The Back Door
			Allons A Lafayette
			My Toot Toot
			Hip Et Taiaut
			My Jolie Blonde
			Colinda
			Buy Now at the Country Store

In 1946, Harry Choates, a western swing band leader who hailed from south Louisiana ’s Vermilion Parish, hit the national charts with “Jolie Blonde,” a traditional Cajun song that had first been recorded by Cleoma and Amadie Breaux in 1928. In an achievement unsurpassed to this day in Cajun music, Choates’ swinging treatment—sung entirely in French—rose above the number five position. But most importantly, it alerted the world at large to a culture that most people outside of the Bayou State had no idea existed.

Hailed almost immediately as “The Cajun National Anthem,” Choates’ version of “Jolie Blonde” spurred numerous cover versions and answer songs and has been recorded by countless musicians since then. Perhaps the most emblematic rendition appeared on a 1976 album by Clifton Chenier and Rod Bernard called Boogie In Black And White.

	Iry LeJeune

Chenier, the legendary accordionist known variously as “The King Of Zydeco” and “The King Of The South,” and Bernard, a former teenage sensation whose combined love for rock ‘n’ roll and Cajun music had helped birth the swamp pop style during the ‘50s, blended seamlessly on the song, their generational, cultural and racial differences unifying as they traded verses in French and English. Simply put, “My Jolie Blonde,” as they titled it, represented a total convergence of the Creole and Cajun styles that had been growing and influencing each other for the better part of a century: The differences in the two musical genres—like the differences in the cuisines that go by the same names—are often misunderstood, ironically enough, because of the obvious similarities with which they inform each other.

	Fais Do Do

It wasn’t long after Choates’ unprecedented success that accordionists like Chenier and Boozoo Chavis began to pave the way for the modern adaptation of Creole music, soon to become known as Zydeco. Arising from the prairies of south-central and south west Louisiana, Zydeco musicians shared much of the repertoire and approach used by their Cajun brethren—as well, of course, as singing in French almost exclusively—the chief difference in the two genres being that Zydeco was infused with a rocking back beat swiped directly from rhythm and blues. Meanwhile, Cajun music was enjoying a rebirth of its own, as many musicians adapted the country, western swing and R&B elements of the day. While Zydeco bands often employed horn players, many Cajun groups began utilizing steel and electric guitars and drums.

	Belton Richard

Noting that many people wished to purchase records in these styles but nobody seemed to be releasing them, young Ville Platte record shop owner Floyd Soileau decided to try his hand at the business and incorporated his Jin and Swallow labels in the late ‘50s and his Maison de Soul imprint during the following decade. In the intervening years, Floyd has recorded as wide a spectrum of the music as humanly possible. Whether it’s the beautiful traditional Cajun sounds of The Balfa Brothers, the French honky-tonk country leanings of Belton Richard, the blues-drenched Zydeco of Chenier or Chavis, the modern and saucy style of Rosie Ledet, or artists such as Nathan Abshire and Joe Bonsall whose unique outputs take in so many influences they often defy description, Floyd’s catalog is at once proof positive of how much—and how little—things have changed.

	Floyd Soileau

Today, “Jolie Blonde” remains one of the most played and revered song in south Louisiana , but it by no means stands alone. Just as it proved so accessible to the general public back in 1946, so too do many traditional songs that have gained widespread popularity in recent years. You neither need to speak French, nor reside anywhere near Acadiana to be taken by classics like “Hip Et Taiaut,” “Colinda” or “Allons a Lafayette,” some of which bounce along at tempos that pre-figured rock ‘n’ roll years before it came upon the scene. But it isn’t just the old tunes that will draw you in. As the music continued to develop, Cajun honky-tonk hits such as “The Back Door” by the likes of D.L. Menard—who’s known appropriately as “the Cajun Hank Williams”—found their way into many set lists, as did Williams’ own “Jambalaya.” Zydeco, too, has enjoyed unprecedented popularity, not only through the classic performances and recordings of artists like Chenier, Chavis, Beau Jaucque and countless others, but through the phenomenon of wildly popular songs like Rockin’ Sidney’s “My Toot Toot,” which—like “Jolie Blonde” before it—ascended the national charts during the ‘80s, reminding the world once again of the unique culture that is south Louisiana music.

Story © by Michael Hurtt

Recommended reading: Swamp Pop by Shane K. Bernard (University Press of Mississippi)

Images Courtesy of Shane K. Bernard, Swamp Pop, www.cajunculture.com

To purchase the TABASCO Hot Cajun & Zydeco cd, click here.