Mardi Gras and the pepper fire of Cajun jambalaya aren’t the only hot numbers the Louisiana bayou has to offer.

The gripping rhythms, toe-tapping melodies and French-influenced lyrics of BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet have earned the band recognition from Rolling Stone as “the best damn dance band you’ll ever hear.”

Frontman and fiddle player Doucet says, “The music is exotic like the food and the culture, but its American influences make it familiar.”

BeauSoleil’s 21-year-old touring show averages more than 100 performances each year, and the group has made 25 studio recordings.

Their efforts were rewarded in 1997 when they won a Grammy for Best Traditional Folk Album of 1997 with “L’Amour Ou La Folie.”

“[The Grammy] was a great honor because it is from your musical peers,” Doucet says.

Following the Grammy award show performance, BeauSoleil accompanied Mary Chapin Carpenter on “Down at the Twist and Shout” during the Super Bowl half-time show.

“[The Super Bowl] was a lot like a circus, but it was definitely fun,” Doucet remembers.

Doucet organized the group almost a quarter of a decade ago and helped revive the traditions of Cajun music. On the road to popularity, the sextet remained firmly planted in their foundation of cultural honesty.

“It’s kind of like paying homage to great musicians like Dennis McGee,” Doucet says. “He recorded Cajun music at home until 1929 and was only rediscovered in the late 1960s.”

Doucet commented that the band might play a 100-year-old song right after one of their newest pieces.

“I mainly created the group to play in Louisiana and the French-speaking countries in Europe,” Doucet says.

Despite the group’s French-influenced lyrics, BeauSoleil’s worldly sound has helped them avoid too much resistance.

“It’s like opera in a way,” Doucet says. “We don’t know any Italian, but we still enjoy it.”

The band created their eclectic sound by combining genres of music not normally heard together.

“It’s a very pulsating thing; the rhythms are very tropical,” Doucet says, “The influence from the Caribbean helps create the dance-genre feel.”

Doucet says their style comes naturally because of the talents and specialties of each group member. The group includes accordion player Jimmy Breaux, guitarist David Doucet, banjo player and bassist Al Tharp, percussionist Billy Ware and drummer Tommy Alesi.

Since all of the band members have encyclopedic musical knowledge, their success is no mystery.

“We play every show the way Cajun was played and the way it should be played,” Doucet says. “We’ll play in Iowa like we play in Louisiana.”

BeauSoleil’s “party time” attitude has guided them to every state except North Dakota, including Hawaii and Alaska.

Woven into their exhaustive touring schedule, BeauSoleil finds time to increase their musical maturity. This progression is visible on their latest release, “Cajunization.”

“[The music] is always groovy,” Doucet hums. “The newest is a little more bluesy, a little more sensuous.”

Saturday’s festivities will include a pre-show Cajun dance exhibition at 7 p.m. in Stephens’ Celebrity Cafe.

“The crowd can expect the emotional language of Louisiana on a Saturday night,” Doucet says.