Le Travaillant

Le Travaillant plays classic Cajun, zydeco, and Creole vocal and instrumental tunes - songs, waltzes, two-steps, and blues. Most of our repertoire is in Cajun French and is very authentic. We are available as a 5-6-piece Cajun dance band or a 3-piece backporch-style acoustic line-up - we scale to the size/nature of the event. A Cajun dance instructor is available to show your guests how to two-step and waltz, so that they can join in on the fun!

Le Travaillant Brings the Bayou Over By You!

Le Travaillant plays Cajun music, the dance music of French-speaking Louisiana - perfect for Mardi Gras, crawfish boils, or any other occasion that needs authentic Louisiana atmosphere.

The phrase "Le Travaillant" is Cajun French for "the working man," and its members have a great time living up to that name, playing long sets of upbeat two-steps and waltzes that keep feet energetically moving on the dance floor.

The hard-working men behind the sound are Dorian Gehring (accordion/fiddle), Ethan Sellers (guitar, keyboards, vocals), Stewart Gehring (pedal steel and 6-string electric guitars, vocals), Jake Samson (bass), and Pat Buzby (drums).

The Gehrings have backed-up and/or guested with Louisiana music luminaries including Edward Poullard, Sheryl Cormier, Jesse Lege, Joel Savoy, Blake Miller, Gina Forsyth, and Joe Hall. Dorian's study also included trips to Cajun music camps to study with folks like Pine Leaf Boys, Feufollet, Cedric Watson, David Greely, Mitch Reed, Balfa Toujours, and more.

The band has performed on WGN TV, at fests (New Orleans Fest, Oysterfest, Glenwood Avenue Arts Fest), concert series (Chicago Summerdance, Illinois State Fair, Lincoln Square Ravenswood, Oak Park Thursday Nights Out, Portage Live, Wilmette Center for the Arts), museums (Adler Planetarium, Chicago Botanic Gardens), Cajun restaurants (Maple Tree Inn, Heaven on Seven, Ron's Cajun Connection), legendary music venues (Buddy Guy's Legends, Reggie's), public libraries (Skokie, Warrenville, Barrington, Lansing, Morton Grove, River Forest, Des Plaines), park districts (Chicago, DesPlaines, Villa Park, Wilmette), Kalamazoo College, and private engagements for a wide variety of events held by private and corporate clients that include the Lake Charles, Louisiana tourism board.

The 5-7-piece dance band always plays amplified. The backporch-style Cajun trio can perform completely acoustically in some situations. We generally recommend a sound system for guest counts higher than 60 and/or where the space will be configured in such a way that the guests/audience are separated from the performers.

We can provide sound and some lighting - just let us know and we will include it in the bid, if we have enough information to do so. If sound is provided for us, a technical rider is available. Input/monitor requirements vary by configuration (acoustic backporch-style acoustic trio or dance band), and it is understood that a client providing sound will understand its own front-of-house sound requirements.

We do not provide a stage.