Album Notes

Early on, one reviewer dubbed the acoustic music group Charmer “the perfect café band.” From 1973 until 1989, their unique harmonies and original songs were accompanied by acoustic guitars and basses, recorders, percussion, accordion and mandolin.
Founded in Pensacola, Florida by Dudley-Brian Smith, the group returned to Louisiana in 1976, by then made up of brothers, Joel, Bob and Dudley-Brian. The group became a quartet in 1983 with the addition of singer/songwriter Jan Dedon, and toured throughout the southern United States playing a schedule of festivals, clubs, colleges, coffeehouses, concert halls, and, of course, cafés. The group’s first single (A Place In Your Heart b/w Goodbye Old Friend) was released in 1977 on One Way Records and the first album in 1981 on the independent Rapides Records. Seven more albums of original acoustic and vocal music came nearly annually after that and during their 16 years as an ensemble, the group performed in concert with a host of folk and acoustic legends - like John Prine, the Nitty Gritty Dirt Band, The Washington Squares, Nanci Griffith, Jesse Wincester to name a few, as well as Louisiana’s own LeRoux.
In 1989, the group members went on to other projects – Jan and Dudley-Brian to found the Scottish tradition-based Smithfield Fair, and Joel and Bob to Diverse Peoples, performing popular and original songs with wit and energy. Bob has since joined Jan & Dudley in Smithfield Fair. Their original songs cover a variety of topics, often with a wry sense of humor, and are as fresh today as when first recorded. The music of Charmer remains timeless, still receiving airplay throughout Europe and the U.S., and retains a warmth and sincerity that makes the listener feel the quartet could easily be performing right before them. So, fix yourself something to eat or drink, sit back, relax and listen to Charmer – still the music of the perfect café band!
The Perfect Café includes A Place In Your Heart – a new version of the band’s original 1977 single; and The Eleventh Hour Tango – a song from Dudley’s 1983 solo EP which quickly became another of the band’s signature songs and 18 other signature songs from Charmer.