A true folk icon in every sense of the phrase, Lafayette, Louisiana’s Zachary Richard has devoted his life as a poet, activist, and musician to preserving Cajun culture. On his latest release, Last Kiss, Richard takes a reflective tone, threading homespun tales of Acadian heritage with profound metaphors of love and loss. Utilizing rich, evocative atmospherics, Last Kiss glistens with mysterious ambiance, waves of nostalgia and heart-worn remembrances. Richard’s rootsy, tugging rasp—the album’s constant—colors its wistful sentiments and shades its sweeping textures.

Tragic and elegant, “Give My Heart” tells the story of a forbidden love spoiled by social ills and shattered by a hurricane. This simple narrative carries with it a poignant message that resonates much more deeply than the overpowering surge of “The Levee Broke,” a gospel-styled recollection of Hurricane Katrina that never quite fulfills its anthemic fervor. “Some Day,” a smoldering Cajun blues composition, with its haunting lyrics, rueful, acoustic undercurrent, and rumbling, percussive drive ranks among Richard’s best. “Au Bord de Lac Bijou (On the Banks of Lake Bijou)” is Last Kiss’s only number sung entirely in French, and it’s a beautiful serenade that recounts the romance of two sparrows frolicking in the woods of Southern Louisiana. World-renowned chanteuse Céline Dion joins Richard on the closer, a spirited rendering of the Band’s classic “Acadian Driftwood” that experiences no hipness diminution in the process. “What a way to ride / What a way to go.”