It’s a miracle that Trey Gauthreaux can stand before an audience and sing at all. The six foot,  baby faced, cool, handsome, deep baritone singer that commands attention when he walks into a room almost never got the chamce to sing a note or strum a chord. Minutes following his birth in 1997 in Thibodaux Louisiana, Trey almost died and had to be rushed to what he jokingly calls “baby rehab.”   No laughing matter at the time, Trey was born to a seriously addicted mother and was addicted as well, so he spent his first weeks of life being weaned from the “Devil rock.” Upon surviving “baby rehab,” he continued to have to fight to gain a foothold in the world as his mother left him alone in his crib for three days when she seriously relapsed and headed out onto to the streets to fees her addiction. Thankfully he was rescued after a neighbor heard his incessant crying and came to check on him.

“I know I’m alive for a purpose, “ says Gauthreaux as he reflects upon his challenging entry into the world. “Being rescued not once, but twice was the hand of God.”

His mother was jailed for neglect, and no one in Thibodaux could determine who his mysterious father might be. He was taken in and adopted by the Gauthreaux family, who loved him as their own.

Gauthreaux says he doesn’t reflect on the trauma of his first few months, because he has known “nothing but love and support” from his adopted family. 

“I don’t dwell on my relationship with my real mom because their love is all I remember from the time they took me in,” says Gauthreaux. “How lucky was I to be welcomed to their world.”

When he was 9, his folks gave him a guitar for Christmas, and soon after he saw Guns and Roses on you tube and decided he wanted to be Slash, compelling him to learn to play and sing “Sweet Child of Mine.”  As he continued progressing, his goal was to “rock out like Slash.”

After enduring back to back hurricanes Katrina and Rita, the Gauthreaux’s moved to Ruston in Northern Louisiana to pick up their lives. The “fighter” inside Trey led him led Trey to excel in martial arts around ten, and earned a black belt by age 15 and reached  third degree at 21 and  began teaching martial arts, eventually owning and running his own dojo.

As he aged he began to wonder about his background, since he looked so different Than the Gauthreauxs, who were a long time French-Acadianan Prominent Cajun family, or “Coon Ass” as folks of the region called themselves. A DNA test did not reveal the identity of his father, but it did reveal to Trey that his DNA showed him to be overwhelmingly Polynesian, with a seasoning of Hispanic and Native American ancestry.  

“Everybody would ask me if I was Cajun because of my name, but they were confused by my look. Little kids even started calling me Moana,” says Gauthreaux. “So I found out I’m kind of like the gumbos we made in Acadiana, anything and everything is welcome in the pot.”

In his teens, Trey began playing music in church and school, even doing some theater and dance productions with a local dance company. 

“They needed a tall guy to lift up the dancers,” says Trey.

His musical direction began to turn as he realized he had been highly influenced and won over by his Mom’s 90’s country. He realized his deep baritone voice might be well-suited to sing country music. People seemed to really dig his singing when he sang the country songs his Mom knew. Four years ago he joined a cover band that “never really took off.” A chance off the cuff invitation to play a short solo at a benefit gig at Ruston’s legendary music venue Sundown Tavern led to him meet a manager of another local establishment that offered him a weekly solo gig. His smooth baritone and good looks led him to become a local and now regional favorite.   

In March 2020, in the days preceding the devastating tornado that wrecked Music City, Trey began recording an album produced by Monty Russell and James Cook of The Pegram Hippie Coalition in Nashville with a group of stellar musicians. His hopes of debuting it to the world were squashed as the Corona Virus dealt a devastating blow to the industry and shut down the studios. Always the “fighter,” he will return soon to the studio to complete the record.

“Although I was disappointed we couldn’t finish the record in 2020, the shutdown taught me patience, helped me get some things in my life on track, and helped me grow as a writer and performer,  he says. “But I’m determined and so much more prepared to take this music anywhere I can.”

In response to an audience member calling him “Hawaiian Stallion,” one night, music buddies jokingly have dubbed him “The Polynesian Coonass.” His ever-growing fan base is anxious for the debut record, and those in his circle all know that the “fighter” with a smooth God given baritone voice and handsome looks rescued from “baby rehab” and abandonment is still on earth so you can be inspired by his story and entertained by his gift. Thank God the neighbors checked on the cry.