Berkley Hart conjures that Louisiana Delta feeling on new CD Fleur Des Lis, which they’ll play at Java Joe’s this weekend.

“The production and arrangements on this album feel very Louisiana Delta to us,” says Calman Hart of the upcoming Berkley Hart full-length. “It’s really a double album. Twenty songs.”

“It’s named after a song on the record, Fleur Des Li,” says Jeff Berkley. “It’s an ancient symbol that’s been co-opted over the centuries by everyone from the church to the New Orleans Saints. Of late, it’s become representative of the Delta region of the U.S. This is why we used it. The song is about leaving your hometown. The character in the song is leaving Louisiana and wishing for a little more time there before he’s gone. The record is laced with the instruments of Cajun and zydeco music but is still Berkley Hart at the core. You’ll laugh, you’ll weep.”

The duo will debut the album April 3 and 4 at Java Joe’s. “Our shows are different than other stuff around town. It’s an extremely unique kind of performance and interaction with the audience. It’s intimate and fun. Like a night with friends playing Cards Against Humanity or something,” Berkley tells the Reader.

By way of example, he recounts, “One time at a festival in Texas, we were playing our set, when a little girl wandered up onto the stage. She was maybe six or seven, and lost. She was just fine, however, and proceeded to grab a chair and sit right next to us onstage. This little child was covered in dirt and barefoot, like a good festival kid ought to be, and was not concerned about her parents being lost at all. She sat up there and danced in her chair to our songs and charmed the audience. She rose and fell with the sad and happy songs, and just made the show so special. That was a great one...she must be all grown up now. People still come up to us in Texas and remember that set to us.”

Hart recalls a gig at Java Joe’s old O.B. locale, where “hardly anybody showed up, but we played and gave it our all. A woman came up to me after the show with tears in her eyes. She said she wanted to say thank you because she was suffering from severe depression and one of our songs was exactly what she needed to hear that night.... I think of that woman whether we’re playing to a thousand people or ten people. Someone is always listening.”