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Buckwheat Zydeco - Lay Your Burden Down
Thursday, May 28, 2009
Buckwheat Zydeco celebrates his band's 30th anniversary. By Al Hensley.
BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO
Lay Your Burden Down
Alligator/Only Blues Music
Lafayette, LA singer/accordionist/organist Buckwheat Zydeco (aka Stanley Dural Jr.) celebrates his band's 30th anniversary with this, his debut for Alligator Records.
Produced by Los Lobos baritone sax player Steve Berlin, who produced Dural's earlier album Five Card Stud, it sees the zydeco ambassador moving further afield from his bayou roots, making his music more accessible to a wider audience. Dural began his career playing funk and soul before joining zydeco king Clifton Chenier's Red Hot Louisiana Band. Like Chenier, Dural has always blended blues and R&B into his Creole musical gumbo. Of the latter variety, Captain Beefheart's 'Too Much Time' is noteworthy.
Blueswise, there's Kansas Joe McCoy's 'When The Levee Breaks' (Dural's post-Katrina lament based on Led Zepplin's version), JJ Grey's 'The Wrong Side' and the Warren Haynes-penned title cut. The zydeco kicks in on Dural's 'Throw Me Something, Mister' and 'Ninth Place' which should appeal to staunch fans. Likewise, Jimmy Cliff's 'Let Your Yeah Be Yeah' - reggae being a stylistic hybrid of zydeco - but Bruce Springsteen's pop ballad 'Back In Your Arms' is aimed more towards new converts.
Dural and his band are on top form as are horn section leader Berlin and guests Allman Brothers guitarist Haynes, Grey on Wurly piano, New Orleans sensation Trombone Shorty, and Lafayette slide guitar hero Sonny Landreth.
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