Bogalusa Boogie

Chenier, Clifton

album cover

Les Bon Temps Roulez with the King!

Here's knee-buckling hard-swinging boogie, the kind that feels like it could easily last all night but might exhaust you well before that. Clifton Chenier, the undisputed King of Zydeco, was known for sweeping whole dance floors into a cyclonic swirl of motion. He and his Red Hot Louisiana Band could groove, mercilessly and relentlessly, in live performance. Bogalusa Boogie, recorded in a day, is one of the very few studio records to capture that intensity.

Chenier (1925–1987) was the primary architect of zydeco, the Southern Louisiana delectation that combines elements of French Cajun music with the blues. Not only is he responsible for the style's basic rhythms, he built a repertoire of hot-pepper jabs and stabs that made the accordion a rhythm instrument. These have been used by virtually every consequential zydeco band that followed.

Most of Chenier's records celebrate the rollicking push-pull of zydeco, its intricate alchemy of endless propulsion. But this one has a little extra Tabasco in it, and some ferocious back-and-forth exchanges—on the brisk "Allons à Grand Coteau" (Let's Go to Grand Coteau), Chenier swaps ideas with boisterous saxophonist John Hart and the rhythm section until their exchanges grow into hurtling big band–style shout choruses.

Producer Chris Strachwitz writes in the liner notes that Chenier insisted during the recording session that the band just keep playing, not even allowing a pause to listen back to what they'd just done. "The band ripped through one number after another without second takes, as if they were playing a hot dance and were enjoying every moment of it." That enjoyment, central to (and maybe the key X factor in) great zydeco, is inescapable here.

Genre: Blues
Released: 1975, Arhoolie
Key Tracks: "Ride 'Em Cowboy," "Ti Na Na," "Allons à Grand Coteau," "Bogalusa Boogie."
Catalog Choice: Louisiana Blues and Zydeco; Bayou Blues
Next Stop: Buckwheat Zydeco: Buckwheat's Zydeco Party
After That: Beau Jocque: Pick Up On This!
Book Pages: 160–161