LeRue has now reformed after 25 years! They are back and ready to serve up some red hot cajun styled DANCE music for the public once again.
After an audition at a small nightclub, a young American fiddle player from New Mexico was asked to become the first fiddler with (Grammy winner and legendary) “Queen Ida and the Bon Temps Zydeco Band” from Lake Charles, Louisiana. After the first gig with the band (at the Monterey Jazz Festival ) he was given the opportunity to spend years learning and playing the music of the South with Queen Ida and her band along with younger brother Al “Rapone” Lewis, and occasionally playing double fiddle with the Grammy winner (and also legendary) musician from Lafayette, LA, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, and many other veteran musicians. The young fiddler, Pete Allen, was given the stage name “Pierre LeRue” and was learning the music of Louisiana and the South, from the roots up.
After a few years, Pierre decided to make a go of his own style of fiddling and singing and the band “LeRue” was formed around 1984, in the San Francisco Bay Area of CA and soon they were travelling the states, Canada and Europe.
In the hands of Pierre, however, the traditional sounds of the South were served up as a furious, modern blend of Americana, with surprises waiting around every corner. Pierre’s sound is heavily seasoned with Cajun, Zydeco, Blues, Country and Bluegrass.
LeRue recorded their first album in Bangor, Wales at a live show, the music was recorded by the BBC Mobile recording studio and was released by a Yorkshire based record label that specialized in Americana and Blues called “UnAmerican Activities”. LeRue went on to tour and record for the next 15 years.
