Even if it is a generic-sounding sobriquet, there’s a lot to live up to with a name like the Honky Tonk Band (HTB). These beer-swilling bubbas do quite that honorably, blending French-sung acoustic country, wheel-wobbly swamp pop and even a little palatable classic rock that’d instantly fill any South Louisiana dance floor full of weekend revelers.

Yet, the real story behind HTB is multi-instrumentalist Abe Manuel, Jr, who was Merle Haggard’s fiddler for years and then came home and wrote MOE-D’s biggest hits (“Chicken on the Run”). When it comes to demented novelty tunes with a crazy Cajun bent, no one writes ’em better. This one’s no exception either, with zany tunes about the Holly Beach Police Department and “Swire from Grand Chenier” that sport more madcap images about Gulf Coast life from a warped perspective. On “My Baby Chews Tobacco,” Manual follows the title line with a clever play-on-words punch line: “but she won’t choose me.”

Manual is quite the comic, crooning in cartoonish Cajun voices, frequently bellowing into momentary hoarseness and deliberately hitting teeth-clenching, clashing chords. He spoofs zydeco’s repetitive nature on “I Don’t Repeat Myself,” and on the “Ka-Ka Song” he loses it, scatting and warbling the accordion lines like a mental patient. The funny thing is that the last two songs feature some fairly blasting zydeco that’s superbly driven by Manuel on accordion. Isn’t it refreshing when there’s at least one musician who doesn’t take himself or his craft too seriously?