Up The Coast : MUSIC BEAUSOLEIL : Hot Cajun : The French-influenced style seems to be more popular than ever.

Like ants at a picnic or those big old RVs with names like Prowler and Intruder, the state of Louisiana seems to be getting pushy. Musically speaking, that is.

Born on the bayou, Cajun music is seemingly everywhere. If there’s much more of a Louisiana influence, soon we’ll all be speaking French and rooting for the Saints.

Beausoleil will play the Lobero Theatre in Santa Barbara this Sunday night. According to its bio sheet, it is “the world’s greatest Cajun band.” The band seems to be attracting a following larger than the one made up of people who can’t pronounce its name. And Beausoleil is leaving in its wake legions of appreciative critics.

“A friend of mine who doesn’t play anymore and I started the band in the early ‘70s,” said fiddle player Michael Doucet in a recent phone interview.

“Cajun music wasn’t cool then and hardly anyone was playing the stuff except for old guys and women. And mostly they played in their homes and not in bars. Cajun music has been around for hundreds of years, and I just became totally passionate about it. I wanted to take those old songs and make them live again.”

In the early ‘80s, Cajun suddenly became the rage in restaurants across the country, Doucet said.

“People got their pride back and it was OK to speak French again. We got a lot of exposure from some of our songs that were in a couple of films,” he said. “They used one of my songs in ‘The Big Easy.’ We also got played on the ‘Prairie Home Companion,’ which helped us reach a lot of people that we otherwise would not have reached. Then in 1986, we thought, ‘Let’s see if this works,’ and we haven’t had a day job since.”

Beausoleil has made a lot of musical pals over the years. The band has played with the Grateful Dead, Keith Richards, Thomas Dolby and that Earl of Angst, Richard Thompson, who appears on the new record. Then again, what gig can top the inauguration of a President?

“Jimmy Carter was a great guy,” Doucet said. “I still have the gold peanut he gave me. The dance was held in the Washington train depot and yeah, I think Jimmy and Rosalind got out there and danced. Everybody dances when we play--they just can’t stand still.”

The new album, “Cajun Conja” just came out on RNA Records (Rhino New Artists), a label usually associated with reissues of oldies and classic rock. But since Rhino has a distribution deal with Capitol Records, there should be no problem finding it.

“So far, the album looks great,” Doucet said. “In fact, it looks a lot better than we do. I guess we’ve got about 15 albums--I lost count--but this one is our best yet.”

Cajun music Beausoleil-style is like a rocking French lesson. In addition to the fiddle, the accordion, banjo and mandolin all figure prominently in the group’s sound.

“We try to play everything from medieval songs to Acadian songs to our own compositions--the gamut,” Doucet said. “We’re just never been satisfied with one style. We play good, happy music with no pretentiousness in it at all. We sing in French, but our music has a lot of Americana in it. Everything is traditional, and we’re part of the tradition and we’re continuing to evolve all the time. And we’re a lot better than watching TV.”

Zydeco music and Cajun music are often confused or used interchangeably. Doucet, a Louisiana native out of Lafayette, knows the difference.

“Zydeco is Afro-American French music influenced by island rhythms, and a little blues,” said Doucet. “Zydeco is a rural music. Cajun music is French songs brought to Louisiana (and) originally played on the fiddle, but the accordion changed all that. Cajun music came from Acadia, a region of Canada that includes Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, Quebec and part of Maine. And before that, it came from France.”

And now for the important stuff: Are the Saints going to do it this year?

“I don’t even deal with football or baseball,” Doucet said. “I don’t have time for it.”

WHERE AND WHEN

Beausoleil at the Lobero Theatre, 33 E. Canon Perdido St., Santa Barbara, 8 p.m. Sunday. Tickets $19, $17. Call (805) 963-0761.