ABOUT THE EPISODE
Guests Robin Barnes and Rusty Metoyer, two Louisiana musicians from opposite ends of the state, join hosts Brady and Jillian on Louisiana's Playground to talk about the album and video series that brought them together in Southwest Louisiana. Barnes, the Songbird of New Orleans, and Metoyer, one of the region's premier Zydeco artists, dig into the making of "Louisiana Love" and the companion docuseries "Discovering Home." It becomes a conversation about family, food, and the culture that connects every corner of Louisiana.
ABOUT THE GUEST
Robin Barnes, known as the Songbird of New Orleans, comes from a nine-generation Louisiana family steeped in music, with roots tracing back to Dave Bartholomew, the co-writer of the Fats Domino catalog. She has performed everywhere from the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to London's Royal Opera House, and after a health scare prompted her to preserve her family's oral traditions, she spent three years building her debut album, "Louisiana Love," as a gift to her daughters. The album pairs her with artists across Creole, Cajun, Zydeco, and New Orleans traditions, and her companion video series, "Discovering Home," documents her firsthand journey learning the parts of Louisiana she had never experienced.
Rusty Metoyer is a Lake Charles native and one of Southwest Louisiana's premier Zydeco artists, carrying on a Creole music tradition his grandfathers kept alive at family functions. He joined Barnes on "Louisiana Love," lending accordion and vocals to the collaboration, and appears in "Discovering Home" as a guide to the food, trail rides, and Saturday-morning Zydeco culture of the region. Both join the show to talk about what connects them across the state and why Lake Charles matters to the story they are telling together.
ENVIE EATS
Pitt Grill on West Prien Lake Road in Lake Charles is a classic diner that first opened in 1972, serving breakfast, daily plate lunches, burgers, and gumbo. The plate lunches rotate seven days a week, with everyday staples like fried chicken and rotating specials such as pork fricassee over rice and gravy with sides of pinto beans, greens, and crispy buttery toast. Breakfast runs all day, from the breakfast po'boy stacked with eggs, American cheese, and smoked sausage to the egg bowl piled over hash browns, plus homemade desserts like banana pudding and lemon bars. Easy to reach off Interstate 210, it delivers exactly what a no-frills diner should.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
EPISODE 103 TRANSCRIPT
[00:00 Cold Open]
Robin Barnes: We all recognize we have grown up in such an amazing culture that not many people understand and not many people can relate to, but there's this connection that we all have as Louisiana people that it's love, it's respect, it's family, it's support.
[00:22 Intro]
Brady Renard: Thanks for joining us on Louisiana's Playground Podcast, your roadmap, your guide to all there is to see and taste and do here in Lake Charles.
Jillian Corder: That's right. That's Brady Renard.
Brady Renard: Yes, I am. That's my name. And that's Jillian Corder.
Jillian Corder: Yes, I am. And we're excited to bring you the authentic stories and experiences of Southwest Louisiana with all the tools that you need to explore it.
Brady Renard: Episode 103 is on deck, and I think this is a terrific one. We kind of go outside the normal box a little bit. Two guests, both great enough to kind of carry their own interview. Right? So this is a jam-packed episode. We're talking to Robin Barnes, Rusty Metoyer, two Louisiana-based musicians, Robin around the New Orleans area, Rusty right here in the Lake Charles area, and they're collaborating on a couple songs.
Jillian Corder: Really exciting projects.
Brady Renard: Robin's video project that's like an accompanying album. Like there's so many details, so worth it. It's so emotional, so funny, so powerful. It's a great interview. I think you're going to really enjoy it. But before we get to that.
[01:29 Envie Eats]
Brady Renard: It's Envie Eats. And this week we head to one of my favorite little diners in town. I'm talking Pitt Grill.
Jillian Corder: It's a classic.
Brady Renard: Yeah, 1972 they opened. So they've been here for a good while and they've been in the location that they are just in front of the mall on Prien Lake for the last 15 years. So they've kind of called that home for a while. And I think most people around here know exactly what you're getting, right? Like it's the diner feel, so they've got breakfast, they've got daily lunch specials, great burgers, although I think their crown jewel is something that probably not many order, at least not initially, their gumbo.
Jillian Corder: Brady really likes their gumbo and he's a gumbo critic, y'all. You eat gumbo at least once a week. Gumbo Wednesdays, hashtag gumbo Wednesdays.
Brady Renard: Once a week is probably the safest, but yes.
Jillian Corder: But usually it's more than that. And Pitt Grill is one you keep coming back to.
