It was billed as the “Battle of the Zydeco Bulls” when Boozoo Chavis performed with Beau Jocque last month at Gilton’s Lounge near Eunice. According to club owner Gilton Lejeune, over 2,500 people passed through the zydeco hall for the tag team event, which lasted nearly six hours. The center dance floor remained crowded all night, making the match a decided draw.
Beau Jocque’s recent Rounder release, Beau Jocque Boogie, is in heavy rotation on the zydeco radio shows in Southwest Louisiana, and is currently the top seller at Floyd’s Record Store in Ville Platte (There are reports of it selling out around the country, as well). He’ll be joined shortly by fellow bull Boozoo, whose own Rounder release should be out within the month.
Zydeco dances are held at Gilton’s most Saturdays—call (318) 457-9563 for more information. And if you’re looking to drive west some Saturday night, the best handbook to Cajun and zydeco clubs remains Macon Fry’s Cajun Country Guide (Pelican)—it lists directions and phone numbers.
Thursdays are the night to stay in New Orleans, though. For years, the Maple Leaf has been offering Cajun and zydeco bands that night; they’ve been joined recently by Mid-City Lanes’ zydeco night. Owner John Blancher reports that he’s getting calls from zydeco bands wanting to play the bowling alley, and that he is hoping to offer a venue for acts who usually don’t make it to the city. July bands include Beau Jocque and John Delafose.
If you want to make a road trip in July, there are a few festivals worth checking out. The Fourth Annual Mulate’s Accordion Festival will be held in Breaux Bridge July 4, both in and outside of the restaurant with those gold shoes on the walls. This year, the contest honors Felix Richard, and scheduled bands include Tasso, the Dixie Ramblers and last year’s Junior Division winner, 14-year-old Kristi Guillory. Prizes are awarded for the best accordion playing and dancing; call (318) 332-4648.
Also that weekend is the Erath 4th of July Celebration. Here’s what’s planned: cracker and watermelon eating contests, carnival rides and another contest in which competing fire departments try to blow each other away with water hoses. Street dances will feature country-western bands, although Erath’s most famous son, D.L. “Steady Rocking” Menard, “usually shows up and usually gets up to play,” said one organizer. Call (318) 937-6895.
If the movie Posse and the recent feature story in The Times-Picayune about black cowboys whetted your appetite to check out the bronco-bustin’ scene for yourself, there’s a rodeo on Sunday, July 4, in Henderson, Louisiana at Joe’s Place (ask for directions when you get to Henderson). Events include back riding, bull riding, tie-down roping, and other rodeo favorites.
The Cajun French Music & Food Festival in Lake Charles features a number of locally-based bands that have never played New Orleans. The three-day event is held July 16-18, and the lineup includes Bufford Galley and the Jolly Playboys, Johnny Sonnier and Cajun Heritage, Eric O’Blanc and Cajun Rhythm Band, Lesa Cormier and the Sundown Playboys, Jesse Lege and Rodney Lejeune and the Texas Playboys, and Geno Thibodeaux and the Lake Charles Ramblers. Call (318) 477-4475.
And in Cut Off that weekend, the Louisiana Oyster Festival celebrates its 25th birthday. Call (504) 632-6990 for info.
New releases this month include Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys’ Trace of Time (Rounder). In many ways a Dewey Balfa tribute, the Playboys’ third album features more fiddle work than the first two, along with a star turn by guitarist Sonny Landreth. Lynn August has his signature bluesy zydeco on Sauce Piquant on Black Top, and Swallow Records is releasing a compilation of Cajun Dance Favorites. Included in the mix is Walter Mouton’s “Scott Playboy Special,” which has previously only been available as a 45. This is your only chance to have a sample of recorded Mouton, who has been holding down Saturday nights at La Poussiere club in Breaux Bridge for over thirty years and counting. Which is to say, Mouton is due for an album!
Christine and Nelda Balfa have finished work on their first album, Balfa Toujours. The Swallow release is produced by Al (Beausoleil) Tharp and early reports say that this may be one of the best Cajun recordings of the year. Look for it within a couple months. Also look for a September release for Terrance Simien’s long-awaited There’s Room for All of Us (Black Top). With guests such as the Meters and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band, the title may be referring to crowded conditions in the recording studio.
