Music
Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and The Zydeco Twisters: More Fun With Rockin Dopsie Jr. & The Zydeco Twisters (ATO Records)
Whatever else 2024 will be remembered for, in zydeco, it will also be known as the year of the Dopsies, with a pair of albums by Dopsie brothers Dwayne and Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and The Zydeco Twisters, sons of venerable zydeco pioneer Rockin’ Dopsie, Sr. (1932-1993).
4Horses Cajun Dancehall Band: Live at La Poussiere – Part Two (Swallow Records)
Following Cajun supergroup sextet High Performance’s blueprint of releasing two live CDs from the same 2008 performance, spin-off quartet 4Horses adheres to same formula. Live at La Poussiere – Part Two is the second installment of the live performance on June 4, 2022, at Breaux Bridge’s La Poussiere Cajun Dancehall, one of Acadiana’s few remaining classic dancehalls.
Chris Smither: All About the Bones (Signature Sounds)
Chris Smither is just the opposite of many musicians who migrate to New Orleans to further their careers. He grew up in the Crescent City; his father was a professor at Tulane, and he even won a folk Battle of the Bands in 1960 while still at Benjamin Franklin High School.
Jon Hébert: Flash in the Pan (Rouxbadour Music)
Songwriter and guitarist Jon Hébert doesn’t write songs with a specific genre in mind; he just writes them and lets ’em fall where they may. The 15 originals from his 2017 first full length effort, Bayou Wild, largely straddled the line between folk and Americana.
Bubba Hebert: Mais Oui! (Independent)
As the great-grandson of the legendary Iry LeJeune, a cornerstone of Cajun music, and grandson of accordionist and cultural traditionalist Eddie LeJeune (Iry’s son), Bubba Hebert comes from Cajun royalty, though he would never say it that way. As a youth, Hebert was once considered a prodigy, creating a buzz about his advanced accordion chops early on.
Steele Creek: Towards the Light (Southern Crescent)
Phil Cramer doesn’t write songs so that others can easily cover them. As the brainchild and songwriter behind the Americana ensemble Steele Creek, the acoustic guitarist’s compositions resemble torn pages from a diary—deeply moving testimonies based on personal experiences and meticulous introspection. Steele Creek’s sophomore effort, Towards the Light, represents the logical evolution from its 2022 debut, A Long Way From Home, ruminations of family and his North Carolina upbringing.
Drew Landry: Exiles: The Dockside Tapes, Volume 1 (Fightinville Records)
On his first domestic full-length release in 16 years, Drew Landry refers to Exiles as a love letter to Louisiana, the place of his origin. Since the troubadour’s relocation to Big Sky Country Montana and the Blackfeet Indian Reservation eight years ago, Landry’s appreciation for his La Louisiane and Cajun culture has only deepened, manifested throughout this nine-track/five-originals affair.
Exiled Cajun Troubadour: Drew Landry will never stop trying to do good for people
To take liberties with Gene Autry’s signature song, Drew Landry is back in the saddle again. Music is once again in the troubadour’s life. After two-and-a-half years in the works, the Acadiana native son is finally releasing Exiles, his first domestic album in 16 years, on July 7.
Sweet Magnolia: Miss Missed Connections (Independent)
Maybe Sweet Magnolia’s saxophonist Meg Dwyer is on to something by combining her New Orleans Brass Band experience with original compositions sung from a woman’s perspective.
Leroy Thomas & The Zydeco Roadrunners: Rockin’ the Bayou (Hardcore Records)
Leroy Thomas & The Zydeco Roadrunners. Leave it to Leroy Thomas. Nearly a decade after his 2015 release We Love You Leroy, Thomas returns with a dancefloor-filling 14 tracks rife with novel content and up-tempo tunes that live up to the title’s claim of rockin,’ as in Rockin’ the Bayou.
