When Dwayne Dopsie gets off the road, a favorite pastime is relaxing and playing accordion. Melodies, riffs, and storylines run rampant in his head, and before long, there are six or seven songs ready for the next album. His 11th release is possibly his best yet, a remarkable feat considering his sizable discography that now spans 21 years.

Dopsie wrote 11 of these dozen songs with varying textures and tempos that fit together seamlessly without all sounding alike. It’s a 21st-century continuation of first-generation zydeco pioneered by Founding Father Clifton Chenier and his contemporary, Dwayne’s father, Rockin’ Dopsie Sr.

Unlike that older style of zydeco, these tracks brim with an insane, high-octane energy that’s almost like Chenier or Rockin’ Dopsie, Sr. overdosing on steroids. The opening track, “Take It Higher,” has a revivalist bent to it with imagery of waving arms and enthusiastically clapping hands. The pandemic-inspired title track slows the pace down with a message about helping those in need.

Some storylines are imaginative. “Shake Shake Shake” describes an epiphanous experience of an underage youngster falling under the spell of zydeco at a house party. “My Sweet Chaitanya” is about a lady that this protagonist adores, despite all her quirks.

Of the six instrumentals, “DD’s Zydeco Two Step” and “I Give It to You” are amped-up recreations of early zydeco and are jaw-dropping squeezebox clinics demonstrating Dopsie’s limitless boundaries.

It’s also an album of firsts. Dopsie never recorded with a female background vocalist before, but on “Louisiana Girl,” R&B chanteuse Erica Fox adds her lush, Creole French-sung lines to the tune’s overall infectiousness.

But bigger than that, Dopsie reunites with his older brothers, Alton “Tiger” Dopsie on drums, Anthony Dopsie on keyboard and Rockin’ Dopsie, Jr. on washboard and vocals on various tracks for the first time on a recording under his own name. On the heartfelt rendition of Guitar Slim’s “The Things I Used to Do,” all four brothers come together to pay homage to their father on one of his favorite songs.Amazingly, the bulk of the recording was accomplished in a day. There were only two takes—pick the best version, then on to the next one. Dopsie sang each song as it was being recorded, then went back to re-record his vocals so everything is audible amidst the action-packed arrangements.

His brilliant accordion playing comes through clearly, to the point you can visualize each button being pressed down. With no overdubbing of parts, you hear each hand playing independently of the other, such as bass notes and runs, but everything was accomplished in real time. Somewhere high above in the heavens, Chenier and Rockin’ Dopsie, Sr. must be shaking their heads in disbelief, muttering: “Egad, we created a monster.”