Eric Adcock makes his solo piano debut at Jazz Fest
Three-time Grammy nominee Eric Adcock played key roles in the making of the Grammy-winning album A Tribute to the King of Zydeco. Released in June 2025, the all-star project celebrated the centennial year of zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier’s birth.
A pianist, organist, songwriter, producer and session musician in the small Vermilion Parish city of Abbeville, Adcock was a member of the Chenier tribute album’s house band. He also helped assemble the steeped-in-Louisiana-music session players who ensured its authenticity.
Although it was a big kick to get the tribute Grammy win for regional roots album, Adcock’s greater reward was the chance to fete a great Louisiana artist. “We had to find the right cast for the studio and do it for the right reasons, which was all about honoring Clifton,” Adcock said. “We have been drinking from his deep well all our lives, influenced and inspired by his music. You can feel that in the record. It bounces.”
Eric Adcock. Photo by Astor Morgan
Adcock’s contributions to A Tribute to the King of Zydeco followed many previous studio sessions with such roots-music artists as Raul Malo and the Mavericks, Rhiannon Giddens, Marcia Ball and, from southwest Louisiana, Warren Storm, Zachary Richard, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys and Bonsoir Catin. On stage, he performed with the Grammy-nominated Cajun-Creole-roots band Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars for more than 30 years. Recent sideman gigs include Zachary Richard, Andrew Duhon and Yvette Landry and the Jukes.
Adcock’s career will take a new twist when he plays a solo piano set May 2 at Jazz Fest. He’ll feature the “bluesiana” music that moves him and a special guest, his longtime Hub City All-Stars bandmate, saxophonist Derek Huston.
“Jazz Fest called and said, ‘We want you to do your thing,’” Adcock recalled. “I am so honored. I shouldn’t sing, because I don’t have a good voice, but I’ve invited Derek Huston [to join in]. He plays with so much soul. Derek sounds like Cosimo Matassa’s studio in New Orleans. He sounds like the Fats Domino horn section. And we’re dear friends. We’re going to play instrumentals of songs I love, in my style.”
A piano player since he was five-years-old, the self-taught Adcock grew up in Lafayette, listening to the keyboard songbook that includes Chenier’s red-hot zydeco accordion and New Orleans’ rhythm-and-blues pianists. “I’m inspired by all the Louisiana music greats, from Fats Domino to Huey Smith, Tuts Washington, Clifton,” he said.
Simply living in southwest Louisiana was a formative experience for Adcock. “Growing up in all those juke joints and honky-tonks, putting every bit of money I had in every swamp-pop jukebox,” he recalled. “I grew up at Grant Street Dance Hall in Lafayette, way underage, pressed against the stage watching Marcia Ball making that piano sound so good. Same thing when Dr. John rolled through town. I was 14-, 15-years-old, and he was in his prime.”
At 16, Adcock enlisted in Chenier guitarist Lil’ Buck Sinegal’s band. Soon thereafter he joined Romero and the Hub City All-Stars, the most enduring partnership of his career. “That’s been the vast body of my life’s work,” he said.
Derek Huston. Photo courtesy of the artist.
Inspirations for Adcock beyond his keyboard heroes include Bobby Charles, the late singer-songwriter who wrote Bill Haley’s rock and roll classic, “See You Later, Alligator,” Fats Domino’s “Walking to New Orleans” and Clarence “Frogman” Henry’s “(I Don’t Know Why) But I Do.”
Adcock, a longtime resident of Charles’ hometown, Abbeville, met the reclusive songwriter twice, first at a local restaurant and later at Dockside Studio in nearby Maurice. “He was at the studio with Dr. John,” Adcock said. “I was starstruck by both of them. I work with the Bobby Charles Trust as a consultant. I’m proud of that because it tries to keep his memory and legacy alive.”
Charles died in 2010, but Adcock says his spirit still can be felt in Abbeville. “Bobby Charles was influenced by a sense of place, as I am,” Adcock said. “His legacy is always in the air here, and it’s equal parts inspiring and intimidating. But I’m proud to be from Abbeville. It’s special and, being that Bobby Charles is from Abbeville, that makes it special to be a musician here.”
As his solo piano debut at Jazz Fest approaches, Adcock admits some apprehension.
“There are so many great piano players in New Orleans,” he said. “Not only from yesteryear, all the heroes I mentioned, but today—incredible piano players that inspire me. I should be walking around taking notes on all these great piano players on the Fair Grounds and in the city. So, for me to be featured in New Orleans, it’s a dream come true that I never knew existed. It’s gonna be fun.”
Eric Adcock plays Louisiana Piano featuring Derek Huston at Jazz Fest on Saturday, May 2 at 1:15 p.m. Rhythmpourium Tent
