So who are the real kings of Zydeco?
Seeing NealT's dubstep posting reminded me about a blog that I'd been planning to post for yonks and never got around to... Like Neal I'm rather hoping to draw on the gestalt consciousness of the Word blog and get some recommendations on where to start when listening to Zydeco.
It's a style I've heard on the odd occasion (late night radio 2 eclecticism) and have always rather enjoyed but never really properly checked out. Of course the big question is where to start? If only Proper did a great compilation of zydeco like their recent "Proper Folk". Or do they? Or does someone else?
Anyway... so where does a dabbler start? What would be an easy but credible introduction? Are there some compilation albums which are effectively zydeco 101? Are there come seminal albums/artists one simply HAS to check out?
Like NealT I'm old fashioned enough to be a CD buyer (tho' I do download the odd track when that's all that's required...). So who should I be checking out?
Trevor
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Simple really
it starts and ends with the Rounder 2 cd collection celebrating 25 years of Zydeco - I have it but am too lazy to search through my collection which has long since lost its Alphabetical shape. Z for Zydeco would have been very simple!!!!
Will locate it and get back to you
It arrived yesterday and I got 13 tracks in on the train this...
...morning. Fantastic selection of Cajun and Zydeco influenced stuff and still 19 new songs to explore.
Thanks for the heads-up Steve!
Zydeco breakfast
Start the day with a zydeco breakfast.
Ok, I'm showing off here, but in Breaux Bridge, Louisiana you can enjoy breakfasting and dancing to a zydeco band. Cafe des Amis and one or two more start early. They knock back the cocktails with their fry ups and a jolly good time is had by all as MrsP and I discovered a few years back.
Rockin' Dopsie and Clifton Chenier
The Kings, I would say, of Zydeco, both no longer with us. Most of their material is still (just about) available. Dopsie had a brief burst of fame in the late 70s and I caught him a number of times, usually at the Venue, a then, um, venue, near Victoria Station, ideal for that sort of music as you could dronk (or eat) at tables, or dance in front.
Don't confuse it with the "whiter", less bluesy, more country Cajun music it is often lumped in with, mainly thru' the lead instrument tending to be accordeon/melodeon.
Clifton Chenier
Bogalusa Boogie by Clifton Chenier is regarded by some to be the defining album of the genre. I saw his son CJ Chenier last year and he was fantastic live but I'm not sure whether his recorded work quite has the same energy.
It's me again
Album I referred to is called Louisiana Spice:25 years of Louisiana Music. It is 32 tracks over a double cd and if you go on the Rounder site you can buy it for usd 10.98 which is a bargain!!!
Fantastic...
...it's my birthday coming up soon so it'll def be on my birthday money indulgence list. Does look like a great collection!
I only have
one its on vinyl and it is brilliant. May I introduce to "Another Saturday Night"(Ace Records) compiled by Charlie Gilett and featuring the amazing Johnny Allen's cover of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land". A spectacular party record.
If you're
looking for something newer, I saw a band called Boogalusa at the Big Tent Festival (a mini-festival not far from Woolard Towers) a couple of weeks ago. Eclectic rather than purist, but they were pretty good. They're on iTunes.