Blair Kilpatrick | Author

Blair Kilpatrick
Writer, musician, psychologist

Latest News & Events

Sauce Piquante at Boogie on the Bayou

May.18.2012

Sauce Piquante is back at Campbell's yearly Boogie on the Bayou, one of the largest outdoor festivals in Northern California. Music, craft vendors, food, beer garden. And it's all free! We'll be on the Main Stage on Saturday, from 11 in the morning till 2 in the afternoon. So come on by!

Featured Works

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PUBLISHED: Jan.01.2009

Accordion Dreams: A Journey into Cajun and Creole Music

An outsider's account of her transformative obsession with Louisiana's joyous music. By age thirty-nine, Blair Kilpatrick had settled into life as a practicing psychologist, wife, and mother. Then a chance encounter in New Orleans turned her world upside down. She returned home to Chicago with unlikely new passions for Cajun music and its signature instrument, the...

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PUBLISHED: Apr.11.2003

Sauce Piquante Live: Vieux Temps Passé

The debut recording of Sauce Piquante, the traditional Cajun-Creole band I established in 1999. Recorded live in March 2003 at a couple of SF Bay Area venues. I play the accordion, do most of the singing (it's all in Cajun French) and wrote the liner notes. It was dedicated to the memory of my friend and mentor Danny Poullard, the prominent Louisiana-born Creole accordionist...

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Blair's Latest Blogs

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May.02.2012 - 7:18 am

Finger Casserole

"Oh-oh. Finger casserole?" That's what a sympathetic Facebook friend commented after I posted this photo from last night's weekly Slovenian dinner. The dish was djuveč, a...

Apr.26.2012 - 6:11 am

Beli Kruh, My Grandmother's Bread

My grandmother was famous for her homemade bread. And not just in her own family. One of my mother's recent recollections is this one: My grandmother used to bake...

Mar.19.2012 - 9:36 pm

Blood Sausage, Potica, and Polka: Mardi Gras, Slovenian Style

I discovered the Slovenian community in San Francisco almost by accident. It might not have happened, if I didn't play the Cajun accordion. One night in February of...

Mar.11.2012 - 5:30 pm

A Visit to the Austerity Kitchen: Slovenian Sauerkraut Soup

I discovered the recipe for Vipavska Corba, or Slovenian Sauerkraut Soup, in a witty and erudite blog called The Austerity Kitchen. The blogger is a young cultural...

Comments from Blair

Jan.08.2012 - 10:17 am

In response to: An Author and Her Travels to Beeworld: Red Room Interview With Cal Orey

I was excited to learn that I

I was excited to learn that I would be getting Cal's new book as the "prize" for writing one of the featured entries in...

Dec.24.2011 - 6:49 am

In response to: Red Room's Secret Holiday Ingredient

Thanks, Huntington! I

Thanks, Huntington! I e-mailed my address yesterday. Let me know if you didn't get it and I'll re-send....

Dec.24.2011 - 6:46 am

In response to: An Accidental November

Fascinating. Like you, I

Fascinating. Like you, I always thought NaNoWriMo was a dubious undertaking. But then I decided to give it...

Dec.23.2011 - 8:44 am

In response to: Ornamental

Thanks for sharing this!

I loved the tour of your Christmas ornaments on Flikr! But mostly, I loved this story of how you eventually...

Dec.23.2011 - 7:56 am

In response to: My Favorite Holiday Ingredient

Thanks!

Beautiful! We celebrate both Hanukkah and Christmas at our house and it becomes increasingly tough to figure out...

Published Reviews

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Apr.07.2009

Accordion Dreams: A Journey into Cajun and Creole Music

Published by New Orleans Times-Picayune

Kilpatrick gradually moves from listener to accordion player to performer. Finding her singing voice, she finds her writing one as well. "Accordion Dreams" is for anyone who has...

Audio & Video

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Audio: Jolie Bassette

Upcoming Events

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Blair Kilpatrick with Sauce Piquante at Ashkenaz

19 Jun 2012 - 8:00 pm
Berkeley, California

A lyrical, deeply felt, and beautifully rendered memoir of a mid-life love affair with Cajun music that ultimately transforms a psychologist’s life, while enriching those of its readers. ”

—Doreen Orion, psychiatrist and author of "Queen of the Road"

About Blair

I am the author of a music memoir ("Accordion Dreams: A Journey into Cajun and Creole Music, University Press of Mississippi, January 2009) and the accordionist/vocalist in Cajun-Creole band Sauce Piquante. I live with my fiddler-husband Steve in the San...

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