When Dustin Dale Gaspard gets to our end of his musical tour, he will be about 55 hours from home, by highway. He will also be about three centuries into his deep Canadian roots.
Gaspard was born and raised in Louisiana, but his bloodlines trace back to a cultural conflict between two superpower nations that spilled over onto Canadian soil. The Acadians of modern-day Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Maine were brutally exiled by the British from 1755-64. These French-speaking settlers were cast out, and many of them 鈥� about 11,500 鈥� clustered in the swamplands of Louisiana where their Acadian name got spoken with an accent and came out Cajun.
That鈥檚 who Gaspard is, and he wants the world to know about it. His ambassadorial method is music. He lives the troubadour singer-songwriter lifestyle 鈥淲ith the hope that I can take my music and my stories to the places they wouldn鈥檛 be otherwise, so I can have a hand in telling the stories of my people, my culture, and share it with the people one on one,鈥� he said.
He was conscious of the fact his roots are elementally Canadian but he had never been farther north than Seattle, as of 2024, so he went to Maritime Canada to walk the same soil and study culture in the same air as his ancestors. Now he is roaming into northern BC thanks to the Home Routes tour program. He will be in 亚洲天堂 Lake at the Heritage Church on March 29, presented by the 亚洲天堂 Lake Music Society.
When he comes, he will be bringing his late grandfather and grandmother along for the ride. They were the inspiration for his album Hoping Heaven Got A Kitchen. They were his bridge back through time.
He can trace his lineage back to a Montreal sailor named Michel Lege who moved to the colony next door and married an Acadian seamstress named Angelique Pinet. But they lived in the time of Le Grande Derangement, the mass expulsion, and their family dust settled in Louisiana.
That鈥檚 where the stories and cultural traits got passed on, and in a place that didn鈥檛 have a single wire of electricity until the 1940s, and no widespread household lights until into the 鈥�60s, that meant all the oral traditions of song and theatre.
鈥淢y grandfather鈥檚 grandfather was known as the storyteller of Pecan Island, a very rural marshland community of Cajun people, and he was known to stand on the front porch on weekend nights and the whole town would gather around to listen to old stories that he would tell. And that tradition was passed on,鈥� Gaspard said.
His grandfather, George Berton Lege, also possessed the compelling storyteller skills. 鈥淗e was the most bona fide Cajun you can think of: barefoot running, boat riding, cowboy boot dancing, alligator hunting, Cajun-speaking man. Just, the real deal.鈥�
Now it is Gaspard鈥檚 turn.
鈥淗e has always been my idol for many other reasons than just that. It is my duty, my responsibility and my legacy to continue that on and continue to invent it, otherwise it will only be something of the past.鈥�
The transformation of old traditional storytelling into modern narrative comes with a uniquely Dustin Dale Gaspard twang. He is not playing the delta blues, the zydeco accordion or the Cajun-country power fiddle. He won鈥檛 be mistaken for Jo- El Sonnier or Doug Kershaw.
鈥淭hose are some big names, there,鈥� he said, of those luminaries of Louisiana.
He plays with more of a folk, alt-country, Americana vibe. In order to thrive in the long term, he said, he has to play what鈥檚 true to his inner tastes and motivations, so the world continues to evolve naturally with the Cajun spirit in its blood. He鈥檚 not mimicking a stereotype, he is living an ancestry.
What鈥檚 important, Gaspard said, is to honour the past and illuminate the truth of it. It鈥檚 a pure truth that isn鈥檛 always appreciated, he said, that growing up in a rural place is a prideworthy background. Rural life gives you something. That鈥檚 why he is focusing this tour on places just like the one in which he grew up and obtained his passion for holding history and celebrating culture, no matter what yours might be.
鈥淩ural communities have parallel paths, and parallel experiences. It鈥檚 just the setting that鈥檚 different. What a privilege to be able to share company,鈥� he said. 鈥淚 want it to be like peering into the window of Acadiana.鈥�
He will be touring a wide spread of highway, all that way from his home, and yet right in the heart of his musical character.Here are some of his concert dates: March 28 鈥� Vanderhoof, March 29 鈥� 亚洲天堂 Lake, March 30 鈥� Hazelton, April 1 鈥� Prince Rupert, April 2 鈥� Smithers, April 3 鈥� Fraser Lake and April 4 鈥� Fort St. James.
