Possibly not the snappiest of album titles, but if you know, you know, and it is everything, much more, that it says on the tin. Which is a long winded way of saying party time. Sorry, PARTY TIME! And there won’t be a better party this year, that is for sure, with Valcour Records hoovering up about as stratospheric a line up you could ever imagine, in support this timely celebration of Chenier, the coolest man to ever tote an accordion in the name of rock and roll. And blues. And soul. For that is, loosely, what zydeco is, a defiantly idiosyncratic mixture of all those musical forms, cooked up in the swamps of Louisiana. Often sung in French. Lead instrument accordion.
While the white folks were cooking up their own characteristic Cajun brew of fiddle and squeezebox, a demented cousin of bluegrass, their African American neighbours, often of Creole heritage, were plugging in for a hybrid, drawing in all and any influences, available and handed down, for this potent auditory gumbo. One man, above all others, was responsible for breaking the style out of the narrow confines: Clifton Chenier (1925-1987). This set celebrates what would have been his century. His life reads as a testimony to his importance: first national hit in the, more accurately, his, style, in 1954, with later breakthrough at the Berkeley Blues Festival, a founding father for the Austin City Limits series, a 1983 Grammy followed by a National Heritage Fellowship the year after, and a posthumous indictment into the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2014 he received a further Grammy, the prestigious Lifetime Achievement Award.
Valcour Records have form. An independent label based in Eunice, Louisiana, their role and purpose is to showcase and celebrate the extraordinary talents born from the rich and diverse cultures of their home state. Zydeco is a large part of that. Releases cover both new music in the idiom, and making available previously unavailable recordings. As they leaked plans for this centenary celebration, so too it became evident quite how much acclaim Chenier had accrued in his lifetime, as the caliber of artists queuing to become involved became known. Top of the list has undoubtedly to be the Rolling Stones, with the likes of Lucinda Williams and Steve Earle not too far behind. Rising stars like Molly Tuttle rub shoulders with current champions of the genre, second generation royalty, Chenier’s son, C.J. and Alphonse Dopsie, the son of Rockin’ Dopsie. Chuck in veterans like Taj Mahal, John Hiatt and Jimmy Vaughan and this is clearly all top drawer.
So it is with those Stones that this set rolls out the groove with, as they tackle the song that gave the genre its name, ‘Zydeco Sont Pas Salés’, or “The Snap Beans Ain’t Salty”, as the Louisiana French pronunciation slurs haricots (beans) into zydeco. Well, that’s the story, and the old rockers have seldom sounded this lively. Teaming up with current Cajun squeezebox champion, Steve Riley, of Mamou Playboys fame, they rattle the doors and walls off, Riley’s accordion segueing well into the weave of guitars, hollered vocal and harmonica. Mick Jagger’s mouth harp features centrally, duelling with Riley, over a solid driving backbeat. The grin on Keith Richards’ face can only be imagined, and it is all more fun than should be allowed.
It is worth noting at this stage, and so as to denote credit where it is due, rather than their full usual band, here the Stones is a slimmed down core of Jagger, Richards and Ronnie Wood, with the rhythm section and additional instrumentation being provided largely by Valcour regulars. Ivan Neville is also on hand to add some backing vocals. Note that rhythm section, in Zydeco, includes always rubboard, the metal washboard or the fabulously named frottoir, actually invented by Chenier, and played with metal finger caps, “washing” over the serrated front.
‘Easy, Easy, Baby’ then pairs Charley Crockett’s Neo-traditional hat act swagger with the Zydeco authenticity of Nathan Williams Sr., the nephew of Chenier’s original guitarist, and an accordion player in his own right. A slow and downright sulky blues, blending squeeze with honky tonk piano, it is hard not to crank up the volume, as a gift to the community. Saxes honk, an organ swells, guitars twang and it is heaven, all gilded by the mellifluous swirl of accordion. Elder statesman and polymath of African-American musics, Taj Mahal then delivers a trademark gruff ‘Hey, ‘Tite Fille’, another song awash with barrelhouse piano, together with jump jive redolent call and response vocals from another local box-player, Keith Frank. The frankly fabulous piano solo comes from Eric Adcock.
‘Release Me’ is the first non-Chenier original, coming as a duet from Lucinda Williams and Tommy McClain. If Lu sounds even more wracked than usual, worry not, it is McClain who leads off! With the album as much a showroom for canny accordionists to watch, this fourth track includes a fourth player, in Keith Frank. One of the album’s producers, Los Lobos saxman Steve Berlin, also pops up for the first time. The shimmery waltz carries slightly disconcerting echoes of fairground around the overall sound, and provides a respite from the pell-men of the earlier selections.
Those excitedly sensing some Dylan in ‘Just Like a Woman’, up next, soon appreciate this a different song, a rolling jump jive that is altogether different, and the only other song not penned by Chenier. In truth it doesn’t trouble Steve Earle that much, or even sound much like him, the honours coming more from accordionist number five, Anthony Dopsie, with Adcock and Berlin plonking and honking respectively. Slowing the mood right down, a very swampy ‘I’m on the Wonder’, from a multitasking Jon Cleary, picking up keys, guitar and hoarse impassioned vocals.
