Sunpie & the Louisiana Sunspots, Island Man (BFR)

Sunpie and the Louisiana Sunspots, Island Man, album cover

Sunpie Barnes is to zydeco what Taj Mahal is to blues—an eclectic type who follows his music to African and Caribbean roots. The two performers also share a winningly laid-back personality that makes their most experimental moments go over like a cool breeze.

The 14 tracks here draw from gospel and blues, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, a pair of Mardi Gras Indian chants and some straightforward French-sung zydeco. But it maintains an upbeat mood, even when he takes on the traditional “Ain’t No Grave,” which sounds considerably less scary than the late-life Johnny Cash version. The title track opens the album with a clever fusion of styles—imagine Clifton Chenier going to Trinidad—but the sing-a-long chorus, along with a nod to John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads,” makes it clear this is goodtime music. Ditto the township jive-styled “I’m So Happy”—written after Barnes spent a week jamming in South Africa—which brings in a horn section to underline the mood of the title.

He takes in these diverse styles with ease, even when he combines a gospel chant (“Have Mercy”) with the melody of the old folk song “500 Miles.” And it’s no small feat to make a reggae beat work with a French lyric (“Zoli Matche An Dans Bonne Heure”), especially when the lead instrument is a kalimba. The more straightforward tracks work equally well, with the pure-zydeco “She’s Gone” stomping away the heartbreak of the lyric. And the prison blues “Down in the Bottoms” proves an ideal vehicle for Sunpie’s booming voice.