Given his defining rendition of “Jole Blon,” a national Top 10 hit in 1946, iconic swing fiddler Harry Choates will always be a patron saint of Cajun music. Decades later, fiddler Kevin Anthony caught the Choates bug and always imagined that someday he would record a Choates tribute. Eventually, that dream came to fruition and Anthony booked Houston’s Sugarhill Studios—formerly Gold Star Studios—where the legend recorded his immortal signature song. Anthony enlisted Lost Bayou Ramblers’ Louis Michot as a producer, another smart move since the fellow fiddler also appreciates the intricacies of Choates’ deceivingly complicated fiddling.

In the course of these dozen tracks, Anthony & G-Town cover Cajun and western swing chestnuts from the Choates repertoire like “Jole Blon,” “Louisiana Boogie” and “Right Key But the Wrong Keyhole.” While Anthony sings with an exuberant Choates spirit, his warm-toned fiddling drives the arrangements. “Harry Choates Blues” and “Good Rockin’ Tonight” sport spacious grooves with plenty of freewheeling fiddle, electric and steel guitar rides propelled by pulsing doghouse bass and shuffling drums. And speaking of “Good Rockin’ Tonight,” that’s actually Houstonian Roy Brown’s 1948 jump blues hit that has been recorded by Wynonie Harris, Elvis, Commander Cody and countless others. More importantly, it hints at how multi-faceted Choates really was beyond his typical Cajun/western swing fare.

The sound quality is amazingly clear, and with the reverbed vocals, the ambiance has a live dancehall vibe. Obviously, it must have been a blast in the studio. Besides producing, Michot jumped in and sang and fiddled on “Poor Hobo” and “Hip et Tayo.” A honky-tonk delight recalling the historic era where Cajun and western swing once intersected, now repaved by Anthony & G-Town.