Description
Release Date: 2000
Label: Putumayo Records
Track List
1 –The Creole Zydeco Farmers – Creole Farmers Stomp 3:22
2 –Keith Frank & The Soileau Zydeco Band – Co Fa 4:25
3 –Rosie Ledet – You’re No Good For Me 4:26
4 –Beau Jocque – What You Gonna Do? 5:39
5 –Nathan And The Zydeco Cha Chas – I’m In Love 5:32
6 –Boozoo Chavis – Lula Lula Don’t You Go To Bingo 3:41
7 –Queen Ida And Her Zydeco Band – My Girl Josephine 4:28
8 –Clifton Chenier – Calinda 3:22
9 –Buckwheat Zydeco – I’m On The Wonder 4:33
10 –Geno Delafose And French Rockin’ Boogie – Bye Bye Mon Neg 4:04
11 –Chris Ardoin & Double Clutchin’ – Stay In Or Stay Out – Pass The Dutchie 3:51
Notes
Zydeco is the favored social and dance music of Louisiana’s Creole population, who are the descendants of African and Afro-Caribbean slaves and free people of color. The related Cajun style occupies a similar place in the lives of a nearby white community, whose ancestors were a colony of French settlers called Acadians. Creoles are proud of their language, customs, and cuisine, and guard them fiercely. However, as time passes, zydeco has inevitably become heavily influenced by soul, R&B, funk, and gospel, although the time-honored squeezeboxes and metal washboards are usually still somewhere in evidence among the woodwinds, brass, and electric guitars. Among this lineup, the more traditional tunes tend to be the winners. Boozoo Chavis’ “Lula Lula Don’t You Go to Bingo” is a hilarious cautionary tale about the evils of gambling, while the riff underpinning Clifton Chenier’s “Calinda” has been unceremoniously lifted by several rock bands, including the Rolling Stones in “Under-Assistant West Coast Promo Man.” The rhythms tend as much toward the straight-ahead stomp of Chicago blues as the more usual chug-chug preferred by the old timers, but even the more diluted tunes have a certain earthy, swinging something that screams zydeco from a mile away.
