Music Mondays @ the Nash

April 8, 2024

Beaucoup Chapeaux–Maggie McKaig on accordion/guitar & vocals; Luke Wilson, tenor guitar & plectrum banjo; Murray Campbell, violin & oboes; yours truly on clarinets–is in our 15th (!) year. We have weathered some COVID-era bumps and dips along the way, but I’m thrilled to say that as 2024 finds us, we’re back playing a recurring gig in Nevada City, at the National Hotel, the next of which is tonight, April 8, from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

Prior to 2020, we were blessed to have a regular gig across the street, at the Nevada City Classic Cafe on Broad Street. Maggie, Luke and Murray were a trio when they played their first gig there on Valentine’s Day 2009. I had always been a big fan of their group–just a few months prior I had attended their exquisite Storm Sessions CD release concert at the Nevada City Oddfellows, with Michael Zisman on bass and mandolin, after which I uncharacteristically and enthusiastically offered my services, saying “You guys need a clarinet player!” After the 2009 Valentine’s gig, the trio started playing every Friday night at the Classic. I was invited to sit in. I fumbled and futzed through their eclectic melange of French chansons, Balkan folk tunes and Hot Club jazz, trying to sing and swing on the Bb and bass clarinets. They liked what they heard–I started attending their weekly Wednesday rehearsals, and soon we were a quartet. We eventually arrived on the name Beaucoup Chapeaux–bad French for “many hats,” because of the multiple instruments we played and diverse musical styles we covered each time we performed.

Make no mistake, as the principal vocalist, songwriter/composer, arranger and manager for the group, Maggie McKaig is the driving force of Beaucoup Chapeaux, but it would not have blossomed and thrived in quite the same way if it were not for the support of Genevieve Crouzet and Kirk Valentine at the Classic. For a band to really thrive, it needs a regular outlet, a place where it can experiment, try things out, see what works, build a following. The Classic was/is the classic small town diner by day, but throughout the 2010’s, it became a European bistro every Friday night: Genevieve and Kirk as your hosts, offering crepes, tapas, wine, conversation, singalong chansons, dancing in the long narrow aisle, the place where Beaucoup found its footing and prospered. The disruptions of COVID brought this gig to an end in 2020, but the creative energy fostered there continues to manifest every time Beaucoup performs. Kirk recently passed, but his goodwill and belief in what we made together lives on–his address to the Friday night crowd always began with the words “Does it get any better than this?”