Jimmie Vaughan is very much on familiar territory for ‘My Soul’, just the sort of Texas blues the Fabulous Thunderbirds always excelled at. Except this is Louisiana Blues, so, to spar with Johnny Nicholas on harmonica, Steve Riley returns with some stellar squeezemanship. The only instrumental in the set follows, ‘Hot Rod’, heavily indebted to any number of cheesy Link Wray adjacent 50’s instrumental rockers. Berlin’s bandmate, in his day job, David Hidalgo and Chenier’s son, C.J., feature, alongside a veritable posse of junior Hidalgos on bass and drums.
The younger element get to strut their stuff for ‘Tout le Temps en Temps’, with Molly Tuttle adding her acoustic guitar to what becomes a hot shoe boogie. Keith Frank is back on accordion, with the vocal from Shannon McNally, who provides perhaps the nearest thing to vocal polish, a detail often surplus to need in the style. Tuttle’s solo is a beauty, as is the organ, this now in the safe hands of Adcock. With less than an excuse me, it is straight then into the rambunctious ‘Ay Ai Ai’, a live sounding rip through it from Los Texmaniacs, or a current version of the venerable conjunto band, augmented here by no less than the great Augie Meyers on his redoubtable Vox organ. With still the Baca brothers, Josh and Max, on accordion and bajo sexto respectively, it is a gleeful celebration that mixes Tex-Mex with ? and the Mysterians type organ, as well as being the least zydeco here, even if still a Chenier write.
‘I May Be Wrong’ restores the Louisiana dominance, with a further famous name, as Geno Delafose now straps on the accordion. Another 2nd gen player, he is a major player on the nouveau zydeco circuit. For this old style blues, he is joined by Marcia Ball on piano and vocals. This sort of sets the stall up for the final track, whereby side guitar maven, Sonny Landreth, himself a Louisiana native and resident, gets to reveal why he is known as the king of “slydeco”. A link with Chenier senior, he was the only white member of his band, back in 1981, since when he has returned the favor, with C.J. subsequently a member of his own band. ‘I’m Coming Home’ pairs the two musicians fronting the studio band, starting with an “are you ready” from Landreth. The song, another by C.J’s dad, is a not especially subtle re-write of ‘Bring It On Home’, that avows the arrival. It wraps things up tremendously, reminding the importance of the various assembled drummers, bassists and all, congregating across this disc, forgetting neither any the rubboarders.
But, if that completes the vinyl disc, there is also the bonus of two further digital tracks available as well, ‘You Used to Call Me’ and ‘Why did You Go Last Night’, with the former having John Hiatt on vocals, and more Landreth, who has worked extensively with Hiatt, on slide. The second features Houston soulstress, Kam Franklin, and A.J. Haynes. Quite how and why they got the short straw is anyone’s guess, both songs well up to the standard if those grooved into the wax.
If you already love zydeco, this record is a must. If you don’t, and are zydeco curious, there could not be a better primer. Kudos aplenty to the team responsible for putting it and pulling it altogether, with Joel Savoy, another regal surname of Louisiana musical history, co-producer, with Berlin, taking the lead on grouping the house band. A bonus, for when you do dive in, is that all profits from sales will go towards the Clifton Chenier Memorial Scholarship fund, at the Center for Louisiana Studies, at the Lafayette Campus of the University of Louisiana.
A Tribute to the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier tracklisting:
1. The Rolling Stones & Steve Riley/Zydeco Sont Pas Sales (Clifton Chenier cover)
2. Charley Crockett & Nathan Williams Sr/Easy Easy Baby (Clifton Chenier cover)
3. Taj Mahal & Keith Frank/Hey ‘Tite Fille (Clifton Chenier cover)
4. Lucinda Williams, Tommy McLain & Keith Frank/Release Me (Eddie Miller & his Oklahomans cover)
5. Steve Earle & Anthony Dopsie/Just Like a Woman (Louis Jordan & His Tympany Five cover)
6. Jon Cleary & Curley Taylor/I’m on the Wonder (Clifton Chenier cover)
7. Jimmie Vaughan, Johnny Nicholas & Steve Riley/My Soul (Clifton Chenier cover)
8. David Hidalgo & CJ Chenier/Hot Rod (Clifton Chenier cover)
9. Shannon McNally, Molly Tuttle & Keith Frank/Tout Le Temps En Temps (Clifton Chenier cover)
10. Ruben Ramos, Los Texmaniacs & Augie Meyers/Ay Ai Ai (Clifton Chenier cover)
11. Marcia Ball & Geno Delafose/I May Be Wrong (Clifton Chenier cover)
12. CJ Chenier & Sonny Landreth/I’m Comin’ Home (Clifton Chenier cover)
* 13. John Hiatt & Sonny Landreth/You Used To Call Me (Clifton Chenier cover) (BONUS TRACK)
* 14. Kam Franklin & A.J. Haynes/Why Did You Go Last Night (Clifton Chenier cover) (BONUS TRACK)
