Over the course of his successful 31-year career as front man and accordionist of the Soileau Zydeco Band, Keith Frank has endured as one of the genre’s leading envelope pushers. But in 2001, he hit pause on his popular family-based band for a return to his Creole roots—a reminder of where zydeco sprouted from. He brought his great uncle Carlton Frank—one of the few Creole fiddlers—out of retirement and recorded a delightful album, The Masked Band, of mostly time-honored standards.
Careful not to reveal his identity and spoil the surprise, the band was dubbed The Creole Connection and performed in costumes. Of course, when audiences recognized Keith’s inimitable vocals, they realized it was just a radically different incarnation of Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band. Still, the point was made, and it was a significant detour from his more contemporary trappings.
Twenty years later, Keith resurrects his alter-ego aggregation to celebrate a milestone anniversary. Unlike commercial pop music where anniversaries often mean expansive, commemorative packages with copious outtakes, photos, and even books, Frank took a different approach. The Creole Connection re-recorded most of the original album with a few new songs and omitted others for a total of 16 tracks. The fiddle and guitar parts of Carlton (1930-2005), and longtime band member George Lee (1938-2020), are retained posthumously in the mix and sound as vibrant as ever.
Of the reprised tracks, “Oh Mom” and “La Valse de mon grande pere” have special family significance. Carlton learned both from his grandfather, Joseph Frank Sr., Keith’s great-great-grandfather. After Creole Connection’s premiere of “Oh Mom” in 2001, the song experienced a revival of sorts with Steve Riley and Jeffery Broussard also cutting it.
“Taunte Delphine” is groovy as ever, especially with Frank’s honking bass-note breakdown and a brief, palm-muted guitar riff. On a few tracks (“Chere ici chere la bas”), Keith picks an acoustic guitar in the style of Morris Ardoin that’s more prominent than the original recording.
On “La vie de George Lee,” one of new tracks, Keith and Lee recount Lee’s early life on a farm. As Keith cites a line in English, Lee says the equivalent in Creole French. The spoken-word portion was recorded in the late ‘90s with the arrangement only recently embellished. On the title track, Keith speaks out about those using the culture solely for their own gain. Toward the end, Keith’s sister Jennifer Frank provides a graceful bass solo that hits some beautiful tones.
But no matter how serious his demeanor appears to be, Keith’s secretly a cut-up. On the outset of “These Old Bones,” he says in an affected voice, “I can still do what I did 20 years ago, yeah,” then sings about creaky knees, achy backs, graying hair and the like. Maybe decades from now, Keith will update this song too, singing “These ole wheelchair wheels still roll like they used to…”
