28th Annual Accordion Kings & Queens
Texas Folklife Assigned Ticket Info:
Texas Folklife assigned tickets will end at 12:00noon on Saturday June 3rd.
Become a member or renew your annual membership before 12:00noon on 6/3 to received assigned covered seating for Accordion Kings & Queens 2017 at Houston's Miller Outdoor Theatre!
Texas Folklife Presents:
28th Annual Accordion Kings & Queens
Saturday June 3rd, 2017
Miller Outdoor Theatre - Houston, TX
7pm-11pm
Texas Tornados, with Flaco Jimenez
Santiago Jimenez Jr.
Step Rideau & the Zydeco Outlaws
Sheryl Cormier & Cajun Sounds
The Moravians
Plus the #BigSqueeze2017 Grand Prize Winners!
Texas Folklife is proud to present the 28th annual Accordion Kings & Queens! Come out for an evening of dancing and roots music, featuring the best of Texas accordion music genres, including conjunto, polka, zydeco, and Cajun. Pick up your FREE tickets at Houston’s Miller Outdoor Theatre the day of the event. For advance assigned seating, become a member of Texas Folklife by visiting https://texasfolklife.org/info/memberships or calling 512-441-9255.
This is a ticketed event for the covered seating area. Free tickets are available (4 per person over age 16 while they last) at the Miller Outdoor Theatre box office the day of the performance between the hours of 10:30am-1pm. If tickets remain at 1pm, the box office will re-open one hour before show time to distribute the remaining tickets. As always, open seating on the hill.
Texas Folklife Assigned Ticket Info:
Texas Folklife assigned tickets will end at 12:00noon on Saturday June 3rd.
Become a member or renew your annual membership before 12:00noon on 6/3 to received assigned covered seating for Accordion Kings & Queens 2017 at Houston's Miller Outdoor Theatre!
https://texasfolklife.org/info/memberships
Student/ Senior $25 - 2 AKQ Tickets
Individual $35 - 2 AKQ Tickets
Family Membership $60 - 4 AKQ Tickets
Folklife Friend Membership $100 - 6 AKQ Tickets
Folklife Hero Membership $250 - 8 AKQ Tickets
Folklife Legend Membership $500 or more - 10 AKQ Tickets
Tickets will be available at Texas Folklife info table will call the day of the show,Saturday June 3rd, beginning at 5:00pm. Your seats will be held until 6:55pm, then released if not claimed.
Raffle:
Texas Folklife membership also earns you tickets to the #AKQ2017 raffle, where your name will be entered into a drawing for some amazing prizes, including a brand new accordion from Hohner Accordions, tickets to the Alley Theatre, and many more!
Accordion Kings & Queens is supported in part by the Board and Members of Texas Folklife, the City of Houston through the Miller Theatre Advisory Board, Houston Endowment, Hohner Inc., Arena Energy Foundation, a grant from the Texas Commission on the Arts with an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, which believes that a great nation deserves great art, the Raven Grill, KPFT, and the Houston Press. Additional support is provided by South Central Music Source and the Cultural Arts Division of the City of Austin Economic Development Department.
Sponsor Info:
Interested in becoming a sponsor of AKQ?
Sponsorship packet and details available here: http://texasfolklife.org/sites/default/files/final_texas_folklife_akq_sponsorship_packet.compressed.pdf
Artist Bios:
Texas Tornados:
Texas Tornados can be considered a Texas music All-Star band. Compiling together several major National and International awards and super successful careers. Although the band won a Grammy in 1992, also Leonardo "Flaco" Jimenez has 6 Grammys and Ernie Durawa 2 Grammys. Basically, the band is a 9 Grammy award winner.
The initial combination of musicians of the Texas Tornados happened almost by chance at a concert performance of mutual acquaintances. After Freddy Fender, Flaco Jiménez, Augie Meyers, and Doug Sahm performed in front of a San Francisco audience, they all knew the genuine bond they felt in their music could probably be taken to another level. After they initially performed as the Tex-Mex Revue, they took the title Texas Tornados, after Sahm's song "Texas Tornado", from the album of the same name.
