Serving as my inaugural music mix for Country Roads, this jambalaya of spiced cuts ranges from high-struttin’ New Orleans R&B to zydeco masterpieces and a handful of swampy tunes from Southwest Louisiana. Growing up in Lake Charles, I was raised around zydeco and swamp pop, attending festivals showcasing famous locals and legends. It wasn’t until I started to discover and appreciate soul and R&B music that I dug deeper into the roots of Louisiana music, coming to understand what so many music lovers have known all along—that this great musical melting pot has played an undeniably massive part in the history of American music.
If you want an explanation for my choice of samples, I’m going to have to leave that itch unscratched. See, usually when you encounter a good Louisiana chef, there is some secret ingredient to their étouffée or gumbo that gives the dish that little kick. Well, my samples are my secret ingredient. Not only do they stitch the mix together, but they add an extra spice that gives these songs lasting flavor.
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To listen to the mix, scroll down to the end of the description. To listen to all of Paul Dufrene's Country Roads' playlists, visit the collection.
The Mix
Two New Orleans R&B giants usher in the mix with Huey “Piano” Smith’s “Don’t You Know Yockomo” and Ernie K-Doe’s “Here Come The Girls.” These two songs, followed by the classic Mardi Gras anthem “Indian Red” by Baby Dodds, provide a quick lesson on New Orleans’ soul and jazz offerings.
But I’ll get back to that in future installments because now it’s time to travel further west across the state to where the Balfa Brothers’ coupling of Cajun-French rhythmic shouts and whining fiddle meet the accordion magic and rhapsodic, soulful voice of Clifton Chenier. In “I Am Coming Home” Chenier serves up a song that, although it’s probably avoided this comparison all the years of its life, could easily be categorized as the deepest of deep soul.
Next we linger in Acadiana, diving right into “Opelousas Sostan,” a song that should make an obligatory appearance in every Louisiana mixtape. Rufus Jagneaux taps into a sound here that I’ve always felt sounded like a Kinks song. The jangly guitar and interjecting harmonica, combined with some of the catchiest lyrics ever, make this Cajun tour de force an all-time favorite.
Catchiness segues to charm with Rayne’s Johnnie Allan and his haunting, yet sunny, “You Got Me Whistlin’,” followed by Avoyelles Parish native Blind Uncle Gaspard whose whistling tune “Natchitoches” is less sunny and more haunting.
The last set of songs comes from my hometown, Lake Charles, all cut in or around Eddie Shuler’s Goldband studio, just north of Interstate 10. First off are two fiddlin’ barroom numbers called “The Lake Charles Shuffle” by Harry Choates and The Rayne-bos and Schuler’s own Reveliers with “Jambalaya Boogie.” The next two selections dip into Goldband’s countrified recordings. Larry Hart’s “I’m Just A Mender” modestly describes an early understanding of the “friend-zone” while “Too Late Now” finds Al Ferrier letting out a lonesome moan in the honky-tonk vein of Hank Williams, accompanied by a toothless piano and a twangy guitar.
Rockin’ Sidney closes out the mix with a noodling guitar and a moody accordion in his slow-moving anthem “No Future,” which describes an enjoyable affair that reveals immediate fruits but shows no wherewithal.
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