Lynn August Is in the newest wave of Cajun and zydeco musicians, those who have looked to pop, rock, country and the blues- or greener musical pastures- or at Ieast some green. But like prodigal sons, they are now returning to the old French repertoire of their ancestors. August has been playing music all of his life; he’s drummed for Esquerita; played organ for Marcel Dugas and served his time as a Holiday Inn lounge lizard. Now he has a Black Top Records contract and the first release, Creole Cruiser, marks a transition in progress from Piano Man to Zydeco.

Esquerita, Dugas, Sam Cooke and Clifton Chenier are August’s influences, and his sound is that diverse. When he turns in a studious trad zydeco, he includes a spoken French exchange with his rubboard player, Rodney Bernard, and you’ll be reminded of Clinton and Cleveland Chenier’s Intro to “Zydeco Sont Pas Sale.” On accordion, August throws down some bluesy licks also reminiscent of the King, and his embrace of the old stuff Is most successful in a rockin’ original, “When I Woke Up this Morning.”

August credits Bernard with steering him to the accordion, and it’s great fun to hear the two play off each other. George Porter, Jr. on bass, Selwyn Cooper on guitar and Carmen Jacob’s percussion keep the cruiser on course, while Sammy Berfed adds a couple turns on piano.

But August also played with Buckwheat Zydeco In the early 19605, and like Buckwheat he reroutes the old sound to new territory. Here he lands on the Domino/Bartholomew tune “Don’t You Know I Love You,’ and also covers Chuck Willis’ “That Train Is Gone’ as pure swamp-soul.

The knocks in this cruiser Include a couple of short swipes at jure, which are based on Alan Lomax’s 1934 field recordings of a spiritualist shouting group that Lomax called “Jimmy Peters and the Ring Dance Singers.’ When he performs live, August’s tribute is a real show-stopper.

But on “Creole Cruiser’ the jure is engineered with fades and has been split into two segments; the effect is distracting.

This, along with a couple of pop songs that could have remained at the Holiday Inn, shows that August is still hammering out an original hybrid style. But this Creole Cruiser is still a good-time ride. So kill the fatted calf and have a zydeco too, because Southwest Louisiana can count another promising talent in the fold.