“Never play cards with a guy named Doc, never eat at a place called Mom’s,” Nelson Algren once wrote, but if he had heard the Lafayette Rhythm Devils, he would’ve added “and always dance to an accordionist named Peppy.” Though Peppy Carmello’s Lafayette Rhythm Devils aren’t the latest Satanic cult to emerge in the Hub City, they hardly need any divine petitioning either based on the “joie de vivre” spirit of their music. With a band of gypsy notables featuring Mitch Reed (fiddle), Randy Vidrine (guitar), Donald LeJeune (drums) and George Toups (bass), the only praying should be for any dancer attempting to dance every song. Immediately on the opening “Font De Culotte Two-Step,” they set a breakneck pace that sprints harder than any panting Greyhound and never let that nuclear-reactin’ stride falter through atom-smashing renditions of “My True Love,” “Mamou Hot Step” and “Choupique Two-Step.” With every two-step flying and every stomping waltz crying, this throttling cache of selections resembles a vintage early ’60s recording with its live, low tech feel.

Out of the litany of bands the inseparable Reed and Vidrine have ever opened their instrument cases for, the Rhythm Devils may be their most balanced ensemble yet. Carmello splits the vocal duties with the venerable tenor Vidrine, and in the tradition of his senior, possesses a beautifully high, achey voice as heard on “O.S.T. Special.” But it will take a while to outdo the man, especially given Vidrine’s performance on Shirley Bergeron’s “J’ai Fait Mon Idee” where his crooning practically touches the clouds. The only got’cha here is the omission of the song’s authors but nonetheless these Devils have it right: music and dancing is the only real salvation for the soul.