LOUISIANA BLUES AND ZYDECO   CLIFTON CHENIER    Arhoolie Records – 2005 A Review By Paule Pachter, December 23, 2005

“Louisiana Blues and Zydeco” was the first album that the late Clifton Chenier recorded for the Arhoolie Records label. The album was originally recorded and released in 1965 and now forty years later it’s been re-mastered from mono to stereo and reissued for an entire new generation of fans. Anyone interested in the origins of Zydeco music will find this CD appealing. Anyone interested in listening to the music in its simplest form without the bells and whistles of modern recording technology will consider this CD a treasure. “Louisiana Blues and Zydeco” is truly a piece of recording history. Nineteen tracks, including a half-dozen unreleased gems from the King of Zydeco himself. All the material remains fresh and you can hear Chenier’s influence on every Zydeco artist that’s recorded in the past four decades. Among the most popular tracks featured are: “Zydeco Et Pas Sale;” “Ay Tete Fee;” and “I Can’t Stand.” Among the previously unreleased tracks are such standouts as: “Ay, Ai, Ai;” “Accordion Boogie;” and “Elmore’s Blues.” The musicians coming along for the ride forty years ago included Elmore Nixon (piano), Cleveland Keyes (guitar), Fulton Antoine (bass), Cleveland Chenier (rubboard) and Madison Guidry (drums). “Louisiana Blues and Zydeco” is a great trip back in time to the origins of Zydeco music performed by the master himself that earns a four-pepper rating. The quality of the reissue in full stereo is excellent and will make you yearn for a time when the King of Zydeco was playing his accordion and performing in every dance hall and small bar situated along the roads that stretched from the Louisiana farms to the Texas oil fields. You can purchase this CD online directly from the record label at: www.arhoolie.com or at Amazon.Com.   your support and encouragement of The Zydeco Road. Working together, we can enhance the recognition that Zydeco music and its artists so greatly deserve on Long Island and within the Metro New York area.   [ Artist of the Month ] [Sounds of The Road ] [This Ain't No Rest Stop ] [ The Road Stops Here ] [Road Shows ] [Home ] [Email ]   copyright 2005 Paule Pachter/Richard Arfin. All rights reserved.