The exhibit at the Speer Gallery will include an interactive display of a gas station road map — the only way back then to know where you were going in the backwoods of Louisiana. There will also be a hands-on display of The Vietnam-era Nikon camera that took all the pictures in the exhibit, and a Nagra reel-to-reel field tape recorder that recorded most of the sounds heard in the gallery. 

Students and gallery-goers will be able to listen to French music from the era — including a rare 35-minute recording of the Balfa Brothers Band playing their regular Saturday gig at the Lakeview Club in Eunice. Another listening option will be 50 minutes at home with the powerhouse Zydeco family, the Broussards, led by Delton Broussard, leader of the Lawtell Playboys. 

The original vinyl record Ron and Fay produced in 1974 on the Swallow label will be part of the exhibit, and visitors will be able to handle and play cuts from that and several other old south Louisiana LP records on a vintage school AV department record player.

The gallery reception will be held outside and in pop-up tents just outside the Speer Gallery at Shipley School. A band formed of Philly pros who have a common love for the variety of roots music spawned in the Gulf Coast — Cajun, Zydeco, Swamp Pop, Tex-Mex, and New Orleans funk to name a few. It will be an evening of musical exploration and improvisation, led by Isaac Stanford, son of Ron and Fay Stanford.

Learn more about Ron Stanford's Big French Dance: https://www.bigfrenchdance.com/