Evangeline was an American

country music Country (also called country and western) is a genre of popular music that originated in the Southern and Southwestern United States in the early 1920s. It primarily derives from blues, church music such as Southern gospel and spirituals, ...

band initially composed of Kathleen Stieffel (

guitar The guitar is a fretted musical instrument that typically has six strings. It is usually held flat against the player's body and played by strumming or plucking the strings with the dominant hand, while simultaneously pressing selected stri ...

vocals Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

), Sharon Leger (

bass guitar The bass guitar, electric bass or simply bass (), is the lowest-pitched member of the string family. It is a plucked string instrument similar in appearance and construction to an electric or an acoustic guitar, but with a longer neck and ...

, washboard, vocals), Beth McKee (

keyboards Keyboard may refer to: Text input * Keyboard, part of a typewriter * Computer keyboard ** Keyboard layout, the software control of computer keyboards and their mapping ** Keyboard technology, computer keyboard hardware and firmware Music * Musi ...

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

, vocals), Rhonda Lohmeyer (lead guitar), Nancy Buchan (

fiddle A fiddle is a bowed string musical instrument, most often a violin. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including classical music. Although in many cases violins and fiddles are essentially synonymous, th ...

mandolin A mandolin ( it, mandolino ; literally "small mandola") is a stringed musical instrument in the lute family and is generally plucked with a pick. It most commonly has four courses of doubled strings tuned in unison, thus giving a total of 8 ...

), and Dudley Fruge (

drums A drum kit (also called a drum set, trap set, or simply drums) is a collection of drums, cymbals, and other Percussion instrument, auxiliary percussion instruments set up to be played by one person. The player (drummer) typically holds a pair o ...

). They recorded two studio albums — a 1992 self-titled debut and 1994's '' French Quarter Moon'' — for Margaritaville Records, an

MCA Records MCA Records was an American record label owned by MCA Inc., which later became part of Universal Music Group. Pre-history MCA Inc., a powerful talent agency and a television production company, entered the recorded music business in 1962 wit ...

subsidiary owned by

Jimmy Buffett James William Buffett (born December 25, 1946) is an American singer-songwriter, musician, author, and businessman. He is best known for his music, which often portrays an "island escapism" lifestyle. Together with his Coral Reefer Band, Buffet ...

Biography

Evangeline was a New Orleans-based band composed, at its most popular point, of singer Kathleen Steiffel, bass guitarist/washboardist Sharon Leger, keyboardist/accordionist Beth McKee, lead guitarist Rhonda Lohmeyer, fiddler/mandolinist Nancy Buchan, and drummer Dudley Fruge. The band entered a talent competition called Jazz Search in 1988, followed by the Marlboro Talent Roundup and the True Value Country Music Showdown. They were eventually discovered by singer

, who signed them to Margaritaville Records, his personal subsidiary of

. Evangeline released its self-titled debut album in 1992, under the executive production of Buffett. Although this album produced no chart singles in the US, "If I Had a Heart" peaked at No. 81 on the ''

RPM Revolutions per minute (abbreviated rpm, RPM, rev/min, r/min, or with the notation min−1) is a unit of rotational speed or rotational frequency for rotating machines. Standards ISO 80000-3:2019 defines a unit of rotation as the dimensionl ...

'' Country Tracks charts in Canada. Fruge and Buchan left the group before the release of their second album, 1994's ''French Quarter Moon''. This album produced their first US chart single in "Let's Go Spend Your Money Honey", a No. 70 on the ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' country charts. Also included on this album was the song "She's a Wild One", which later became a Number One hit in 1994 for

Faith Hill Audrey Faith McGraw (; born September 21, 1967), known professionally as Faith Hill, is an American singer and actress. She is one of the most successful country music artists of all time, having sold more than 40 million albums worldwide. Hill' ...

under the title " Wild One". A third album, ''Louisiana Aye Yi Yi'', recorded in 1990 when Evangeline was composed of Rhonda Lohmeyer, Sharon Leger and Leslie Doyle, was issued in 1996. That final recording featured more

Zydeco Zydeco ( or , french: Zarico) is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. Al ...

and Cajun songs than their first two albums, including tunes written by

Rockin' Sidney Sidney Simien (April 9, 1938 – February 25, 1998), known professionally as Rockin' Sidney, was an American R&B, zydeco, and soul musician who began recording in the late 1950s and continued performing until his death. He is best known for his ...

(Sidney Simien),

D. L. Menard Doris Leon Menard#François90, François 1990, p. 446. (April 14, 1932 – July 27, 2017) was an American songwriter, performer, and recording artist in contemporary Cajun music. He was called the "Cajun Hank Williams". Biography Menard was bor ...

, and several traditional Cajun songs.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Music videos

References

External links

* * {{Authority control Country music groups from Louisiana Musical groups from Louisiana Musical groups established in 1988 Musical groups disestablished in 1996 MCA Records artists