If there’s a dance hall, the Pine Leaf Boys have probably played it, from Louisiana to Berkeley. The band has also taken its Cajun sound to Latvia, Uzbekistan, Israel, the Palestinian Territories, the United Arab Emirates, Ireland, Denmark and dozens of other dance hot spots around the world, as well as playing the International Festival in their hometown of Lafayette, Louisiana, and New Orleans’ Jazz Fest. Other career highs include being featured in David Simon’s HBO series “Treme.”

The Pine Leaf Boys are a new generation of Cajun musicians from Louisiana who not only grew up with the music, but live and breathe it. The five young musicians play authentic, traditional Cajun, Creole and zydeco music while adding some updates of their own. Their 2005 debut CD, “La Musique” (on El Cerrito’s legendary Arhoolie label), was the freshest-sounding Cajun album to come along in years. Their next three CDs – “Blues de Musicien,” “Homage au Passé,” and “Live at New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 2009” – were all nominated for Grammys.

The Pine Leaf Boys’ dance music includes soulful waltzes, rocking two-steps, and raunchy Creole blues. Everyone sings in French and harmonizes, and it is not uncommon to see them switch and trade off their various instruments during their shows. The variety and energy they release evolves through their shows. According to the New York Times, “The Pine Leaf Boys cast a spell, combining a mysterious past – the nearly forgotten dialect and the archaic squeezebox’s red bellows – with an unbiased rock ’n’ roll energy conducive to the elbow-flying, hip-swiveling spirit on the dance floor.”

The Pine Leaf Boys are keyboardist (accordion and piano), fiddler, and singer Wilson Savoy, who made his local debut at Ashkenaz back in 2004 in the Savoy Family Band with parents Marc and Ann Savoy, the deans of Cajun music and two-thirds of the Savoy-Doucet Band; Drew Simon on drums and accordion; champion fiddler Courtney Granger; guitarist Jon Bertrand (of the Lost Bayou Ramblers); and bassist Thomas David.