Brady Renard: I love that gumbo and we'll talk about it here in a second. I really enjoy their gumbo and it's one that if you don't need a lot of spice, it's probably right where it's at is perfect. And then you add a little hot sauce. And for me, that then makes it exact because I want that hot sauce flavor in every gumbo that I eat. And so I really, really, really enjoy it. In fact, everything they have there is fresh, their own recipes, et cetera.
Jillian Corder: It's home style cooking.
Brady Renard: It is. And their plate lunches rotate every day. And there's a plate lunch, I believe, seven days a week. So there's always something new there. And there's a few like their fried chicken is every day.
Jillian Corder: Sure.
Brady Renard: Which is smart because the fried chicken might be my favorite thing on the menu. It's really good. Outside the gumbo.
Jillian Corder: Okay, outside the gumbo.
Brady Renard: The gumbo. Whatever. Anyway, what'd you get?
Jillian Corder: I got the breakfast po' boy because I couldn't decide if I wanted lunch or if I wanted breakfast. And I am a sucker for breakfast foods. So I tried to like marry the two in a breakfast po' boy. So we're talking big, thick po' boy sandwich bread, right? With two eggs. I got them scrambled inside, American cheese and smoked sausage. So it's everything you want in a breakfast. It came with a side of hash browns and I may have put them on the sandwich.
Brady Renard: Okay, that's kind of like adding a fry to a cheeseburger, right?
Jillian Corder: Yeah, I put it on the sandwich because it was like, well then it's all handheld. I needed no cutlery here. I could go all handheld. So it's everything you want in breakfast food. It was a yummy bread, really buttery, yummy. Scrambled eggs can't go wrong with cheese and smoked sausage for that little hint of something, you know, protein and yummy in the morning, savory something.
Brady Renard: And you normally do, like I've seen her, look, I don't know about this, but we go to dinner and lunch pretty often.
Jillian Corder: Scandalous.
Brady Renard: I've seen you order as a bowl before pretty much.
Jillian Corder: Yes, so I don't know if it's called the breakfast bowl on their menu or not, but.
Brady Renard: The egg bowl is what they call it.
Jillian Corder: The egg bowl, okay, yeah. And so.
Brady Renard: Not the Mississippi State Ole Miss football rivalry.
Jillian Corder: The egg bowl.
Brady Renard: The egg bowl is an item on their menu.
Jillian Corder: Yes, and same thing. Imagine all your favorite breakfast food items, but it's all on top of hash browns, and you got your sausage and cheese. They'll put gravy on it. They'll kind of make it however you want it, but that's really good too. And it's all in, I like things that are easy to eat, obviously. Like it's all handheld or it's all in one big bowl, just like, you know, grab a spoon. I like things that are easy. Also, the kids like that one too. It's easy to feed them if you're chasing toddlers around.
Brady Renard: I went this time with the lunch special, which of the day was the pork fricassee, which for those that may not know, it's not inherently a Cajun dish. In fact, a lot of kind of cultures have it. It's a brown butter sauce. You brown your chicken, you create your butter sauce with it. You put it over rice and gravy. It's delicious. Everyone loves them because it's amazing. And theirs is very good, flavorful gravy there. You typically get multiple sides. Today I got pinto beans, which were very, very good. They always have a bean pretty much. And then they had greens and I ate the greens. I'm not the biggest greens fan, but their greens were very good.
Jillian Corder: They're green.
Brady Renard: And then they're green. And then they had their buttery toast. They always have a big slab of toast with it and it's crunchy, crunchy and buttery and it's crispy. I should say crispy. It's more crispy than crunchy. And it also came with a dessert. There's three different ones, brownie, a lemon bar, or banana pudding. And it's warm outside. I think banana pudding's kind of refreshing and I love banana pudding.
Jillian Corder: You always go banana pudding.
Brady Renard: Banana pudding, bread pudding, gumbo.
Jillian Corder: I'm a lemon bar gal and their lemon bar is really, really good.
Brady Renard: They're all homemade and so they're all very, very good. Any of the choices. And look, I know I got the hamburger steak today. I really enjoy their hamburger steak because they do the Juicy Lucy. They stuff it with cheese in the middle and it's very, very good. I love the hamburger steak and I also, like I said, really enjoy the fried chicken when they have that as a special. I'll get that a lot. Those are kind of my go-tos there and I've really enjoyed them. Look, it's a no frills diner, right? Like it's just a classic diner. And so everything that you expect at a diner, they deliver like exactly what you want. That's why I think I really enjoy them because there's no, it's not pretentious. It's not theatric. It is, hey, you're here for a great, authentic dining experience, and you're going to enjoy every bit of it. And that's what I love about it.
