A Small Blog

Written by Jack Reid

I may be that the first recording of ‘Zodico’ music was by Texas musician Lightnin’ Hopkins, but the geographic center of the zydeco world is in the Parishes of Southwest Louisiana. The Creole heritate of accordion driven dance music is undeniable and there are any number of scholarly treatises on the origins, social implications, and cultural impacts of the world of zydeco. I will concentrate on my experiences visiting that world and its impact on my musical tastes and world view.

 The very first band to play at Antone’s Club when it opened on Sixth Street in Austin was Clifton Chenier. Chenier had already devastated the crowd at Soap Creek earlier and Clifton’s Brother Cleveland, the frottoir player and fully blown minds by demonstrating he could lift an oak table off the floor—with his teeth! Yes, Austin’s Home of the Blues began with the King of Zydeco.  This is the takeoff point for my exploration.  The pure elasticity of and ability to incorporate multiple sources into the music form is integration: appropriation and assimilation.  Clifton’s song “Zydeco Sont Pas Salés” is a commonly pointed to as the beginnings of the word Zydeco. “the snap beans aren’t salty” Creole French pronunciation sounds like the word zydeco.

I subsequently saw Clifton, Buckwheat Zydeco, and a few others at clubs and street fairs in Austin. These sparked my interest enough that I ventured into the homeland with an adventurous girlfriend and some like-minded compatriots. We drove deep into the swampy parishes, through rice fields and crawfish farms to roadhouses like Slim’s Y Ki Ki and Richards to be in the element of zydeco. We went to Dog Hill, the home of Boo Zoo Chavis, who recorded an English language version of “Paper in My Shoe” and had a regional hit for the Goldband label licensed by Imperial in the 50s. We went to a trail ride where the music was punctuated with the aroma of barbequed pig tails and fried hog skin or gatton.

At the time we attended the Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival near Opelousas, LA, the biggest acts were Boo Zoo, Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas, and Beau Jocque. Break out younger acts were Step Rideau and Keith Frank. Whereas Clifton Chenier played a piano accordion everyone else played diatonic or button style accordions. Rhythm/percussion instrument, a rubboard played with bent spoons called the frottoir. The first few years, all the songs and stage announcements were in Creole French. As the crowd grew with more tourist, English became dominant.

The dancers of that region had a specific style when on the floor. Da-Da-Da-Stomp, Da-Da-Da-Stomp! In a cartoonish vision, I saw the outside edges of the wooden club jump up with each stomp as my beer glass ‘walked’ across the table.

Long Live the Zydeco Stomp!