Andre Michot, a driving force behind Louisiana’s cultural soundscape and a founding member of the Grammy-winning Lost Bayou Ramblers, joins Discover Lafayette to discuss Michot Accordions.
Widely known for pushing Cajun music forward while remaining deeply rooted in tradition, Andre’s influence extends well beyond the stage. He is also the proprietor and craftsman behind Michot Accordions, where he builds, restores, and customizes traditional Cajun accordions entirely by hand, creating instruments that don’t just make music, but carry culture.
We sat down with Andre right before Christmas 2025, inspired in part by a recent Acadiana Profile article highlighting local craftsmen who help preserve the region’s musical heritage. Andre reflected on the shrinking number of Cajun accordion builders, noting that while there are now “maybe 10 or 12 accordion builders in South Louisiana,” there were once “30 or more in the 70s and 80s.”
A Family Steeped in Music
Andre’s musical roots run deep. He grew up surrounded by Cajun music through his father and uncles, who started playing together as Les Frères Michot, an all-brothers Cajun band, in 1986. The individual musicians have played with each other and with numerous other groups since then.
Although accordion music was always present in his home, Andre didn’t begin playing the instrument himself until age 24. Before that, he filled in on guitar with his family’s band in the mid-to-late 1980s.
“That’s what I play with Lost Bayou Ramblers,” Andre shared, explaining that he learned accordion by borrowing instruments from his father, uncles, and anyone else who would lend him one. In 1998, Andre and his brother Louis formed Lost Bayou Ramblers, with Louis playing fiddle at the same time Andre took up accordion.
Learning the Craft
Andre’s path to accordion building began through curiosity and mentorship. A pivotal moment came when his friend Ray Abshire encouraged him to learn tuning from Randy Falcon, a respected accordion builder known for a sound associated with Cajun music from the 1930s through the 1970s.
“There’s probably no playbook,” Andre explained. “It’s mostly done by ear.” While machines help with precision, tuning ultimately depends on feel: air pressure, reed response, and how notes interact when played together.
Andre described the Cajun accordion as “quite a feat of engineering,” with “a hundred little metal reeds” held in place by beeswax. Unlike guitars, which rely on resonance, the accordion produces sound through air compression, making it both mechanical and deeply physical to play.
Inside a Cajun Accordion
Technically known as a melodeon, the Cajun accordion features ten buttons on the melody side and two bass buttons for rhythm. Pressing a single button opens air channels to four sets of reeds across different octaves, producing layered sound from one note. The bellows, expanding and contracting, drive both airflow and rhythm.
“It’s very physical,” Andre said. “When I started, I would get halfway through a song and be out of breath.” He later realized he had been breathing in and out with the bellows themselves.
Cajun accordions are diatonic, meaning each button produces different notes depending on whether the bellows are pushed or pulled. This design creates the distinctive rhythmic pulse central to Cajun music.
From Repair to Building
Andre’s transition from tuning and repair to full instrument building came when Randy Falcon offered to teach him how to build rather than sell him an accordion. With a background in carpentry and furniture-making, Andre found the process both challenging and deeply satisfying.
After building his first accordion, word spread, especially as audiences learned of his craft through Lost Bayou Ramblers’ performances. Orders followed from family, fellow musicians, and fans.
“That gives the accordion its soul,” Andre said of the delicate reed work. “That part has got to be right.”
Materials, Sound, and Customization
Most accordion components can be sourced locally, including wood, often cypress, sometimes supplied by customers themselves. Certain parts come from Italy, where Andre says, “80 to 90% of the accordions and accordion parts in the world” are produced, particularly reeds and bellows, which require a highly specialized manufacturing process.
Andre customizes each instrument based on how a musician plays. He listens to recordings, watches hand positioning of the artist, and considers tonal preferences. Differences in reed materials, zinc versus aluminum plates, steel reeds, block shaping, and tuning style, all can dramatically affect sound.
“It helps playing the accordion in addition to building them,” he said. “It’s nice to be able to put those two together.”
The Joy of Completion
Building an accordion takes Andre an estimated 80 to 100 hours, from cutting raw wood to final tuning. As he approaches the final stages, installing reeds, buttons, and bellows, he describes entering a kind of creative frenzy.
“I can’t wait to hear how it sounds,” he said. “I’ve built over 50 accordions now, and I still feel that way.”
Properly made, an accordion can last decades. Andre plays an instrument that is over 100 years old, including one built in the early 1900s that passed through the hands of Ray Abshire and family members before reaching him.
Preserving Cajun Culture
Andre sees his work as cultural preservation. By continuing the tuning methods and building styles passed down by mentors like Randy Falcon, he maintains a sound closely tied to a specific era of Cajun music.
“You can play a Cajun accordion built and tuned here,” he explained, “and it’s going to sound and feel different than one built elsewhere.”
That sense of lineage—of sound shaped by place—is central to his work.
Music That Never Stops
Andre described music as a constant presence. “I’m constantly waking up with songs in my head,” he said, sometimes humming melodies into his I-phone voice memos late at night and sending them to Louis, his brother and fellow band mates. Lost Bayou Ramblers’ sound reflects not only traditional Cajun influences but also blues, rock, and other genres the band members grew up playing.
Lost Bayou Ramblers recently performed at Moncus Park’s Christmas event, with upcoming shows at The Blue Moon (December 26) and The Broadside in New Orleans (December 27). The band is also beginning work on a new studio album, following several recent live recordings, including their collaboration with the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra.
For a more thorough history on the accordion’s history in South Louisiana, visit Lafayette Travel at https://www.lafayettetravel.com/blog/stories/post/cajun-creole-instruments-accordion/
Visit https://www.michotaccordions.com/ for more information on Andre Michot’s offerings.
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