Jillian Corder: And the staff is always so sweet and amazing. Shout out to all those ladies. They're always so good to us. They're just so sweet. And they keep coming around with the coffee, which, you know, keeps me happy.
Brady Renard: And the location is very easy right there off of 210, so.
Jillian Corder: Yep, perfect spot.
[07:34 Guest Introduction]
Brady Renard: And from a great meal to a great couple of guests, Robin Barnes, Rusty Metoyer, so good of you to join us here. Robin's known as the Songbird of New Orleans. She's performed everywhere from New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival to London's Royal Opera House. Rusty, meanwhile, a Lake Charles native and one of Southwest Louisiana's premier Zydeco artists. He carries on a Creole music tradition that his grandfathers kept alive. And the two joined forces on Robin's debut album, Louisiana Love, and then again for her companion video series, Discovering Home. And now they're bringing that project to life right here in Southwest Louisiana. And so today we're talking about what connects these two Louisiana icons and what Lake Charles means to the story that they're telling together. Welcome to the show, guys.
Jillian Corder: Hey y'all.
Rusty Metoyer: Glad to be here.
[08:18 Rapid Fire]
Jillian Corder: So we like to do some rapid fire questions when we start off, so our audience better knows how you play in Louisiana's Playground. Are you ready? They're real easy and you know the answers, okay?
Brady Renard: You should.
Jillian Corder: You should. Crawfish or gumbo?
Robin Barnes: Crawfish.
Rusty Metoyer: Gumbo.
Jillian Corder: Oh, opposing. Let's see how, let's see if this keeps up a little bit.
Brady Renard: Okay, important distinction that we always kind of ask, is there a gumbo season?
Robin Barnes: See, I like crawfish when it's crawfish season. If it wasn't crawfish season, I would do gumbo.
Brady Renard: Basically, you know, the people saying, oh, I only eat gumbo when it's cold out.
Rusty Metoyer: But I love crawfish. Sure. It's gumbo. Chicken and sausage gumbo.
Robin Barnes: Chicken and sausage. I'm with you. Thank you.
Brady Renard: I feel vindicated. There is the country, Southwest Louisiana and seafood, Southeast Louisiana.
Jillian Corder: I feel vindicated because I'm always chicken and sausage and people look at me sideways. So I feel like I'm.
Robin Barnes: I'm looking at you sideways.
Rusty Metoyer: Smoked sausage. The real sausage.
Robin Barnes: How do you make smoked? I'm just kidding.
Jillian Corder: Okay, next, rapid fire here. Poolside or beachside?
Rusty Metoyer: Beachside.
Robin Barnes: Beach, for sure.
Jillian Corder: Same, okay. And then this should be a really, really easy question, but concert or comedy show?
Brady Renard: I'm hoping, I'm hoping.
Robin Barnes: Concert.
Jillian Corder: Obviously.
Rusty Metoyer: Yeah, concert for me.
Brady Renard: I just want to be like, you know, I love, I do music, but I really love to laugh.
Rusty Metoyer: Well, but I've never really been to a comedy show. Aside from like on a cruise ship. So.
Jillian Corder: Those count.
Rusty Metoyer: I mean, it was cool. Katt Williams or something like that, I would really enjoy it, but I've just never experienced it.
Robin Barnes: That's the tough thing about asking like musicians, working musicians that, because whenever there's anything to go do, we're probably gigging.
Jillian Corder: You're also doing the thing. Yeah.
Rusty Metoyer: The concerts that I do see, I'm also playing at.
Robin Barnes: Correct.
Rusty Metoyer: You know, there's the bands that are playing before and after it, so.
Jillian Corder: Yeah, there you go. There you go.
[10:17 The Making of Louisiana Love]
Jillian Corder: So, okay, let's talk music. Robin, first, how long have you been immersed in music? How long has this passion been going on for you?
Robin Barnes: I mean, I'm born and raised in a family of musicians. From the point where my cousin is Dave Bartholomew, who co-wrote all the songs with Fats Domino. So every Fats Domino song you love, my cousin co-wrote it. So music's in my blood. And my dad's a bass player, my siblings, all six of my siblings, my brothers, they play instruments. So I've always been around music, loving it. But gigging wise, singing wise, my first gig was when I was six years old.
Jillian Corder: Six years old. That's incredible. And you've been everywhere, right? We heard a little bit about that in your introduction, but London Opera House?
Robin Barnes: Oh my gosh. I mean, London, like India. I mean, I did MTV India, which was amazing. But I mean, internationally, I've been very blessed. Nationally, I've been very blessed. But, you know, God is good. I like what I do.
Jillian Corder: You should, you should. And your debut album is coming out.
