums, including several on the Arhoolie label. Ed worked as a cabinet builder for many years. Danny Poullard was the first to suggest to Ed that he combine his two interests by building accordions and now there’s a long waiting list to get one of these prized hand-crafted custom instruments! <h2>Thompsonia</h2>Thompsonia combines Eric &amp; Suzy Thompson’s deep devotion to Cajun, old-time, blues and bluegrass with daughter Allegra’s fresh perspective, creating feel-good music that richochets between the rowdy and the sentimental, with an abundance of groove and a bit of a quirky edge. This year at the BOTMC, the opening night Cajun dance will feature Cedric Watson and Ed Poullard, backed up by Thompsonia. &nbsp;This will&nbsp;be a reunion of sorts; Eric &amp; Suzy played for nearly 20 years with Ed’s older brother, Danny Poullard, in the California Cajun Orchestra, with two award-winning albums on Arhoolie. Allegra’s middle name is Danielle, named for Danny. &nbsp;Eric &amp; Suzy have performed and/or recorded with many other notable Cajun musicians including Marc and Ann Savoy, D.L. Menard, Joel Savoy and Jesse Lege, Steve Riley, Mike Doucet, etc.&nbsp;&nbsp;Allegra Thompson plays bass with the Cajun bands Midnite Ramblers and (with Eric &amp; Suzy) the Aux Cajunals. She hosts the long-running Pig in a Pen radio show on KPFA-FM, which airs every other Sunday from 3:00 to 5:00 pm.&nbsp; Allegra is also a co-host of the "Bluegrass Signal" radio show, which airs on KALW-FM, Saturdays from 5:00 to 6:00 p.m. Suzy Thompson is an Artistic Director Emeritus of Festival of American Fiddle Tunes (the others are Dirk Powell and Joel Savoy) and is the Director of the Berkeley Old Time Music Convention. <h2>Marley’s Ghost</h2>This Seattle-based band has been a perennial favorite at the Strawberry Music Festival for decades and we are delighted to welcome them back to the BOTMC where they’ll delve deep into their honky-tonk and country &amp; western material, with three strong vocalists, pedal steel playing that screams “country” and a rocking rhythm section.&nbsp;&nbsp;Marley’s Ghost is composed of singer/multi-instrumentalists Dan Wheetman, Jon Wilcox, Mike Phelan, Ed Littlefield Jr., Jerry Fletcher, and Bob Nichols.&nbsp; Vocalist&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/wheetman-mn0001558206">Wheetman</a>&nbsp;plays bass, rhythm guitar, fiddle, harmonica, banjo, Dobro, and lap steel. Wilcox, who holds a law degree from Stanford, sings and plays mandolin and rhythm guitar. Columbus, OH, native&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/phelan-mn0001906756">Phelan</a>&nbsp;sings and plays lead guitar, fiddle, Dobro and bassl.&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/littlefield-mn0001232472">Littlefield</a>&nbsp;sings and plays mostly pedal steel. Jerry Fletcher sings and plays keyboards and accordion and Bob Nichols plays drums.​Pedal steel player Ed Littlefield served a five-year apprenticeship during the 1970s with Lance Romance, a six-piece, country-western band that traveled to a new bar every week all over the Pacific Northwest. “Later, we got down to four nights a week, playing three, one-hour sets with half-hour breaks for 'attitude adjustment.' We played up-tempo, truck driving hillbilly barroom music for working-class folks - loggers and cowboys - in bars, saloons, roadhouses, and honkytonks. In the Northwest, cowboys and loggers are pretty much the same guys with different hats and boots - one ropes cows, the other logs. Both are known to drink, use quaint language, and chew snoose. And all of them like working outdoors.”&nbsp;The band began in 1986, &nbsp;when&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/danny-wheetman-mn0001558206">Danny Wheetman</a>&nbsp;was invited by his friend&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/ed-littlefield-jr-mn0001232472">Ed Littlefield Jr.</a>&nbsp;to work on a solo effort in&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/littlefield-mn0001232472">Littlefield</a>'s studio in Arlington, WA. Jon Wilcox and&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/mike-phelan-mn0001906756">Mike Phelan</a>&nbsp;came up from California to help out. While working on the solo effort, the three began recording the tracks for what would become the Marley's Ghost debut album&nbsp;<a target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener" href="https://www.allmusic.com/album/haunting-melodies-mw0000922252">Haunting Melodies</a>.&nbsp; More than three decades and a dozen albums from that initial spark, they’re still playing together with the same passion, purpose and chemistry that inspired them early on.