Louka Patenaude, the Musical Chameleon

Today, Louka Patenaude joins us on Taste the Music. Patenaude is a chameleon of sorts. There’s the singer songwriter, sometimes with a country sound. There’s the bluegrass picker, then there’s the sultry 70s Grant Green sounding Jazz man. There’s the jangly indie pop that emanates from some of Patenaude’s tunes like From In My Tea, and there’s this off-kilter interpretation of Bob Dylan’s Don’t Think Twice, that dutifully transcribes the tune down to a minor scale, while preserving the melody.

A local Madison yokel, Louka Patenaude studied with the famed Richard Davis (RIP) at UW–Madison, who himself was known for being a jazz contemporary of Miles Davis, Eric Dolphy, Joe Henderson, but also for being a pop staple. You hear Davis on Bruce Springsteen’s early albums, Van Morrison, Bonnie Raitt. It makes sense, then, that Patenaude plays like one of his heroes, weaving in and out of Madison's various musical pockets, to create a space all unto his own. So, grab a root vegetable, get comfy, and Taste the Music.

Today’s episode was written and produced by Mark Griffin. Taste the Music was created by Whitney Mann and myself.