The world of zydeco took a hefty hit last year after the untimely death of the genre's ambassador, Beau Jocque. When you ask folks what they think of zydeco music, most responses land somewhere along the lines of "isn't that the instrument that Lawrence Welk played?"
Brian Terry, 27, and his bandmates-guitarists Pat "Heavy P" Terry, bassist Emerson "EJ" Jackson, drummer Charles "Big Red" LaMark and rubboard player Kenneth "Skin" Terry-have taken the funk-driven sound of bands such as Beau Jocque & the Zydeco Hi-Rollers and added a touch of rap and hip-hop, while at the same time paying tribute to the Creole culture.
Highlights include high-energy cuts "H-Town Zydeco," "Bad Time Woman," "We Will Never Know" and "Tang the Hump" (an expression overheard when a well-known Cajun musician asked his drummer to play the bell of his cymbal).
Rounder Records, One Camp Street, Cambridge, Mass., 02140
www.rounder.com
This review is copyright © 2000 by Matt Alcott, and Blues On Stage, all rights reserved.