Clifton Chenier – King Of Louisiana Blues & Zydeco (CD)

Description

In South Louisiana, Clifton Chenier (1925-1987) grew up hearing his father play a style of music known as La La at house dances held in Black French Creole communities. It had a percussive and syncopated sound, played in spare combinations of an accordion and a washboard used to scrub out a rhythm. After picking up accordion as a curious teenager, Chenier soon brought into this sound the rhythm and blues that dominated radios and jukeboxes, crafting a new style that would be called zydeco. In the 1950s, he recorded for Elko, Specialty, and Chess, and joined national package show tours with stars like Little Richard and Etta James. A decade later, Chenier was quietly settled in Houston, the big stages seemingly behind him. But one rainy Saturday night at a Houston neighborhood bar, Chenier’s cousin Lightning Hopkins introduced him to Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records, where zydeco and Clifton Chenier would find a new home and champion.

King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco is a 4 CD/6 LP retrospective box set assembled in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Chenier’s birth. The set features a chronology of Chenier’s landmark work with Arhoolie and other labels, alongside a healthy dose of previously unissued gems. The 160-page book includes photos, posters, and other graphic artifacts from the Strachwitz Collection and deeply researched liner note essays by Grammy award-winning writer Adam Machado, public folklorist and radio host Nick Spitzer and longtime Louisiana journalist Herman Fusilier, along with a moving personal remembrance by Clifton’s son, Zydeco musician C.J. Chenier. The set is the first release on Arhoolie since the label became a part of Smithsonian Folkways.With music and storytelling and abundant visual imagery, this set demonstrates Clifton Chenier’s life as a transformative artist – from his earliest days practicing in the barn back home, to his reign as the undisputed King of Zydeco.

• Tracks
• Credits

• – Disc 1 –
• 1Louisiana Stomp
• 2Clifton’s Blues
• 3Boppin’ the Rock
• 4Ay-Tete Fee
• 5Rockin’ Accordion
• 6Baby What You Want Me to Do
• 7That’s Alright
• 8Ay Ai Ai
• 9Why Did You Go Last Night
• 10Zydeco Et Pas Sale
• 11Louisiana Blues
• 12Lafayette Waltz
• 13Hot Rod
• 14Louisiana Shuffle
• 15French Zydeco
• 16Bon Ton Roulet
• 17Jole Blonde
• 18If I Ever Get Lucky
• 19Black Gal
• 20Keep on Scratching
• – Disc 2 –
• 1Black Snake Blues
• 2Let’s Talk It Over
• 3Walking to Louisiana
• 4Johnny Can’t Dance
• 5Grand Mamou
• 6Gone a la Maison
• 7Live from PHR Studio, Clifton Chenier!
• 8Mr. Charlie
• 9Hey Madeleine
• 10634-5789 (That’s My Number)
• 11Drifting Blues / Breaux Bridge Waltz
• 12Shake, Rattle and Roll
• 13Rock House
• 14Breaux Bridge Waltz
• 15Ma Negresse Est Gone
• 16Fannie Mae
• 17Going Home Tomorrow
• – Disc 3 –
• 1J’ai Conet, C’est Pas Me Femme (I Know, You’re Not My Woman)
• 2Since I Met You Baby
• 3Cher Catin
• 4You’re My Mule
• 5I’m on the Wonder
• 6You’re Fussin’ Too Much
• 7All Your Love
• 8Zydeco Cha Cha
• 9Ti Na Na (Little Na Na)
• 10Someone Told Me It Was All Over
• 11You Can’t Sit Down
• 12Oh! My Lucille
• 13Take Off Your Dress
• 14M’appel Fou (They Call Me Crazy)
• 15Je Suis en Racolteur (I’m a Farmer)
• 16Je Marche Le Plancher (I Walk the Floor)
• – Disc 4 –
• 1Tu Le Ton Son Ton (Every Now and Then)
• 2Down the Road I Go
• 3Calinda
• 4Zydeco
• 5What I’d Say
• 6Dust My Broom
• 7My Mama Told Me
• 8Night Time Is the Right Time
• 9I’m a Hog for You
• 10Grand Prix
• 11You Got Me Crying
• 12Tit Mam’s Zydeco
• 13Party Down (At the Blue Angel Club)
• 14I’m Coming Home (To See My Mother)