It’s an often-told story but bears repeating regarding one of Cajun music’s most ironic events. After scoring with the regional hit “Saturday Night Special” in 1972, the then Sundown Playboy’s accordionist Pat Savant pondered how the Beatles would react to their chanky-chank music and audaciously sent a 45 to Apple Records. The English imprint not only dug it but soon hammered out a lease arrangement with Swallow Records that led to “Special” becoming a “hit” of sorts across Europe and Canada. Hence, for acting on a lark, Savant and boss man Lionel Cormier’s Sundown Playboys achieved infamy by having the first and perhaps the only Cajun music side to ever be associated with the Fab Four.

Three decades later, the group continues led by Cormier’s son Lesa who has been behind the traps for the past five-and-half decades. As evidenced by this latest crop of tunes, this particular incarnation shows they’re once again storming the Crawfish dancehall circuit, extending the legacy that all began in the late forties. Along with Lesa, the core group consists of Wallace Touchet (fiddle) and Larry Miller (steel guitar) who have been along for the ride nearly as long as Lesa. August Broussard, recently of the Old Tymers Cajun Band, pumps the squeezebox while Lesa’s grandson Brian provides the bass.

With Broussard’s enthusiastic, buoyant accordion stylings, Touchet’s efficient rides and Miller’s chiming tones, the Sundown Playboys establish a steady flow about their music. In keeping with the theme of past memories, a few songs (“Waltz of My Heart,” “Lonesome Waltz”) were first recorded by Lionel and the band on Eddie Shuler’s Goldband label in the ’50s. Also from Lionel’s tune bag is the rousing instrumental “Mermentau Special” that’s just bustin’ here with plenty of zip. Two more songs (“River Two-Step,” “Sundown Waltz”) come from fiddler Dewey Balfa who played and recorded with the Playboys in the mid-’50s. (Incidentally, Walter Mouton’s “Scott Playboy Special” follows the same melody as “River Two-Step.”). Three more songs including the reworked “J’ Rever à Pop et Mom” were written by Broussard in his days with August Broussard and the Calcasieu Ramblers. Though it may seem like all revisited material in accordance with the theme, two Miller-penned songs (“Bouteille a Nonc Joe,” “Pour la Balance de Notre Jour”) actually make their disc debut. As evidenced by this gritty, organic affair, another chapter has just been written about the Cormier family’s Sundown Playboys band and it’s a good read at that.