Leroy Thomas and the Zydeco Roadrunners

Rarely is the race issue explored in zydeco. Terrance Simien and Horace Trahan broached the topic with “There’s Room For All,” and “Reach Out And Touch A Hand” with its urgings of brotherly love. Now Leroy Thomas takes it a step further, starting with the cover graphic depicting a “whites only” sign on top of a segregated establishment. While the micro-sign lacks prominence to really shout the message home, Thomas’ punchy title song lays it out as to why now is the prime time for mankind to get along. Following that appetizer for thought, Thomas dishes out the hardcore crank-and-yank trance-dance zydeco he’s known for. Number after number, Thomas charges mightily through a zydeco hit parade (“If we were all here”) and other galloping guzzlers (“Two Face Two Step”) on a tireless Appaloosa of a band. Guitarist Sherman Robertson gets his burn on with “Dark Nights in the Thunder,” the disc’s most molten track that’s like a “Hot Tamale Baby” with its wheels on fire. Finally, Thomas shuts it all down with a blasting Chuck Berry-style rocker, “I ain’t nothing but a country boy,” that hints that even if he’s country, he’s been prime time for some time.