Having been involved in the pre- and post-production of these recordings, as well as being present when it was recorded, I consider myself an expert on this reissue. Recorded in 1983, when one American in 10,000 had ever heard of zydeco, this was Black Top Records fourth release. At the time, Buckwheat – Stanley Dural – was the rising star on the zydeco circuit. An alumnus of Clifton Chenier’s band, he couldn’t help but be influenced by Chenier, but being a younger man, his musical grounding was soul music rather than blues. Buckwheat had cut some magnificent singles for the legendary J. D. Miller a few years earlier, but Buckwheat and Miller had a falling out.

Courted by the Scott Brothers – Black Top’s owners – Buckwheat signed with the label. Before the Scott’s got him in the studio, a wrench was thrown in the works. Black Top’s distributor, Rounder, saw dollar signs when they heard Buckwheat and decided they wanted to record him as well. Not wanting to impact their distribution deal, the Scotts begrudgingly gave their blessings to Rounder, but with the stipulation that the Black Top LP be released before the Rounder album (subsequently titled Turning Point).

100% Fortified Zydeco was recorded in Dallas a few months after the Rounder session, and most of his best original material at the time saw the light of day on Rounder release rather than on the Black Top one. As a result, several tracks here were covers picked from a number of record collections, including my own. Case in point are the opening tracks, Don Gardner’s intense “I Need Your Lovin’,” Lowell Fulson’s “I’ve Had Trouble With the Blues,” and Roy Brown’s charmer, “I’m Ready To Play.” Buckwheat largely delivered the goods, but at times he sounds uncomfortable, and interestingly, only a couple tunes here made it into his live repertoire. Like the Rounder disc, this one also contained an old school soul nugget, Latimore’s “Take Me To The Mountain Top,” a tune that was Buckwheat’s showstopper at the time. Ironically, two of the most successful tracks, “In the Summertime” and “Buck’s Nouvelle Jole Blon,” were suggested during the session. In fact, the latter wound up in the soundtrack to the film The Big Easy. Powered by a rhythm section of drummer Nat Jolivette and bassist Lee Allen Zeno, this was clearly a very good band. It’s too bad this album couldn’t be repackaged with the Turning Point material, but it’s better than some of the vapid zydeco Buckwheat would later record.