Week 13
Clifton Chenier, Bayou Blues
(Specialty 2139)

The 12 Clifton Chenier tracks compiled on Bayou Blues were recorded in 1955 for Specialty Records, one of the dominant indie labels of early rock ‘n’ roll. Produced by Bumps Blackwell, who also helmed the first significant crossover hits for Little Richard and Sam Cooke, among others, these singles announced to the world the birth of a new style—Zydeco.

Zydeco is based in the traditional Cajun and Creole music of Southwestern Louisiana, which intermingles French two-steps and waltzes with African- and Native-American social and religious music. To this blend Chenier and other artists, most notably Boozoo Chavis, added the sounds and approach of electric blues and early R&B. The result was a jukebox-ready dance music that nonetheless remained highly distinctive, with frequent French lyrics and a unique instrumentation dominated by the accordion and vest frottoir, a metal rubboard worn on the chest.

As befitting its title, the songs on Bayou Blues have an enthusiastically audible basis in the blues. Predominately 12-bar boogies and shuffles cemented by a solid backbeat, tenor sax and electric guitar, the groove and feel is a familiar one and suggestive of Chicago's Southside. Whereas a guitar or "harp" (harmonica) might take the lead in Chicago, however, here the accordion does so, with Chenier's masterful playing quickly proving that it can be as evocative a blues instrument as any other. The resulting recordings are not only a seminal introduction to Zydeco, but a decidedly "boppin' and boogiein'" take on the blues.

Listen: Clifton Chenier —"The Things I Did For You"
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