When Los Angeles-based music duo Dauzat St. Marie refer to their shows in Ruston as “homecoming shows,” they aren’t speaking in a figurative manner. Not only did the duo form in Ruston when members Mat Dauzat and Heather St. Marie met while attending Louisiana Tech University, Mat is a Lincoln General Hospital-born Ruston native.
“We love coming home to play Ruston because at our shows elsewhere in the world, we are ‘Dauzat St. Marie’…. at our shows in Ruston, we are just ‘hometown Mat and Heather,’” said Dauzat. “Our homecoming shows have a unique energy all their own because the crowds consist primarily of long-time friends and die-hard supporters… many of whom have been with us since day one.”
Known for their lockstep vocal harmonies and catchy, yet thought-provoking songwriting, singer/songwriter troubadours Mat Dauzat and Heather St. Marie have kept the name Dauzat St. Marie popping up all over the U.S. by touring as main support for Grammy® Award-winning Rick Springfield’s “Stripped Down” solo acoustic show series for the past five years and peppered in dates with The Marshall Tucker Band, Lindsay Ell, Schuyler Fisk / Sissy Spacek, and Rick Derringer. Most recently, Dauzat St. Marie toured the U.S. as support for legendary music icons Pat Benatar & Neil Giraldo.
2020 was shaping up to be a monumental year for Dauzat St. Marie. They it kicked off with a performance at Los Angeles’s iconic Dodger Stadium for the Komen “More Than Pink” Walk. Then the duo began preparing for their biggest tour to date – the support slot on the summer arena tour with Rick Springfield and one of the world’s best-selling groups of all time – CHICAGO. Sadly, the tour was terminated less than two months before it even began due to COVID-19.
Though being handed a tough blow, Dauzat St. Marie didn’t skip a beat – the duo used the forced downtime to begin releasing new music and videos as soon as the world went into lockdown. Their first single released during lockdown titled “Common Ground” landed on the world-famous music compilation series “Now That’s What I Call Music” volume 75, gaining Dauzat St. Marie a large new audience worldwide with the compilation series’ cult-like followers.
In less than nine months into the lockdown, Dauzat St. Marie gained over 1.6 million YouTube channel views, with their music video for “Common Ground” logging over a million views alone. Their music video for “In It Together” was used by The American Cancer Society as a vehicle for awareness and fundraising in a national Breast Cancer Awareness Month campaign (Heather is a recent breast cancer survivor), and one of their singles titled “Where Were You?” landed on the 2021 Grammy® Awards ballot in three separate categories – Song Of The Year, Record Of The Year, and Best Pop Duo / Group Performance – prompting Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser to declare Mat and Heather official Louisiana Ambassadors for their contributions to the state through songwriting and live performance.
While continuing to roll out singles into 2021, Dauzat St. Marie was invited to record in collaboration with Zac Brown, Jason Mraz, KT Tunstall, Keith Goodwin (Good Old War), and other Taylor Guitars sponsored artists on the song “I Know What Love Is,” with all funds raised going to MusicCares to assist musicians struggling during the pandemic. The song has been streamed over 2.5 million times and raised over $12,000 for MusicCares.
In recognition of breast cancer awareness month, and in honor of all breast cancer survivors including St. Marie, The Dixie Center is partnering with Wiggin’ Out to receive donations at this concert.
Dauzat St. Marie will play Saturday, Oct. 1, at 7 pm at the Dixie. For more information, visit http://www.dixiecenter.org.
