Morgan City native will perform at Jazz Fest

Morgan City native Elizabeth Vidos will perform Saturday at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival.

Vidos is part of an ensemble that will perform 2:45-3:30 p.m. Saturday at the Jazz Fest's Kid's Tent.

Vidos, daughter of Jared and Natalie Vidos, has played the drums since age 10. As she grew up in southern Louisiana, jazz, blues, zydeco and classical music was always playing on the record player, she said

."I have special memories of my mom placing pots and pans on the kitchen floor and handing me wooden spoons to hold down the rhythm while she made crawfish pies," Vidos said.

"Mom taught me how to play the spoons while dad was playing trumpet and harmonica. It was a musical house for sure."

Vidos played drums through college. After graduating, she went to New York City to audition for the off-Broadway show "STOMP," and toured and performed in New York with them for 10 years.

After returning to Louisiana to be near family, she created a one-woman percussion show called “Drum Roll Please” as Lady Chops and for the last nine years has performed at festivals, libraries and schools across Louisiana, Texas and Arkansas.

On Saturday, Vidos will perform in a special collaboration with fellow artists Amanda Roberts and the TMM Project to bring the show "Makin' Moves" to the Jazz Fest.

Vidos and Roberts played percussion together in college, and Roberts is the 2017 national hammered dulcimer champion. The hammered dulcimer is a 111-string trapezoidal percussion instrument played with small, wooden hammers.

The TMM Project includes Terrance Morgan of Coteau and Torrez Hypolite of New Iberia, who have been dancing together for nine years. The “True Mission Matters” Project is an arts in education collective based in the Acadiana area on a mission to inspire today’s youth.

"Together we are bringing a truly unique, energetic musical performance to New Orleans," Vidos said. "Playing my first Jazz Festival is an honor and it feels just like coming home."

Vidos will be on tour with 96 shows this summer. You can find her as Lady Chops on Facebook and Instagram.

Vidos now lives in Ruston. Her father still lives in Morgan City.

Natalie Vidos died in 2020, and Elizabeth Vidos said she's dedicating her Jazz Fest performance to her mother.