When Corey Ledet sings about going back home on the freewheeling opening track, one has to wonder if this first generation/Clifton Chenier style of zydeco is indeed his home. Out of today’s current crop of players, no one does what Ledet does quite as well or as naturally. With dazzling trills and fingers flying dizzyingly [...]
Tag Archives: zydeco
Step-N-Strut Trail Ride: Too Many Steps?
December 1, 2011 – 12:08 am
Trail rides were once the best-kept secrets in zydeco. Now, google “zydeco trail ride” and the first result comes from, ironically, The New York Times. Travel writer Shaila Dewan waxes poetically about her trip to the Pineywoods Trail Ride in Evangeline Parish. There are also links to an events calendar, YouTube videos and discussion forums. [...]
C.J. Chenier, Can’t Sit Down (World Village Records)
November 1, 2011 – 12:56 am
C.J. Chenier’s last album, The Desperate Kingdom of Love, went about as far outside the zydeco mainstream as you can get—ominous title, PJ Harvey title track, generally downbeat feel. But that was also a fairly explicit post-Katrina album, and it’s likely to be a one-off in his catalog. He’s back to party-band mode this time, [...]
Festivals Acadiens et Créoles Celebrates Cajun and Creole Culture on the Weekend
October 13, 2011 – 3:18 pm
Since 1972, Festivals Acadiens et Créoles has been serving up the best of Cajun culture to an amassing fan base. The annual festival, held in Lafayette’s Girard Park, delivers a zestful combination of food, crafts and Cajun music that ranges from Cajun giant Steve Riley to Creole traditionalist Joe Hall to the fiery zydeco-rock of [...]
Rosie Ledet, Come Get Some (JSP Records)
October 1, 2011 – 12:56 am
Come Get Some what? It’s a Rosie Ledet CD, so what’d’ya think? Sex, of course. Or, more precisely, decidedly female zydeco soul filled with double entendres and lots of hip-shaking grooves, a sound at which Rosie Ledet typically excels, especially in live settings. Based on her last CD effort, 2005’s Pick It Up, one veteran [...]
Classie Ballou: Boozoo’s Bottom
October 1, 2011 – 12:17 am
In the world of zydeco, the accordionists and front men are the names in lights. But like R&B and funk, in zydeco the bass players are living legends. Classie Ballou, Jr. brought the bottom end of zydeco out of the late ’50s and early ’60s into a new standard. Before his long, infamous tenure with [...]
Cedric Watson’s Creole Kora
September 1, 2011 – 12:09 am
Cedric Watson is quickly becoming a sponge of world music. “I like any kind of music that’s related to Louisiana music and Creole,” says Watson, who was nominated for a Grammy last year. “Brazilian music called forró is triangle and fiddle and it has accordion in it. It’s the same thing [as Creole], but it’s [...]
Grammy Fight Gets Legal
August 3, 2011 – 2:16 pm
We’ve been reporting on the backlash against NARAS’ decision to consolidate the number of Grammy Awards offered from 109 to 78. Here, we’ve focused on the decision to combine the Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album, Best Hawaiian Music and Best Native American Music Album into the Best Regional Roots Album. A June meeting in [...]
The Grammys: Behind Closed Doors
August 1, 2011 – 12:04 am
[OffBeat gave NARAS’ Bill Freimuth a chance to respond to some of the questions raised in the story below. They didn’t arrive in time to be included in the physical magazine, but they’re included at the end of the story.] Did you hear the one about the guy that went to a fight and a [...]
Grammys Aren’t Budging
July 8, 2011 – 11:13 am
We’ve been reporting on the backlash against the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences’ decision to consolidate a number of Grammy categories including the Best Zydeco or Cajun Album into the newly formed Best Regional Roots Music award. Those affected by the dropping of the Best Latin Jazz categories have been particularly vocal in [...]