Robin Barnes: Yes, it already came out May 1st.
Jillian Corder: Okay, and tell us about it.
Robin Barnes: So the album is really important to me. I already had a debut album done and I scratched it because I ended up finding out through a festival photographer, he presented me three photos over the last three years and noticed a growth in my leg. And we found out you could only see it on the bandstand at this one position I would do in these heels. Otherwise, I didn't know it was there. Come to find out it was a tumor. And we weren't sure if it was benign or cancerous. And my family is nine plus generations Louisianians. And everything is passed down through oral tradition from eldest daughter to eldest daughter. And when I found out my diagnosis, I said, how am I gonna give nine generations of storytelling to a three-year-old?
Jillian Corder: Yeah.
Robin Barnes: So I ended up getting it removed. Thank God it was benign. And I spent three years doing my due diligence to go through my family heritage from the Creole, the Cajun, the Zydeco, and the New Orleans, and really creating this beautiful tapestry that is a gift to my daughters. And then what's crazy is I stalked all of these amazing artists who had no idea who I was. And I was just honestly just like, hey, I have this concept. You don't know who I am, but I'm a big fan of yours. I wrote music inspired by you. Would you please join me on this album? And every single one of them said yes. And Rusty was one of them. And I was just so grateful that this album is not just about music. It's a story. And it's a story that we all as Louisianians can relate to and find a little piece of home.
Jillian Corder: Louisiana Love.
Robin Barnes: Louisiana Love.
Brady Renard: And there's so many, you mentioned it's a who's who of Louisiana icons, music and families and bloodlines. Rusty, for you to be one of those that was invited, what does that mean to you?
Rusty Metoyer: Oh, that was, I mean, to be on the album with a lot of different Louisiana music artists that I'm familiar with, I'm like, man, how do I fit in here? I grew up with this music, but my grandfathers, they weren't well-known musicians. I knew them. I loved them dear to my heart and my family knew them because they would play at family functions and parties and stuff like that. But for me to be able to carry my name and my lineage and do something on this scale, I'm like, man, that's a huge blessing and something I don't take for granted at all. So I appreciate you, Robin, for even considering me to be a part of it. And I'm excited to see what it's doing and what it's going to continue to do.
[13:48 Discovering Home]
Brady Renard: And look, before we get, I want to get really deep into some of the songs that you guys kind of did. But before we do that, we had mentioned it kind of in the beginning, right? So it's more than just an album and what you've kind of been inspired to do with Discovering Home as well. How did Discovering Home take you here to Lake Charles?
Robin Barnes: So first of all, the reason why this album is so important and why we wanted to do, why I wanted to do multimedia around the album is because I firsthand learned about not preserving something that is passed down through generations. My mémère, my papaw, we have documentation through slavery. Food and cooking was a big part of my family, as much as music. And the time I was supposed to learn all the family recipes, Katrina. So I am the first of nine generations that doesn't know how to cook, that doesn't know any of the recipes. So I learned what that loss is like. And so with the album, I wanted to do something bigger and be a part of the generation that's about discovering, but preserving our culture and being a part of us telling our own narrative. And so with my family, we were able to trace some of it to Lake Charles, and I wanted to pick different places that not only had a piece of my family history, but also featuring the amazing artists who were on it. Now, the craziest part is I had no idea how much things are connected. So picking Lake Charles, I was a fan of Rusty. I didn't realize about my family history with Lake Charles until after we started recording. And then yesterday we're going through one of y'all's museums and they're telling me that Fats Domino and Dave Bartholomew used to frequently perform at the Ball's Auditorium. And that's my cousin. So like I'm having so many like this little love notes with Lake Charles and it's a beautiful place. And I'm so glad to be able to feature this a part of this docuseries. Did I answer your question?
Brady Renard: Yes.
Robin Barnes: Everybody got quiet. Everyone got quiet, got scared.
Jillian Corder: Yes, you more than answered it. No, we're bought in. I am bought in. And I think people will be too. I think there's something about our generation that we want to hang on to something. There's so much change in the world. There's so much that's different than when we were young or when our parents were young. And you want to hang on to that something. And I think that Discovering Home is such a, like you said, a love note to just like your family in general. I think that's absolutely beautiful.
Robin Barnes: All of our families.
Jillian Corder: No, I think it's absolutely beautiful. And to be part of that.
