Newcomers who associate zydeco music only with Louisiana may scratch their heads at the title of Roger Wood’s new book, Texas Zydeco (University of Texas Press). They’re unaware that on many weekends, there’s more zydeco in Houston, Beaumont, Port Arthur and other southeast Texas towns in the music’s homeland of southwest Louisiana.

Since World War II, thousands of Creoles left their Louisiana farms for high-paying oil industry jobs in Texas. They brought their music, foo...