Buck Verret has bounced around the Acadiana music scene for years. He’s played bass with most of the talent coming out of Vermilion Parish, which is a luminary lineup to hang out with.
He’s played bass with Mike McLeod Dean’s band since 2004, which gave him the chance to play gigs with most of the bands the two had grown up listening to at one time or another. But he wanted to do something more.
So, six years ago he and Dean invited some friends and the acts they had played with on the road over to play some songs in his backyard — his 13-acre backyard.
The first year worked so well that he enlisted some help and built a bigger stage for the second year.
The best compliment, my favorite, is when someone asks, ‘Where do you find these guys? I’ve never heard that before.’ It tickles me pink.
— Buck Verret
“We have a big patch of pecan trees in the backyard, so we built a big-ass stage and dragged it out there,” Verret said. “That was year two. Now we’ve had bands from all over, from Detroit to Houston, all over.”
For the first time, the 2021 Cow Island Live Festival will expand to two days, starting on Friday night and rolling into Saturday, with space for tents, blackpot cooking and all the music you can handle. But the biggest challenge for now is the looming threat of a COVID-19 shutdown of live events.
“As of now, we are on,” Verret said. “We’ll play it by ear, in case they issue any crazy mandates or restrictions. But we aren’t going to cancel. Likely we’ll postpone if we have to.”
The festival faced a similar dilemma in 2020, as the fall surge of the coronavirus was rolling across the state.
“We set up handwashing stations with Germ-X all over,” Verret said. “We had masks and gloves at the gate for anyone who wanted them and social distanced as much as we could.”
The beauty of an intimate outdoor festival on 13 acres is that there is plenty of space to socially distance. But the beauty of it for Verret is getting to hear solid, original music played to a crowd that appreciates it, he and embraces the novelty of it all.
“I was a little worried about these bands playing original music,” Verret said. “You know, you get people saying, ‘I wanna hear Mustang Sally.’ The best compliment, my favorite, is when
someone asks, ‘Where do you find these guys? I’ve never heard that before.’ It tickles me pink. And the artists love it. As long as I can break even and pay bands what I promise them, I’m happy.”