Zydeco Crossroads

Watch an interview with zydeco dance instructor Harold Guillory

Posted on May 5, 2015May 5, 2015 by Julie Miller

For the first Zydeco Crossroads concert back in December, we thought it would be important to introduce the dance aspect of the experience along with the music. So Harold Guillory, a dance instructor from Lake Charles, LA traveled up to Philadelphia with Curley Taylor to lead the sold-out Kimmel Center crowd in a dance lesson before the show. We interviewed Guillory about the dance’s ability to draw new people to the music, why it sets zydeco apart and how it allows fans to express themselves in a different way. Read more

Terrance Simien will bring Creole for Kidz to Celebrate Brooklyn! next month

Posted on May 4, 2015 by Julie Miller

Creole for Kidz & The History of Zydeco is a CD and live show created by musician and educator Terrance Simien. He’s taken the show on the road up and down the eastern seaboard, including a special presentation at the Berklee College of Music for its American Roots Music and African Studies visiting arts program, to educate students about creole culture and music.

On June 6th the program will be presented at a free event in conjunction with Celebrate Brooklyn! at the Prospect Park Bandshell. Read more

Richard’s Club and Boozoo Chavis: The Golden Age of Zydeco

Posted on April 29, 2015October 19, 2015 by Scott Billington

Historians can look back to several junctures of time and place in American music when it was clear that something significant was happening. For Southern blues, it might have been Beale Street in Memphis in the early 1950s, when B.B. King and Bobby “Blue” Bland pioneered a modern blues sound that continues to resonate today. For bebop, it might have been 52nd Street in New York City in the 1940s, when Charlie Parker, Dizzy Gillespie and Thelonious Monk deconstructed jazz. For zydeco, I would argue that it was Southwest Louisiana in the late 1980s and early 1990s, when Boozoo Chavis came roaring back onto the scene at Richard’s Club in Lawtell. Read more.

Soul Creole releases new songs on Delta: Indigo

Posted on April 24, 2015April 23, 2015 by Julie Miller

Soul Creole has released part one of its three-part record Delta. The Indigo installment features four original songs by the band, which you can stream and download via Bandcamp. Read more

Listen to new music by Andre Thierry from his EP, Bouncin’ With The Blues

Posted on April 23, 2015April 23, 2015 by Bruce Warren

Listen to new music by Andre Thierry, a six song collection of zydeco flavored blues called Bouncin’ With The Blues. Read more here.

Beau Jocque: The Funkiest Band in the Land

Posted on April 22, 2015October 19, 2015 by Scott Billington

When I first heard Beau Jocque in 1992 at the Quarterback Lounge in a rundown neighborhood of Lafayette, Louisiana, I felt as if I had been transported to a primeval moment in which all the music I loved—funk, blues, R&B and zydeco— had coalesced into a single, relentless groove. I was also a little bit scared. Read more

Despite strong start, Ledet gives career a ‘reboot’

Posted on April 20, 2015April 21, 2015 by Herman Fuselier

Corey Ledet has every reason to be proud of his music career. Twelve years ago, Ledet left his native Houston for south Louisiana, with an accordion and no idea of what would happen next. Read more

Despite winter storm blues, Amy Nicole happy with East Coast debut

Posted on April 17, 2015April 17, 2015 by Herman Fuselier

Last February, Amy Nicole left Opelousas, La. on cloud nine. She was headed to Boston, Richmond and other cities on the first East Coast tour of her two-year music career. Read more

Nicole had no idea four snowstorms and record cold temperatures were waiting. Three-hour trips between gigs turned into eight-hour nightmares.

Artist Spotlight: Fernest Arceneaux

Posted on April 15, 2015April 15, 2015 by Jim Hobbs

Born to a family of sharecroppers in Carencro, Louisiana in 1940, the late Fernest Arceneaux learned accordion early. He later dropped it and took up the guitar, playing rhythm & blues. Legend says that Clifton Chenier himself persuaded Arceneaux to go back to the accordion. He played mostly triple-row accordion, smaller than the piano key type. Read more

Curley Taylor talks creative motivation, evolution of zydeco and more in new interview

Posted on April 13, 2015April 13, 2015 by Julie Miller

In this backstage interview with Curley Taylor, the Zydeco Trouble band leader gives us a glimpse into his own zydeco experience. Read more