Clifton Chenier, 'King of Zydeco,' Gets A Biography For First Time
December 2, 2015
by Chelsea Brasted
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
There was this one time, years ago, when the father of one of Todd Mouton's girlfriend's couldn't understand the racket coming from his car. The sound was coming from his tape-deck, and he just couldn't figure it out.
"I was listening to 'Black Snake Blues,'" Mouton recalled. "And that music just rocked me to my core. ... It just hits you in the gut."
The track, which sounds like an accordion twisting like its name suggests while a rub-board rattles away, helped convince Mouton he should look closely at Clifton Chenier's story. Chenier, the Opelousas native known as the "King of Zydeco," is credited for influencing musicians across a wide and diverse spectrum, from Paul Simon and Zachary Richard to Buckwheat Zydeco and Sonny Landreth.
Little else was known about Chenier, but now his life gets a closer look with the release of Mouton's new book, "Way Down in Louisiana: Clifton Chenier, Cajun, Zydeco and Swamp Pop Music" from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. Mouton will be at Octavia Books on Wednesday (Dec. 2) at 6 p.m., along with David Doucet of Beausoleil, to sign copies and make a presentation. Mouton will also appear at the Louisiana Music Factory with Zachary Richard on Dec. 19 at 3 p.m.
"I was talking with my dad years ago and just having a discussion, and he said, 'somebody needs to do a book on Clifton,'" said Mouton, a longtime Louisiana music journalist. "I wholeheartedly agreed, before I realized he was sort of looking at me."
What followed was a labor of love. Mouton spent about two decades working on "Way Down," and the result is a beautiful book filled with pictures, listening suggestions and glossy pages. Instead of a straight-arrow biography, Mouton wrote around Chenier's story, presenting profiles of artists Chenier influenced in addition to his subject's life story. Appropriately, "Down in Louisiana" feels more like a well-sourced travel book than a biography.
"I realized there really wasn't much out there about Clifton. He was a moving target. He was a man on a mission," Mouton said, noting that he hasn't been able to determine definitively whether or not Chenier was literate. "He did not leave behind a lot of documents, and he only did a small handful of interviews. ... Really, he didn't give out a lot of information."
There are some things that were clear fact, and there were also some discoveries.
"I do think Clifton invented modern zydeco as we know it," Mouton said. "The next question is when and where. And the answer, ironically, is in Houston."
As Mouton details, The modern rub-board, the frottoir, was created in Port Arthur, Texas, and the term "zydeco" was coined by a Houston folklorist. And the music itself?
"Clifton recorded 18 songs on Tuesday, May 11, 1965, at Gold Star Studios in Houston," Mouton said. "And that became the album 'Louisiana Blues and Zydeco,' which, I think, really turned into this whole new thing."
Music, though, is a hard thing to pin down, and it's easy to see and find influences compared to how difficult it can be to discover catalysts.
"It's a very validating point in terms of how zydeco belongs to the world," Mouton said. "The amazing thing about (about Chenier) is he was just coming up with this stuff on the spot. I'm not sure even he could have told you, 'oh yeah, this little riff I heard here, and this little bridge was this idea.' ... He was like a human jukebox that was making the records as it was going. He was creating wax as the needle was spinning."
December 2, 2015
by Chelsea Brasted
NOLA.com | The Times-Picayune
 |
| Clifton Chenier, the 'king of zydeco,' gets a biography from music journalist Todd Mouton in the form of 'Way Down in Louisiana' from the University of Louisiana Lafayette Press. (Arhoolie Records) |
"I was listening to 'Black Snake Blues,'" Mouton recalled. "And that music just rocked me to my core. ... It just hits you in the gut."
The track, which sounds like an accordion twisting like its name suggests while a rub-board rattles away, helped convince Mouton he should look closely at Clifton Chenier's story. Chenier, the Opelousas native known as the "King of Zydeco," is credited for influencing musicians across a wide and diverse spectrum, from Paul Simon and Zachary Richard to Buckwheat Zydeco and Sonny Landreth.
Little else was known about Chenier, but now his life gets a closer look with the release of Mouton's new book, "Way Down in Louisiana: Clifton Chenier, Cajun, Zydeco and Swamp Pop Music" from the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. Mouton will be at Octavia Books on Wednesday (Dec. 2) at 6 p.m., along with David Doucet of Beausoleil, to sign copies and make a presentation. Mouton will also appear at the Louisiana Music Factory with Zachary Richard on Dec. 19 at 3 p.m.
"I was talking with my dad years ago and just having a discussion, and he said, 'somebody needs to do a book on Clifton,'" said Mouton, a longtime Louisiana music journalist. "I wholeheartedly agreed, before I realized he was sort of looking at me."
What followed was a labor of love. Mouton spent about two decades working on "Way Down," and the result is a beautiful book filled with pictures, listening suggestions and glossy pages. Instead of a straight-arrow biography, Mouton wrote around Chenier's story, presenting profiles of artists Chenier influenced in addition to his subject's life story. Appropriately, "Down in Louisiana" feels more like a well-sourced travel book than a biography.
 |
| Todd Mouton's book, 'Way Down In Louisiana,' offers a detailed biography of Clifton Chenier, the 'King of Zydeco,' for the first time. It's published by the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press. (Image courtesy of KL Productions) |
There are some things that were clear fact, and there were also some discoveries.
"I do think Clifton invented modern zydeco as we know it," Mouton said. "The next question is when and where. And the answer, ironically, is in Houston."
As Mouton details, The modern rub-board, the frottoir, was created in Port Arthur, Texas, and the term "zydeco" was coined by a Houston folklorist. And the music itself?
"Clifton recorded 18 songs on Tuesday, May 11, 1965, at Gold Star Studios in Houston," Mouton said. "And that became the album 'Louisiana Blues and Zydeco,' which, I think, really turned into this whole new thing."
Music, though, is a hard thing to pin down, and it's easy to see and find influences compared to how difficult it can be to discover catalysts.
"It's a very validating point in terms of how zydeco belongs to the world," Mouton said. "The amazing thing about (about Chenier) is he was just coming up with this stuff on the spot. I'm not sure even he could have told you, 'oh yeah, this little riff I heard here, and this little bridge was this idea.' ... He was like a human jukebox that was making the records as it was going. He was creating wax as the needle was spinning."
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