In Acadiana, music is a huge part of the culture we embrace. So it makes sense that there are truck drivers who haul by day and boogie by night; store owners that close up shop and open up guitar cases; engineers who design sound under the light of the moon; doctors who find that music is their medicine. Yep, that’s right. Physician musicians abound in Acadiana. There are dozens of medical professionals who for relaxation, camaraderie, creative expression or the sheer all-out fun of it, perform music in their spare time, either in bands or as solo acts, throughout the area. Doctor, Doctor, gimme the blues! (With apologies to Robert Palmer.)

There are doctors and other medical professionals across the gamut of health care involved in the writing, production and live performance of music. Your cardiologist may have a gig at the Cajundome, or your optometrist may front a band that plays original songs and 90’s rock. There are internists, family medicine doctors, dermatologists, nephrologists, clinical pharmacists tuning in, strumming, drumming or wailing a song at an event or venue near you. 

Dr. Ryan Cazares, an optometrist who owns Scott Eye Care, is known by both patients and music lovers as Dr. C. With his band, Dr. C. and the Gris Gris, he sings, plays guitar, writes original music, and has recorded songs, as well. The other band members, Hunter Hebert, Stefan Hawkins and Thylar Cahanin, split their time between music and other careers, as well. “Hunter is the band director at Beau Chene High School,” says Cazares. “Stefan is an accountant, and Thylar is a Health Safety Environment Coordinator for Concentric Pipe & Tool, so we all have our ‘day jobs’, but we all love playing music.” The band performs Cazares’ originals, but also covers rock from the 70s to current favorites.

The Gris Gris is not Cazares’ first band. “My first band was called Cattle Head – a group of my high school friends and I. Then there was Sour Sedans. We actually opened for Cheap Trick at Blue Bayou Water Park in Baton Rouge back in the day,” he says. “And now, Dr. C. and the Gris Gris. We like to play gigs about once a month, at venues like Blue Moon or Artmosphere, and we’ll be going into the studio late this year to produce our third record.”

You may have been sitting at the bar at Route 92 one Saturday night, having a beer and enjoying the weekend. The band starts playing a song you know. You smile, sing along in your head, and  glance towards the bandstand. Hey, those guys look familiar. Wow, one of them looks just like your internist, and the singer, wait, is that your daughter’s dermatologist? 

They just might be… if the band is On Call, a group of eight Acadiana medical professionals who gig regularly, mostly for private parties and charitable events. “We’re very involved in music, and we want to give back to our community,” says Dr. Gary Guidry, a pulmonary critical care physician and senior member of the band. “We like to play every six to eight weeks, because it’s hard to schedule eight docs who might be on call in real life. We usually wind up with about eight appearances a year, and we try to rehearse every Tuesday night.” 

Members of On Call include Rick Dearman, a cardiovascular surgeon, Steve Salopek, internal medicine, Katie Dennis, internal medicine, Ryan Edwards, family medicine, Ronnie Daigle, dermatologist, Ziad Ashkar, nephrologist, and Gregg Kingston, clinical pharmacist. The band likes to mix it up at their playlist, performing everything from country to rock from the 60s, 70s and 80s to more recent hits.  “Katie is our Amy Winehouse fan, she does some more contemporary songs,” says Guidry.

Gregg Kingston, the group’s guitarist, started playing in middle school and says he actually quit college for a while to play professionally, opening for Charlie Daniels and playing alongside Fats Domino’s son Antoine. He decided to go to pharmacy school rather than medical school because a career as a pharmacist would make more time to continue playing his guitar.

“The money we make at our gigs goes to charity; we have an account set up with the Community Foundation for that purpose,” says Guidry. At one recent appearance, a collection was made at the event, and the band was able to buy and donate track chairs for veterans in need. Recently, the band donated the Purple Heart plaque featured at the Veterans Memorial in Moncus Park. Other charities they support include Faith House and the American Cancer Society. 

As you may imagine, bands come and go, especially with the scheduling problems physicians face. Such is the case with Dr. Chris Gaffga, Ear Nose and Throat doctor and acoustic guitar player. “I’ve been in four bands, all of whom have broken up mainly because it is tough to keep bands together with scheduling, and COVID took a huge toll,” he says. 

Gaffga now prefers solo sets in smaller venues. He’s been playing professionally for about 15 years, and he also has an album in the works. “I hope to get that produced by the end of the year; that’s the goal,” he says. To Gaffga, as well as many of the other musician physicians, playing music is “a blast.” He says he is grateful for the support from the venues he plays. “You make friends with people you would have never otherwise met. Music is a passion, I wouldn’t trade it for anything.” 

When this reporter asked physician musicians what came first, music or medicine, the answer was music – across the board. Like so many of us, they grew up listening to the radio, discovering the joy of rock, country, classical, blues. Many were band kids in elementary and middle school. By high school most had traded their clarinets and saxophones for guitars and drums, and began emulating the sounds they so admired. 

All are passionate about their medicine, but equally so about their music.