To Grieve My Brother . . .

Elise Riley remembers her brother Chris Stafford, Acadiana’s music man, who was so much more than his music

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On May 2, one of the most important musicians of Acadiana’s contemporary music scene was killed in a car accident at the age of thirty-six. Chris Stafford was a multi-instrumentalist and producer whose talent has been widely recognized since he was eleven years old. He is best known for his role as a founding member of the Grammy-nominated band Feufollet, but has contributed as fiddler, accordionist, vocalist, guiatrist, and holding various other instruments in performances with dozens of the region’s other major roots bands. His vital contributions to Louisiana’s musical landscape have been well-documented and honored these past few weeks, but in this issue, we asked Chris’s sister Elise Riley to offer a tribute in her own words to who Chris was even beyond the music.  

Listen to Feufollet on Spotify: 

To grieve my brother Chris Stafford is to have experienced a light so bright that its traces remain in every corner of every space he touched. To know Chris was a gift so pure that his presence created an energy within us that will be forever craved. To love “Staff” was to be a part of something bigger than yourself, a part of his everlasting impact that reverberates from the Acadiana community outwards into the larger world. I am so grateful to have loved someone so intensely that their absence is agony. 

Chris Stafford was music, but he was more. He was a wonderful son, brother, uncle, partner, friend, and “burb” (my brother Michael’s toddler name for Chris, which stuck). He was a free spirit, and an old soul who carefully curated his life to fit his passions. He was easy to love, and his love was easy to receive. He showed that love through customized nicknames (“Weasel,” mine), through deep conversations on our Mom’s back patio, through smiles sent over the crowd, directly to you, from the stage. He was a total goofball, a side of him the lucky ones could see. 

He was the glue to so many fundamental connections and elements of our community. A poster child of our culture, who always remained humble through remarkable accomplishment. His impact is not one I can describe in words that will do justice, but we’ll see the remnants of its light everywhere we look, for the rest of our lives. 

He was simply the best around, one of the greatest characters this life has to offer. I and my family, and so many more, will love him forever, and I’ll forever be looking for a light half as bright. 

Read some of our previous coverage of Chris Stafford's role in Acadiana's music scene, here: 

The History of Cajun Music, 1930s to Today: Tracing the evolutions of Cajun Music throughout the twentieth century

In this historical survey of Cajun music, Chris Stafford and Feufollet's role in the contemporary Cajun music scene are recognized as "the dream of Dewey Balfa's Renaissance". 

The Documented South: 6 Gulf South-produced and -focused documentaries in production or on the festival circuit in 2022

Featured in this roundup is Jeremey Lavoi and Abby Berendt Lavoi's film Roots of Fire, which celebrates the rich, tightly-knit Acadiana music scene. The film was initially inspired by the couple's listen to Chris Stafford’s rock-n-roll-ified version of “Parlez Nous á Boire”. A few days after Chris's passing in May, the award-winning film was released on streaming platforms, including Apple TV and Amazon Prime (where it will soon be available for streaming, but for now can be purchased or rented). 

Feufollet Takes Off: On their new CD, these up-and-coming Cajun roots-rockers, demonstrate precisely the right stuff for mainstream recognition

In this 2014, review/retrospective, Roger Hahn lays out the history of Feufollet, the ways the band charted new territory, and its trajectory at the heart of Cajun music's future.