Lt. Gov. Dardenne brews up “Music Madness” – It’s down to the wire in the Dardenne’s bracket of best Louisiana songs

Though football season is upon us, Louisiana is in the midst of celebrating its Year of Music.

For the past few weeks, Lt. Gov. Jay Dardenne has been hard at work, compiling 64 songs about the state and from or featuring state musicians for his Louisiana Music Madness bracket to pick the greatest song in state history.

“It was a wonderfully challenging exercise,” Dardenne says. “This is just one man’s bracket, one person’s choice. Everyone can make his own bracket. I just thought it was important and fun to call attention to the wide variety of music and musicians we have here and acknowledge the contribution we’ve made to the world of music.”

Dardenne started with 64 songs, among those chosen were classics like Dr. John’s “Right Place, Wrong Time” in the Roux Regional, Hank Williams Sr.’s “Jambalaya” in the Spice Regional,” Jerry Lee Lewis’ “Great Balls of Fire” in the Rice Regional and Britney Spears’ “Oops! I Did It Again” in the Lagniappe Regional.

He acknowledged that many greats were missing, but he attempted to include a wide range of genres to spark discussion in the state.

Now, the tournament is down to its final two songs—”The Saints Go Marching In” by Louis Armstrong and “You Are My Sunshine” by Jimmie Davis. Voting will end today on his Facebook page.

Dardenne isn’t sure what song will win, but recognizes the important of the state’s wealth of great tunes.

“The world would be an awful lot different if we didn’t have this great variety,” he says.

Leave a comment with your vote here.