Buckwheat Zydeco

He calls it "the #1 blues club, zydeco club in the world, baby," and tonight those words could hardly be truer. Onstage is one of the greatest aggregations in the history of zydeco music. And at the helm is Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. But tonight he's not playing the close of the Atlanta Olympics. He's not sharing a stage with Eric Clapton or U2. He's not headlining one of the world's great festivals. He's holding court before a full house on his home turf, the fabulous El Sid O's in Lafayette, La. The occasion is the annual holiday homecoming of Buckwheat Zydeco, a break from the road in the place the band feels most comfortable performing. And they're throwing down. Four horns, three guitars, and a jumping bass-drums-and-rubboard rhythm section provide the backbeat, and Buck's full-throated piano accordion riffs ride atop the propulsive boogaloo, broken up only for surgical strikes on the synthesizer and Hammond B-3 organ. This is "Down Home Live!" – or at least as much of it as you can fit on a 73-minute CD. The nine tunes here average over eight minutes each, moving straight from the shuffling intensity of "Soul Serenade" into the stripped-down boogie of "What You Go... more...