By Tracy Pitcox
Louisiana Hall of Famer Jo-El Sonnier will celebrate his 50th Anniversary at the Llano Country Opry on Saturday, January 13, at the Lantex Theater in Llano, Texas. The show will begin at 2:30PM and admission is $20 for general admission and $30 for reserved seating. Tickets are on sale at www.heartoftexascountry.com or by calling (325) 247-5354.
Jo-El Sonnier was born to French-speaking sharecroppers in Rayne, Louisiana, United States. At age three, he began to play his brother's accordion. By age six, Sonnier had performed on the radio; at age 11, he made his first recordings. He also released several independent singles and four albums as a teenager. By the 1970s, he was signed to Mercury Nashville Records and began having success in the country music field.
Sonnier temporarily abandoned his pursuit of a country music career in favor of recording Cajun music on the independent Rounder Records label. Although his independent album did not produce much commercial success, it was nominated for a Grammy Award. After being signed as Merle Haggard's opening act, Sonnier later decided to return to country music; he was signed to RCA Records in the 1980s, where his biggest successes came in the singles "No More One More Time" and a cover of British singer Richard Thompson's "Tear Stained Letter", songs which landed in the Top 10 on the country charts. He also enjoyed success with chart hits “Raining In My Heart” “I’ve Been Around Enough To Know” and “If Your Heart Should Ever Roll This Way Again.”
In the 1990s, Sonnier moved to Capitol Records. He continued to find success as a session musician, and briefly took up acting as well. In the late 1990s, he returned to Rounder Records to record Cajun music once more, occasionally collaborating with Michael Doucet of BeauSoleil. Sonnier also saw his second Grammy nomination, for the 1997 album Cajun Pride; a third soon followed with 2001's Cajun Blood being nominated for Best Traditional Folk Album.
In 2009, Sonnier was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.
He teamed up with fellow Cajun entertainer Eddy Raven to record “Fais Do Do”, "Sugar Bee" and "Catahoula" which also featured the Bellamy Brothers.
Sonnier made a brief cameo appearance as a member of a dance band in the third episode of the first season of the HBO crime series True Detective, which is set in southern Louisiana.
On December 10, 2013, The Legacy was released on Takau Records, and was the first traditional Cajun French album of his in over 13 years. Ten years of songwriting in the making, the 13-track album drew Sonnier his fifth Grammy nomination. On February 8, 2015, Sonnier won a Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album.
Other entertainers will include Chris Reeves, Buck Martin, Bode Barker, Kaye Tolson, Benny Fred Kothmann, Bucille Snotgrass and Tom Tolson. Tracy Pitcox will MC the show.