Rusty Metoyer: Yeah, that's, I feel like I'm doing mine, not only my grandparents, but everybody that came before me, I feel like I'm doing them a great service in what I do and what I try to continue to do. Because I wouldn't be doing none of this without the upbringing that I had with my family and seeing my grandfathers play music and seeing my uncles and my cousins all come together. My grandmother cooking a gumbo on a Christmas night or New Year's Eve night or something like that. And after everybody eat, all the instruments are being tuned up. And without seeing that from a kid, I wouldn't know how special it is. And I wouldn't, I might not have been able to feel that feeling that I just need to keep it going.
[17:05 Authenticity]
Brady Renard: In this day and age, it's so easy for you to have to figure out, is this AI? Is this fake? What's real? It's the authenticity of both of you, you know, to be on an album called Louisiana Love. And it's not just, I spent some time there, my family's from there, I'm not really born and raised. You both are born and raised. And many of the people, if not every person on the album featured, are born and raised or have called Louisiana home and continue to call Louisiana home. That authenticity matters.
Robin Barnes: Thank you.
Brady Renard: And I'm sure it did to you when making it.
Robin Barnes: I mean, I was so intentional with every aspect of it. You know, I'm this humble kid coming from New Orleans and I'm trying to honor your legacy. I'm trying to honor the Dopsie's legacy. And you have to have so much respect to even step into that light, into a genre that isn't your genre. But you, again, I spent three years of just trying to do my best to represent them so they were comfortable to say yes to something like this, basically. And I mean, my favorite part of the entire project was I'm doing it for me. But the more that I really started talking to all the artists, I was like, wow, we all recognize we have grown up in such an amazing culture that not many people understand and not many people can relate to, but there's this connection that we all have as Louisiana people that it's love, it's respect, it's family, it's support, but more importantly, our generation is a part of the generation of recognizing it and wanting to preserve it. Because if we don't do it, who's going to do it for the next generation? And we're going to be someone's ancestor one day. And that's a powerful thought.
Brady Renard: Yeah.
Jillian Corder: Bit humbling. Yeah. You talked about different cultures and traditions and different styles of music. How do you marry all of those together in this album?
Robin Barnes: I thought, I was so scared to do it. I was like, I genuinely set out to do this because I was like, I believe that this is possible. And you have no idea how many people told me that was like the silliest idea ever. And I was like, okay, well, I'm just gonna do my best and see what happens. And it's so crazy that you can listen to this album. And I always recommend people listen to it from beginning to the end because it's a story and it really does between the interludes and the transitions. And every part of it feels like somehow, some way this was meant to be.
[19:38 The Songs: Va Dansé and Don't Let Go]
Brady Renard: And so the two songs that you're on the album for, Rusty, Va Dansé and Don't Let Go, how did you both work together to make sure that both your voices were heard, that the styles were married?
Rusty Metoyer: So with it being Robin's project and her songs, of course I was coming in kind of trying to be as quiet as I could. I didn't want to come in and just be like, well, I think we should do this, this and this, even though my music brain was thinking that. But Robin, of course, being a musician first, she was wanting to hear maybe my influence and what I thought about this and what I thought about that. And when we both came together, it's like, man, we made some beautiful music that really I enjoy listening to, I enjoy playing, and I know people that listen to it, not just our songs, but the whole album is gonna enjoy it. Because when I was listening through the album the first time, I was like, man, this is really a story. I know she was telling me it was a story, but this is really a story from front to back. You're going from New Orleans to Lake Charles, from Southeast Louisiana to Southwest Louisiana. You're hitting country music, you're hitting bounce music, you're hitting Zydeco, you're hitting Cajun, you're hitting brass music. And it's like, it all goes together. You know, you always hear people saying that the different parts of the state are separate states. That's kind of like a running joke between the people in Louisiana, but really our music and our food is what connects us. And you at least hear the music part through this album. I mean, and there's no doubt about it. If you listen to it from the first song to the last one, you can hear it.
Brady Renard: And it feels like it's the start of maybe a Saturday night dance, right? Like Va Dansé feels it's the slow start that then all of a sudden kind of erupts. Kind of it builds in a way that only Zydeco does. And then on the other hand, Don't Let Go is almost a Zydeco ballad, right? Like it's a love song.
Robin Barnes: Yes, definitely. Yeah, it's like the Zydeco meets R&B, but I'm gonna tell him this story. So Rusty was not on that song. Like it was Rusty, I was like, Rusty, Va Dansé, for sure, this is it. And I was like, Rusty, can you like play accordion on this other track? Would you mind listening to it? And it was funny because at first when he paused, I thought it was because he didn't like it. And he goes, you know, this one's more up my alley than the other one. And I was like.
Rusty Metoyer: More my style.
