Terrance Simien Represents for Louisiana at the 2014 Grammy Awards

Well, this year’s winners are in, and though more than a dozen Louisiana artists were among the nominees, creole hero Terrance Simien and the Zydeco Experience band were the only pied pipers of the lot to return home with shiny, golden gramophone trophies. Simien claimed his second Grammy Award since getting his inaugural horn in 2008 during yesterday’s 56th annual Grammy Awards ceremony in Los Angeles.

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Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards in Los Angeles.

It seems the Grammy Academy changes the “small guy” categories every year, and this year proved no different with the “Regional Roots Music” category now encompassing any form of indigenous American music outside of Latin or World classifications. This means the Cajun/Zydeco category at the Grammy Academy is no more, but Simien still took home the prize for Best Regional Roots Music Album for 2013’s Dockside Sessions. Blues, bluegrass, folk and the recently more popular Americana genres all still retained their own categories. Fellow Louisiana artist and Regional Roots Music Album nominee Zachary Richard unfortunately didn’t snag a win this year, but he and Simien did report fond moments together at the national awards show.

The band also gave props to co-nominees in the Hot 8 Brass Band, who were also missed. Congrats to Terrance and the band! (They also won both zydeco categories at this year’s 2013 Best of the Beat Louisiana Music Awards on January 18 for Best Zydeco Artist and Best Zydeco Album.) Of course, another friend showed up at the Grammys too; Trombone Shorty appeared not as a nominee, but as part of Macklemore and Ryan Lewis’ band, dapping off Simien with regards for taking home the Regional Roots trophy.

View the list of this year’s Grammy Award nominees from Louisiana here.