Barry Chauvin honored as Louisiana Tradition Bearer

The Louisiana Folklife Month recognizes the rich diversity of Louisiana’s living traditions of tradition bearers in order to bring attention to the individuals who sustain them. The initiative showcases an array of tradition bearers in a series of public programs taking place at venues across the state. Barry Chauvin will be recognized by Tommy Ike Hailey as a Louisiana Tradition Bearer in a ceremony at the Bayou Arts Fest in Houma on Saturday, October 28, 2023.

Barry Chauvin is a singer/songwriter and storyteller born and raised in Edgard, Louisiana about 30 miles upriver from New Orleans. Growing up in a family of 9 children he listened to the stories of friends and family under the oak tree in their front yard every Sunday. Inevitably someone would breakout a guitar and the music would begin. Barry bought his first guitar at age 14 and would sit regularly on his front porch picking out tunes. His lifelong passion for songwriting started slowly along the banks of the Mississippi River and has gained momentum over the years. Barry has been a regular host and featured artist at numerous songwriter festivals such as the Mississippi Songwriter Festival, the Ozone Songwriter Festival and the Overbrook Songwriter Festival. He coproduces and cohosts “Songwriter Sessions” a songwriter support project which includes songwriter performances at local venues, a songwriter interview series on YouTube and a songwriter workshop series that teaches songwriting to support and encourage new songwriters.

Barry’s approach to songwriting is to observe the sights and sounds of the people, places and things that surround us all and try to capture their moments in lyric and melody. He released his first CD in 2022 entitled “My Songs Are My Friends”. Of course, the cover artwork is a sketch of his family home and the front porch where it all started. Barry’s focus in the future is to create songwriting events that provide a “listening room” environment so the artist and the fans of original music can connect over the message in the song. He is working closely with the Bayou Arts Council to establish an annual songwriter festival for Terrebonne Parish.