Halloween Concert: The Louisiana Cats. An Interview with D.D. Dunn
On October 31, the International Institute presents The Louisiana Cats in concert, performing their signature blend of American blues, country, and rock & roll, but with a special program in celebration of Halloween. “The Louisiana Cats Halloween Concert” features lead singer D.D. Dunn, founder Paul Whitelam, and bandmates Kester Jones, Jonathan Colombo, Oscar Sánchez, Fer Soneira, and Melanie Lawrence. Experience the fun of a Halloween night and come in costume!
The Louisiana Cats are in the process of producing their first ever album of original songs. We look forward to hearing the band debut one of their new songs at the Halloween concert.
Halloween has its origins in the ancient Celtic festival of Samhain (“SAH-win”), a pagan celebration that welcomed the harvest at the end of summer and warded off ghosts that may arrive with the approaching cold months. The celebrate may have been a kind of coping mechanism, as DiDi Dunn explains: “if you are playing with paper skeletons you are not as afraid of real ones.” These traditions of protection from evil have since turned into a wild night of fun, where kids (and adults) get dressed up in costumes and go up and down the streets gathering candy from each house. The phrase kids always say, “trick-or-treat”, comes from the idea that if a “treat” is not given the children will cause mischief on the residents or their property. Trick-or-treating, pranking and telling ghost stories are all hallmarks of the holiday in North America.
Halloween has made its mark on American popular music for decades. American country music, country-rock, and folk-rock contain a multitude of cultural influences. In all these genres you can find murder ballads and supernatural themes. The connection between music and tradition will be on full display at the Halloween concert with the Louisiana Cats and their love of 70s country rock. The members met at Americana Music Jam Madrid (AMJM), and seven years ago they formed a band out of their shared love of American country, rock and blues music. As they continued playing together they realised they wanted “a more rockin’ sound” and as they leaned more and more into performing country rock. Lead singer D.D. Dunn was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, hence the band’s name, The Louisiana Cats.
An Interview with D.D. Dunn
How did you find yourself in Madrid?
I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana. One of my earliest music memories, was singing “Cotton Fields Back Home” in public when I was 4. The Louisiana Cats now perform the same song!
I moved to Madrid in 1982. That was the moment of “la movida madrileña”, which was an explosion of creativity. I found an amazing community here. On the terraza below my family’s apartment, pop stars were hanging out. I wound up going to clubs and seeing new music.
Has Spanish music influenced your approach to Americana?
Anyone who plays acoustic guitar, no matter what country you are from, there’s going to be some Spanish influence because at the end of the day… classic acoustic guitar is Spanish guitar. There’s always going to be a little pinch, like a little pinch, of spice. You’ve got the big stew of country rock with all of its different influences and then the pinch of spice is always going to be the influence of Spanish music on acoustic guitar.
Why is live music important culturally?
The beautiful thing about music is that is gives people a focal point for coming together – to have the grandma dancing with the grandkids, to have three generations of people all working together to make the festival happen. In Spain, music appreciation is much more multi-generational. The experience of listening to live music, I think it is shared across generations more here than it is back in the US.
There are so many great things about American culture. It’s multi-racial, multi-ethnic, it’s multi-lingual, it’s multi-generational. Walt Whitman said “I contain multitudes”. Well, Americana contains multitudes. Music is a form of soft power to transmit culture and create understanding. People see the positives of other countries through the enjoyment of music. Music has a really positive influence on us.
For me, to represent a certain facet of American culture with The Louisiana Cats is something that I’m really proud of. And if that in any way makes people more open to other ideas or people from America, that’s great.
What are your memories of Halloween in the US?
Although I was born in Shreveport, Louisiana, I actually spent a lot of my childhood in New England, in Lee, New Hampshire. I remember local teenagers pranking people in the graveyard around Halloween. Living in a small town, Halloween was a big deal and everybody would get dressed up. There would be bonfires, and a lot of pranking going on. I loved telling ghost stories.
I love the idea that in autumn nature is changing and as the nights get longer, we as human beings have, over the centuries, gotten these different mechanisms for coping with that. One way to deal with your fears of things like cold, and starvation, and death, and all the problems that would come with the winter back in the day would be to have fun with it.
I raised my children in Santander in the 1990s and we would have Halloween parties. Back then Halloween wasn’t celebrated here in Spain. We would just say it’s like a costume party and there’s some spooky things but nothing bad… We would have to explain to people what it was. My mother would send me Halloween decorations from America because you could not get them anywhere here. That has changed now, and Halloween is a big thing in Spain, but it wasn’t until very recently.
It’s fun for kids if it’s spooky, but not terrifying. You know nothing is really going to happen, but it’s like… oOoOOhhh!
Halloween Concert Tickets
“The Louisiana Cats Halloween Concert” click here.