Robin Barnes: More my style, yeah, sorry, more my style. And I was like, okay. Do you want to sing on it? He was like, I mean, if it's cool. I was like, absolutely. Like everything is just so open. That's the cool thing about artists and musicians, are all about collaborating. And I love it because there's no way I could ever hear this song without Rusty. We did a soundcheck yesterday and I couldn't even, it's his part that when I was trying to beat Rusty, I forgot the song. I was like, where do we go next? And everybody in the band's like, I don't know, you wrote the song. And I'm like, no, but Rusty's singing.
Brady Renard: I mean, it does, it does feel, you know, I told her I've listened to it about 20 times probably, trying to get a feel of it and really understand the song. And yeah, I mean, from the riffs at the end that Rusty, like it does, it truly feels, it's shocking to me that it was once a solo.
Robin Barnes: Yeah. No, Rusty, I mean, brought so much light and joy to it. I mean, he brought it to a whole nother level. So I was honored that he was like, yeah, no, that's.
Rusty Metoyer: Yeah, when I first heard it, I mean, when they played it for me, I was like, this is what we doing as young Creole Zydeco musicians in South Louisiana, Louisiana right now. Like this is the sound right now. And the fact that y'all are from a different genre and y'all was able to create that whether intentionally or unintentionally was perfect. And as soon as I heard it, I was like, yeah, I'm glad we did this song also, but this song is great. I got to be on this one. Yeah.
Jillian Corder: So I can say that that's your favorite one, probably.
Rusty Metoyer: Personally, that's, you know, it's probably my favorite.
Jillian Corder: As an artist, I mean, it's easy for us to say, okay, we've picked our favorite song on an album, right? But as an artist, I mean, so much of you is in each song. How do you, do you have a favorite?
Robin Barnes: I feel like a parent, like I have no favorite. I will say the ones that have come together organically, like have been some of my favorites. And the one with Rusty again, like I couldn't, I heard him on it when we were doing it. And then now I can't, I couldn't imagine it without him because his voice is just so amazing. And it just brought it to another level. So Don't Let Go is one of my favorites. The other one, I have two other favorites. There you go. I have three favorites out of 14 songs, so we're going to go with it. The second one, as a New Orleanian, it's a lot of our culture to really praise our native sons. And it's one of those things where as a native daughter, I was so honored by Hands Up because Big Chief Monk Boudreaux is a Mardi Gras Indian. He is quintessentially like such a huge, honored culture bearer in Louisiana, worldwide, New Orleans. And we went to his house. And this is such a New Orleans thing. He's sewing his suit before Mardi Gras. 60 Minutes just finished emailing him. I mean, I'm interviewing him. And he's like, yeah, Ramen could come in. Cause New Orleans can't say my name, Robin. They say Ramen. Ramen. He's like, Ramen, yeah, come here, Ramen. So he's just, we're just doing it. So I'm like, can we just get a, whatever you want to say on this song? Whatever you want to say. And I'm like about to cry. Like he looks at me and he's like, the song starts. He and he just goes, yeah. And I'm like, here we go. And then he goes, get yourself together and take this to the world. Show people who you are and where you come from. And believe me, you're the one. And to have a huge culture bearer to say that to a native daughter who's just trying to make everyone proud, it was so humbling and so powerful. So that's one of my favorites. And that's the intro of Hands Up for sure.
Jillian Corder: So let me just stop crying for a second here. What grand marching orders that is too.
Robin Barnes: Yeah, no pressure.
Jillian Corder: No pressure at all. But you're doing it though. Like you are, you're doing it. You're following through with it, which is beautiful.
Robin Barnes: Thank you. I'll tell you my third one because you're going to crown this one.
Jillian Corder: Okay, go ahead.
Robin Barnes: The third one is Dey Say Run. It's with my daughters. And because I realized after Katrina there's so much of baby photos that are lost, that my children will never see of their mom. And I thought, why not capture them a part of this album? And I just started clapping. I've been teaching my daughter just rhythm and tempos and stuff, and she just started going. And she just wrote the, she wrote the song. And so we recorded in the studio and she knocked it out. And then my six-year-old and my three-year-old. And when you hear that song, if you don't cry instantly, but to be able to capture the generations on an album and then do the music video where it's my mom and my daughters and me at my mémère's house, like it was, it's, yeah, the album means so much to me, but it's so many levels and layers that just I can't wait for the world to see it and hopefully people will understand it. But even if they don't, I feel like people can hear it. They hear this. You feel it.
Rusty Metoyer: You feel it.
Jillian Corder: Music's one of those amazing, mystical, it's like magic. It truly is when you're listening to something, right? And you feel that connection to something, even though you may not have anything. I may not know who the artist is or even know what this song means to them, but I know what it means to me. And I think this, your album and Discovering Home is so relatable, even if it's not the same footsteps you've walked, it's so relatable because everyone has a family.
