With no members under the age of 50, the Creole Zydeco Farmers reign as zydeco’s elder statesmen. Drummer Clarence “Jockey” Etienne has some senior wisdom for the flood of young musicians in zydeco today.
Etienne advises the youngsters to learn a variety of music and take it slow. “Sometimes, some of the records they play by them little young bands, it’s not music,” said Etienne, who lives in Lafayette. “They have to learn, but I was playing better than a lot of them when I started. Some people are just out there dancing and they don’t care. But when you get to us, you got to play right…
“Take your time and listen because that’s a long journey you’re in. Life is funny—you’ve got to move fast. But nine times out of ten, when you move too fast, you miss something.” .
Etienne and the Farmers continue their journey with a new CD, My Big Foot Woman, released on the Sound of New Orleans label. The 13-song CD contains more of the group’s trademark raw and rootsy zydeco, along with rhythm and blues covers. Songs include “We Didn’t Forget About You Cliff,” a tribute to zydeco king Clifton Chenier, along with the “Woodpecker Song,” “Let It Run,” “Hound Dog” and “CC Rider.”
The CD is the seventh for the Farmers, a group of seasoned zydeco and R&B performers who have been together since 1989. Members include Warren Prejean (accordion, vocals), Morris Francis (accordion, vocals), Charles Goodman (bass) and Josep Rossyion (guitar).
“I think this is the best one we put out yet because of the variety of songs,” said Etienne. “To me, the music is changing too much right now. So we try to stay as close to the roots as we can.
“We try not to do like some other bands, play the same thing over and over all night. You can’t please them all. But you can try. We don’t want to leave where we came from.”
Etienne has wandered around the world many times in his 70 years, but has always returned to his south Louisiana roots. One of five children born into a family of sharecroppers near St. Martinville, Etienne left home at age 7 to race horses at local tracks.
He advanced to work at the Pier One racetrack in Houston and later raced in Juarez, Mexico. When he became too tall to be a jockey, Etienne returned home at 16 with enough cash to buy his family a home for $1,050.
As a drummer, Etienne has toured Africa and Canada and been to Europe every year since 1979. Tours with legendary zydeco group Fernest and the Thunders, and blues vets Lazy Lester and Katie Webster, sometimes kept him overseas for two to three months at a time.
In the 1960s, Etienne toured with R&B favorites Solomon Burke and Joe Simon, playing on some of Simon’s top recordings, such as “Nine Pound Steel,” “Choking Kind” and “Ave Maria.”
Etienne was also a studio musician at Jay Miller’s famed Excello studio in Crowley, which churned out national and regional hits for Slim Harpo, Guitar Gable and many others.
“I used to sleep in there,” said Etienne about Excello. “A lot of those recordings, it’s a box I’m hitting on. I had to tune up a box. But he was paying me $42 a side and we had 45s with two sides back then. Sometimes I would cut two a day and put my money aside.
“Finally, when I got to $850 I bought a set of drums. I set them up in the studio and the next morning, we cut ‘Congo Mombo’ with Guitar Gable. He didn’t have drums.”
“With (Harpo’s) ‘Scratch My Back,’ that’s me playing drums on that,” added Etienne. “With Lightnin’ Slim, anytime him and his wife would fall out, Miller would bring him in. He knew he was angry, so he would sing a song.
“But he would forget what he sang. He would have to wait until the song came out to learn what he said.”
Along with musical memories, Etienne has collected more than his share of battle scars in his seven decades. Etienne has pain in his back and both ankles, which he broke during his years as a teenage jockey.
In one race, Etienne rode an entire one-mile race with his foot nearly turned backwards. The ankle had snapped when an unruly horse charged out of the gate, crashing Etienne’s knee into the railing and breaking his ankle.
Following heart surgery in 2000, Etienne lost an eye in 2003 during a botched blood clot surgery.
“I’ve been through the mill—two mills,” said Etienne. “I made my rounds in music, too.”
Etienne and the Farmers are making the rounds on an east coast tour that began on August 13. Negotiations continues for a tour of Brazil in November.
When they’re not on the road, the Farmers play every Friday and Saturday at the Blair House, 1316 Surrey Street, in Lafayette.
ZYDECO FEST
The Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival celebrates its 23rd anniversary September 1-3 with an expanded, three-day lineup of activities. The first-ever zydeco jam session will be held at 8 p.m., September 1, at the historic Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki dancehall in Opelousas. .
The festival’s official kick-off dance, featuring music by Chris Ardoin and NuStep, follows at 9 p.m., September 2, at Slim’s. The City of Opelousas hosts a free zydeco breakfast with live music at 9 a.m., September 3, at the St. Landry Parish Courthouse Square in downtown Opelousas.
The main festival begins at noon, September 3, at Zydeco Park in Plaisance, located on Highway 167 just north of Opelousas. Entertainers include Same Old Two Step, Lil Nathan and the Zydeco Big Timers, Curley Taylor and Zydeco Trouble, Chris Ardoin and NuStep, J. Paul and the Zydeco Nubreedz and Step Rideau and the Zydeco Outlaws.
The Heritage Stage returns with four presentations sponsored by Louisiana Folk Roots, the Cajun and Creole cultural preservation group based in Lafayette. The workshops include Zydeco Dance Hall Music and Dance Styles with Chris Ardoin and Curley Taylor, Zydeco Music Today and Yesterday with Preston Frank and a young musician to be announced, Storytelling with Pat Cravins and Juré, the old-style hand-clapping and foot-stomping chants that evolved into zydeco, with Jeffery Broussard of Zydeco Force and family members.
Festival admission is $10. Ice chests, tents, campers, RVs and lawn chairs are welcomed. No barbecue pits or open flame burners are allowed. For more information, call (337) 942-2392 or visit www.zydeco.org.
Festivals Acadiens, a collection of free festivals celebrating the music, food and art of southwest Louisiana, returns September 17-18 at Girard Park in Lafayette. The event includes the Festival du Musique Acadienne (Cajun Music Festival), Bayou Food Festival and Louisiana Crafts Fair.The Cajun Music Festival features two stages of live music, along with a jam session and workshop tent sponsored by Louisiana Folk Roots.
Main stage entertainers include BeauSoleil, Dexter Ardoin, Steve Riley, Balfa Toujours and Wayne Toups. The Magnolia Sisters, Geno Delafose, Keith Frank, the Lost Bayou Ramblers and the Bluerunners are among the Heritage Stage performers.
For a complete festival schedule, visit www.lafayettetravel.com or call (800) 346-1958. .
Contact Herman Fuselier at [email protected].
