Blair Kilpatrick | Author

Blair Kilpatrick
Writer, musician, psychologist

Latest News & Events

Sauce Piquante at Kensington Farmers' Market

May.09.2013

Sauce Piquante at Kensington Farmers' Market

We'll be making our debut at this small, lovely farmer's market that is known for its high quality vendors and its music. We hope you can join us to browse, eat, listen, and dance! Market opens at 10, we play from 11:30-2. What better way to observe Mother's Day!

Sauce Piquante is:
Blair Kilpatrick (accordion, vocals)
Steve Tabak (fiddle)
Kathy "KP" Price (bass, vocals)
Jim Ruth (guitar, vocals)

Featured Works

View all»

Previous Pause Next

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...

Add to Bag

Write a review

Learn more »

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...

Buy now

Write a review

Learn more »

Blair's Latest Blogs

View all»

May.03.2013 - 8:42 am

Feeling My Age: Another Grammar Rule Bites the Dust

Any self-respecting grammar snob should cringe when their eyes land on a sentence like this one. Do you see the problem? (Hint: The subject of the sentence is singular.) If...

Apr.23.2013 - 8:35 am

Equality is Not Always Justice: An Image or a Projective Test?

I try to be selective about passing along Facebook images. But this graphic, titled Equality is Not Always Justice, caught my eye. Visually appealing. A standard liberal...

Apr.18.2013 - 8:11 am

Losses, Big and Small

"What do you want to do about Hank's ashes?" That was the strange and unsettling message my husband discovered on his cell phone last night. Listening to him react, I shared his...

Dec.14.2012 - 8:08 am

Slam Dance with Strudel

“Don’t be afraid to treat it rough.” Treat me rough, baby. It sounded like a bad country western tune. But it’s not a song. This line appears in an apple strudel recipe in Woman’s...

Comments from Blair

Nov.24.2012 - 8:08 am

In response to: Coming Out as a Food Writer: My First FoodBuzz Blogger Festival

Thanks, Eva, for your

Thanks, Eva, for your interest! I am knee-deep in NaNoWriMo so that's why I haven't told more of the story....

Nov.11.2012 - 3:44 pm

In response to: White People Who Should Know Better; Ethnic Politics and the 2012 Presidential Race

Thanks for reading and

Thanks for reading and commenting, Kim! I'm not sure that I offered much clarity about why people use the n-word...

Jul.08.2012 - 7:06 am

In response to: Girl with Accordion, an Old Christmas Photo

Thank you, Mary!

Dear Mary, Thank you for your lovely and affirming message! Blogging so often feels like placing a message...

Jun.02.2012 - 3:56 pm

In response to: New edition of Kosovo 2.0 includes my article on Roots in the Kitchen

Kosovo 2.0, Issue 3

Here is a link to a blog post, Culinary Homecoming, that introduces the longer article in the print magazine. http://...

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...

Writing

View all»

Essay: Gifts From My Mother-in-Law

Article: A Culinary Homecoming: American's Exploration of Slovenian Roots Takes Her to the Kitchen

Essay: A Culinary Homecoming

Published Reviews

View all»

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

View all»

Audio: Jolie Bassette

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...

Read full bio »