Robin Barnes: Exactly.
Jillian Corder: Right. And I think that that's just so beautiful what you're doing. And you're following through. That's, yeah. And I'm crying because I'm a mama and now I'm like, I gotta go home and record my kids. I gotta go make a song with it. My kids don't have, can you teach my son Phillip? He inherited his daddy's rhythm and this just, nope, it's not a thing. There's video now, don't do that. Yeah, it's not good. So I need somebody to come and teach some rhythm. That would be great.
[28:34 Double Meanings]
Brady Renard: Well look, now I don't feel off base or kind of accusing myself of thinking too deeply. I think maybe some of these songs have a second meaning or can have a second meaning, like Don't Let Go. Is it more than just a relationship? Is it, you know, not letting go and allowing to pass it down to the future generations being the nine?
Robin Barnes: Oh my gosh, I can't believe you figured that out. No one's figured that out.
Jillian Corder: Well he's, he's kind of smart.
Robin Barnes: So when it says, with Rusty's part, the whole song's a double meaning. It's the equivalent of, yes, it's falling in love with someone in real life, but it's also falling in love with the beauty of your world, which is our city. And so particularly, your smile lights up the sky. I'm talking about the sunrise when it dawns. It moves like magic, you can't deny. Like a beautiful scene in the swamp, just enjoying the day. Like, yes, it has a double meaning, but I never thought anyone would figure that out, so kudos.
Rusty Metoyer: Yeah.
Robin Barnes: So that's what I was thinking about.
[29:38 Discovering Home: The Series]
Brady Renard: Well okay, then let's talk the video series, the companion series, Discovering Home. How did the collaboration with everyone go to that? Because you said you wanted to be multimedia.
Robin Barnes: So I realized, so with the oral tradition of my family, I have stories of the country. I have stories of different parts of our family, but I've never experienced it. And I thought, you know, here I am, this artist that I get hired, and I'm sure Rusty does too, we get hired by other places to storytell our home. Why not I tell our story? And in a way that's completely authentic, which is I've never been to Lake Charles. I want to learn about Lake Charles and I want to discover this. And I want my friends who I trust as my guides to tell me how to make boudin, how to literally like be able to embrace this world. First episode, we did a trail ride and I'm like, what's a trail ride? Like Drake LeBlanc, shout out to Drake. He took me to a trail ride and I'm like, this is like a magical world of just seeing hundreds and hundreds of black cowboys. What's a black cowboy? Like there's so much that I was learning for the first time. And I am born and raised here thinking I know Louisiana. And I'm sitting here going, no. And I want to be able to be a part of that connection, the relatability that you're talking about. There's so many of us that think we know everything about home. And it's beautiful that we can still discover more. So that's my thought. Just documenting my discovering of home and taking y'all on the journey. And it's pretty comical, because I'm just like, I feel like half the time I'm just like, this is real? Like, I mean, this is amazing. And learning about the different foods, like I'm sitting here thinking I'm a foodie and I can throw down and I can eat anything. And I'm telling you, everywhere I've gone, everybody, just like in New Orleans, they want to feed me. I'm ready to eat everything, but I'm full.
Jillian Corder: Well okay, so I gotta, I have to ask, where are you taking her?
Rusty Metoyer: I believe we're going to Ball's Fried Chick-n. Well there you go. I mean, you go, if you go to Lake Charles, you got to go to Ball's, so.
Brady Renard: Yeah. And then the music history with the Ball family too makes a lot of sense.
Jillian Corder: There's a lot of connection there and the family can tell you all about their history too. They're an incredible family over there and incredible chicken too. So we featured them on the podcast. And okra. I like their red beans personally. I'm a red beans fan, but yeah. Does it kind of like reinvigorate your love for it? Obviously you love your home too, but when you're showing it to somebody new?
Rusty Metoyer: Yeah, it's always fun to show somebody that's not familiar with what we're just so familiar with something because, you know, we're so used to hearing Zydeco on the radio Saturday mornings. Like you turn on the radio on Saturday mornings, you get the Zydeco shows. Like that's such a staple in this area. We're so used to just knowing about the trail rides, knowing everything that come with the trail rides, the people cooking in the black pot at their campers or the Zydeco dance afterwards, like all that that comes with it. We take that for granted because not everybody knows that that's the culture, you know, everything that comes with it. So being able to show people who really have a deep love for Louisiana and come from a different aspect of it. But like, look, this is what we do here. You know, this is what we grew up with. And just Robin is so intrigued by, you know, everything. You know, I'm glad to be a part of it and a bearer for my culture and my city, my surrounding areas, whatever I can do. You know, I know I'm not an expert on anything, but I know enough to be able to show somebody what I grew up with and what I love about what we do out here.
