Various Artists

A Tribute to the King of Zydeco

Valcour Records

The Rolling Stones and Clifton Chenier. Artists from two different worlds, but kings of their respective domains. Why would the Stones, aided by accordionist Steve Riley and several other zydeco VIPs, instantly agree to cut a brand-new track—a rarity for them—to kick off A Tribute to the King of Zydeco? Well, a chance meeting and a nervy, confident ask at a party by producer/guitarist C.C. Adcock, gushing respect for Chenier, and to support the missions at hand. This album celebrates Chenier on the 100^th anniversary of his birth, and throws support at the new Clifton Chenier Memorial Scholarship at the University of Louisiana, Lafayette. Chenier surely deserves the adulation for his huge contribution to American culture.

“Zydeco Sont Pas Sales” (“Zydeco Not Dirty”) features the Stones in a decidedly non-Stones-like mode, kicking up the dirt like 20-year-olds at a backyard barbeque. Their astonishing vitality as 80-somethings, and the remarkable talent assembled around them, translates into a marvelous take on zydeco music. Or perhaps it’s the other way around. Perhaps it’s the zydeco that inspired the vitality?

Zydeco arose in the mid-1950s from the French-derived Creole music in Louisiana. Clifton Chenier was one of the first to add elements of Cajun, blues, Afro-Cuban, rhythm and blues, and country to it, creating a new type of heated and joyous music. Although he began playing accordion as a young man, Chenier is also credited with transforming the rubboard into the chest-worn frottoir, an instrument closely associated with zydeco music. His first language was Louisiana French, and he used the dialect to further spice up his songs. That rubboard and singing dialect are both on brilliant display here, by a host of players on a wide variety of other instruments as well.

Following the energetic Stones opener, hardcore country Texan Charley Crockett and accordionist Nathan Williams Sr. of Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas get tough and deep (despite the song title) on “Easy Easy Baby.” That group of players spotlights Hub City All Star guitarist Roddie Romero, and their instant change of pace after the Stones folds into yet another different pace. The robust “Hey ‘Tite Fille” (“Hey Dated Girl”) flies by, loaded with the soul of Taj Mahal—another ageless marvel—and accordionist and “Zydeco Boss,” Keith Frank.

The album’s first single, the all-around classic “Release Me” featuring Lucinda Williams, was also produced to startling effect by Adcock, its swaying, soulful vibe emotionally tattered. Joel Savoy, of Savoy family Louisiana royalty, and Steve Berlin of Los Lobos, were behind the boards for the remainder of the album. In every case, the songs spew torrents of the special sauce only cooked in Louisiana.

Berlin joins the band on sax for Steve Earle and accordionist Anthony Dopsie’s joyous rendering of “Just Like a Woman,” which is not the Bob Dylan song but the Louisiana soul gem inspired by Louis Jordan’s 1946 hit. Berlin’s Los Lobos bandmate, guitarist David Hidalgo, then teams up with Chenier’s son, the accordionist C.J. Chenier, for the instrumental “Hot Rod,” a combination of raging Cajun and Ventures-styled rock ‘n roll.

The parade of luminaries paying Chenier respects further features Jimmie Vaughan, John Hiatt, Marcia Ball, and several others. The album ends ideally with Louisiana slide guitar king Sonny Landreth in blues blazing fashion alongside C.J. Chenier emulating his dad on the poignant “I’m Comin’ Home.”

These stars of such dissimilar backgrounds altogether offer a cohesive, rollercoaster thrill ride through Chenier’s zydeco music. The attention that A Tribute to the King of Zydeco brings to Chenier’s legacy will hopefully surpass the endless peaks and valleys of enjoyment it offers to listeners. This is one hot album!

Tom Clarke for MAS

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