Years from now, artistic revelations will continue to surface from musicians whose performances were curtailed during the great pandemic of the roaring 2020s. Some, like Joe Hall, leveraged the downtime to slow down and purposefully plan their art. The burly Creole accordionist never planned an album so thoroughly as he did on Proud to be a Creole, his seventh release. Yet, it wasn’t until Hall played with fiddler Cedric Watson at the Swamp in the City festival on Governor’s Island in New York that the final piece of the puzzle was revealed. At the airport on the way home, Watson asked Hall point blank why wasn’t he on his upcoming record?

Ask and you shall receive. Watson did both.

Hall, who has always recorded with a fiddler, was elated at the prospect. Hall, Watson, former Beau Jocque bassist Chuck Bush, and drummer Paul Lavan headed to Michael Lockett’s Lockdowne Studio in Houston to throw down some epic, high-voltage performances rooted in traditional Creole music with every song performed in French.

It’s quite a combination of forces. Bush motors relentlessly with a fat, splattery sound while Lavan whips on his drums harder than a rented mule. Hall is a masterful accordionist, brimming with rich, accurate ornamentation. Watson’s rustic-sounding Creole fiddling complements his bandleader with suitable rides and surfing fill-ins. Many tracks are one roller coaster ride after another, except when the pace slows down for a breath-catching waltz, like Canray Fontenot’s “La Robe Barreé” and Beau Jocque’s “Chere Mignonne” (one of two Beau Jocque songs featured here).

It’s hard to imagine a better song selection than Hall crafted here, culling from the Creole, Cajun and zydeco repertoires. “Proud to be a Creole,” the crown jewel of the album, is an adaptation of Dallas Roy’s “Cajun from Church Point,” which originated from Merle Haggard’s unintentionally anthemic “Okie from Muskogee.”

There are also solid renditions of “Creole Mardi Gras,” “Petite ou la Gross” and a bouncy “Don’t Tell Your Mama, Don’t Tell Your Papa,”—the other Beau Jocque cover. The band slams Camey Doucet’s “Hold My False Teeth” into tomorrow while “Accordion Two Step” and “Font Kee-Lot Two-Step” showcase Hall’s chops on the box. With Hall at the helm, traditional Creole music continues to boldly march forward.