Acadiana musician 'Brother' Dege Legg dies
Acadiana artist and musician Brother Dege reportedly passed away sometime Friday night.
LAFAYETTE, La. (KLFY) -- Acadiana artist and musician Brother Dege reportedly passed away sometime Friday night.
Brother Dege was a prominent artist in the Acadiana area for many years, sharing his odyssey of unique experiences through various critically acclaimed music and writing projects.
Throughout his life, Legg wore the cap of many different jobs including a dishwasher, day laborer, cabdriver, journalist and homeless shelter employee. In 1994, he formed the southern tribal rock band, Santeria, who would go on to have a 10-year run. Legg started as a cabdriver in 2003, a job he worked and wrote about for the next 5 years. Years later Legg published a book, CABLOG: DIARY OF A CABDRIVER, detailing his unique and bizarre experiences working the nightshift as a cabdriver.
2010 would bring the release of Legg's delta blues and debut album, Folk Songs of the American Longhair. Despite the album being self released without any industry distribution, the album quickly received a 4-star review from UK based music publication UNCUT and was featured in the scores of Discovery Channel’s After the Catch, Nat Geo’s Hard Riders, women’s cycling documentary Half the Road, Netflix’s The Afflicted. Most notably the album's song, Too Old to Die Young, was hand picked by Quentin Tarantino to be featured in Django Unchained, which received an Oscar nomination for its score.
On the back of his new found music success, Legg released two follow up albums: How to Kill a Horse (2013) and Scorched Earth Policy (2015). In 2018, Legg's latest album Farmer's Almanac, an 11-track southern gothic journey was released.
On Dec. 13, 2023, Legg announced the upcoming release of a new album, Aurora, as well as dates and locations for the band's Europe 2024 tour in April. A single, "Turn of the Screw," from the upcoming Aurora album was released with music video on Feb. 29, featuring Legg and his band. Aurora is set to be released on March 15.
Details for Legg's passing are unavailable at this time. More information regarding the passing of Legg and funeral arrangements will be provided at a later time. In this difficult time, please join us in remembering the life and works of Acadiana legend Dege Legg.