Jillian Corder: I think, you know, we're the same way. You kind of take for granted what's in your own backyard until you're telling somebody else about it and you see them light up and you're like, maybe that is kind of a cool place where I live. So fortunately we get to have that experience like once a week whenever we interview somebody. But of course we want to tell the world about it, not just us.
Rusty Metoyer: No.
[33:49 A Message to the World]
Jillian Corder: So what is it that you want to tell people outside of Louisiana? You know, we're kind of misunderstood here, I think a bit. You know, what message do you want to share with those people?
Rusty Metoyer: Louisiana has so much to offer. You know, when you come to the food, the music, the people, the dancing, the traditions, there's just so much to offer. And like to touch on what y'all said earlier, it's just authentic. It's nothing we're trying to do, it's nothing we're doing for a show, it's nothing that we have to think about. It's what we live, is what we eat, sleep and breathe, is our culture. And it's not only for us, we have open arms, we welcome people into it. We might not have the ability or the platform to put it on a world stage, you know, where people just all around just have an understanding of Louisiana. But if you come, we're gonna try our best to show you a hospitality, a good time, some good food, some good music, some traditions. And you know, we welcome anybody that's even intrigued in what we're doing out here, just to come down and see and see if you like it for yourself. And I guarantee you're gonna find something that you'll like, if not love.
Brady Renard: It's a whole lot of culture in a little state.
Robin Barnes: So much culture. I feel like for me, with this album and just learning more, again, you know, I want to be a part of the bridge that sometimes is like a little disconnect between the New Orleans and Louisiana, because you know, it's one of those things where, wow, it's the same in so many aspects. And that's why I'm so excited because I'm humbly surprised. I'm like, my God, yeah. No, we do, it's the same culture. It's literally the same food, it's the same warmth, it's the same people. The Zydeco music or the Cajun music, the bounce music, the New Orleans jazz, New Orleans funk, all of it might be different genres, but once people start hearing that beat, everyone's up and dancing. And that's why I just love this discovery. When I, pre-pandemic, I was a US culture ambassador and they sent me to India to talk about American music. And it's always stuck with me because I was promoting American music. And all I was talking about was five genres. So it was just like hip hop, R&B, country, or Americana, a little bit of folk. And I'm just going through all these genres and I'm going, well, that's interesting that for America to be represented by five genres, let alone Louisiana, we have five of our own genres. So there's technically 10 genres. Like there's so much talent and culture just in Louisiana, again, a tiny state, but there's so much here that we literally deserve that platform of that love worldwide. And I think it's growing, but more importantly, it's just, I don't know, we're just so blessed to have such an amazing culture. And there should be more of a celebratory connection with all of us.
[37:29 Passing It Down]
Jillian Corder: And I kind of want to wrap this up because you talked about your girls and that you want to pass down the traditions obviously of your family, but what's your, you've got an overall mission here with your album and Discovering Home. What do you hope your girls see in this journey of yours? What do you hope they take from this?
Robin Barnes: I hope through all of this, it's back to what Big Chief Monk Boudreaux said, I hope from this they know who they are, they know where they come from, and regardless of whatever this world is or what's going on in the world, they know that there's always a place of home. And if they're traveling the world or if they're having a hard day, and this is for anyone that just wants to feel safe and have a place of home, they can just listen to the music and know there's love that they can feel when they hear it. There's love they can see when they watch me on this docuseries interacting authentically with my people and this love. It's just, love is the most powerful, most beautiful thing in this world. And I think it's powerful to have something to remind people of that.
Jillian Corder: I think people can feel it just by listening to you right now. I can. I'm gonna cry again, so let's wrap this up. I know I'm gonna cry again.
[38:50 Sign-Off]
Brady Renard: Yeah, absolutely. Thanks again to Rusty and Robin for joining us here on the show. But the biggest thank you of all goes out to you, the listener, for taking time out of your day to join us on this podcast. Please, wherever you listen, maybe even YouTube now that we're on video, that'd be a cool start. Leave us a comment, a review, like, something, whatever. We'd appreciate it hearing from you.
Jillian Corder: And that of course helps us grow our audience and further share the unique and amazing stories of everyone here in Louisiana. Don't forget to go by visitlakecharles.org slash podcast for more advice on where to eat and amazing things that are happening this very weekend. I'm Jillian Corder.
Brady Renard: And I'm Brady Renard. Thanks again for coming to play at Louisiana's Playground. C'est tout.