After the untimely deaths of Freddy Fender and Doug Sahm, Shawn Sahm was brought into the band. Regarding the current line up, that includes Tornado original musicians Louie Ortega, Speedy Sparks Auggie Meyers, Flaco Jimenez, and Ernie Durawa, Flaco Jiménez stated, “The groove is back.”
Santiago Jimenez Jr.:
Santiago Jiménez, Jr. (aka Santiago Henriquez Jiménez) (born April 8, 1944) is a folk musician who has won a National Heritage Fellowship in 2000 for lifetime achievement in traditional Tex-Mex/folk music.[1] His father, Santiago Jiménez Sr. was a pioneer of conjuntomusic. His older brother Leonardo "Flaco" Jiménez is considered by many the greatest Tejano accordionist ever, certainly the most famous. Santiago's style is more traditional than that of his brother Flaco, who is noted for mixing his music with many styles outside the Tejano mainstream.
Santiago performed at the 2006 National Folk Festival in Richmond, Virginia. In 2011 he performed at the 50th Anniversary Concert for Arhoolie Records, held in Berkeley, California. Portions of that performance appeared in the July-4th-Weekend, 2011 edition of the public radio program American Routes. President Obama awarded Santiago a 2015 National Medal of Arts on September 22, 2016 for his contribution to American music. He is also a 3 times Grammy nominee.
Step Rideau and the Zydeco Outlaws:
Stephen Joseph Rideau “Step” was born in 1966 in the little St. Landry Parish town of LeBeau , Louisiana. Surrounded by Creole culture and zydeco music from infancy, it wasn’t until relocating to Houston in the mid-1980’s that he began to play the accordion and eventually formed his own band. Today, Step Rideau is widely acknowledged worldwide as one of the living masters of the instrument. He’s also established himself over the the pass two decades, the course of multiple recordings and festival appearances nationwide, as one of the most prolific and passionate zydeco recording artists, songwriters, and live performers across the globe.
Sheryl Cormier & Cajun Sounds:
Accordionist and vocalist, Sheryl Cormier (b. Sheryl Guidreau) is one of the first women to break through the sexist restrictions of Louisiana's Cajun music. A former leader of an all-woman Cajun band, Cormier is currently the leader of Cajun Sounds, a group that features Isaac Miller, Jr. (steel guitar, vocals), Ben Goodwin (drums), Ivy Dugas (bass) and Travis Matte (fiddle). The oldest of four children, Cormiergrew up surrounded by Cajun music. Her father was the leader of the Sunset Playboys, a band that included her mother on drums. Learning to play the Cajun accordion at age seven, Cormier performed with her parents' group throughout her teens. Although she left the band when she got married, she continued to play occasionally with the group as well as with other similar bands. As a bandleader, Cormierassembled a group that featured her husband, Russell, on vocals and son Russell, Jr. on drums, and recorded an album, Queen of Cajun Music (La Reine de Musique Cadjine), in 1990. Cormier's second album, Sheryl Cormier and Cajun Sounds, , was released two years later and was recorded with her present band.
The Moravians:
The Moravians was started by Matthew Matous and Josh Goodwin along with fellow band members in the Spring of 2009. The band began with a slow start, but after winning a high school talent show, the band took off. In the years since, the band has toured across the country with Mollie B, played on the beach in South Padre Island , TX and has performed in numerous local festivals including The Ennis Czech Music Festival, Caldwell Kolache Festival, National Polka Festival, and various other events. Current band members consist of seven college students, five being proud Fightin’ Texas Aggies. The band enjoys taking trips to play in new places and looks forward to spreading the joy of polka music for many years to come.
Celebrate the very best of Texas Squeezebox — join Texas Folklife for Accordion Kings & Queens!
