Audio By Carbonatix
Stanley Dural’s blend of styles — including (gasp!) pop — may have once raised hackles among aficionados of southwestern Louisiana accordion boogie, but it’s also an open door, for us non-purists, to the bright colors of zydeco, America’s most cheerful traditional music. Anyone who’s heard the swinging, bubbly style that Dural (a.k.a. Buckwheat Zydeco) briefly rode to mainstream airplay in the late ’80s shouldn’t be surprised to learn that he spent the first five years of his career leading a funk band. On his new album, Jackpot!, he not only squeezes blues licks out of his accordion, but also sits down with his first love, the Hammond B3. His newly reissued 1983 album, 100% Fortified Zydeco, often called his best by critics, includes a cover of Mungo Jerry’s “In the Summertime,” with an added funky rim-shot breakdown. The man has even been known to wield his squeeze box like a guitar god, on a cover of “Hey Joe,” feedback and all. Dural’s eclecticism is its own message of welcome: Come on down to Creole country!
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