CLIFTON CHENIER - King Of Louisiana Blues & Zydeco - 4CD Box Set [FEB 6]

4CD - Limited Edition Box Set. 

In South Louisiana, Clifton Chenier (1925-1987) grew up hearing his father play a style of music known as La La at house dances held in Black French Creole communities. It had a percussive and syncopated sound, played in spare combinations of an accordion and a washboard used to scrub out a rhythm. After picking up accordion as a curious teenager, Chenier soon brought into this sound the rhythm and blues that dominated radios and jukeboxes, crafting a new style that would be called zydeco. In the 1950s, he recorded for Elko, Specialty, and Chess, and joined national package show tours with stars like Little Richard and Etta James. A decade later, Chenier was quietly settled in Houston, the big stages seemingly behind him. But one rainy Saturday night at a Houston neighborhood bar, Chenier's cousin Lightning Hopkins introduced him to Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records, where zydeco and Clifton Chenier would find a new home and champion.

King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco is a 4CD/6 LP retrospective box set assembled in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Chenier's birth. The set features a chronology of Chenier's landmark work with Arhoolie and other labels, alongside a healthy dose of previously unissued gems. The 160-page book includes photos, posters, and other graphic artifacts from the Strachwitz Collection and deeply researched liner note essays by Grammy award-winning writer Adam Machado, public folklorist and radio host Nick Spitzer and longtime Louisiana journalist Herman Fusilier, along with a moving personal remembrance by Clifton's son, Zydeco musician C.J. Chenier. The set is the first release on Arhoolie since the label became a part of Smithsonian Folkways.

With music and storytelling and abundant visual imagery, this set demonstrates Clifton Chenier's life as a transformative artist -- from his earliest days practicing in the barn back home, to his reign as the undisputed King of Zydeco.

Tracklist: 

Disc 1
1. Louisiana Stomp
2. Clifton's Blues
3. Boppin' the Rock
4. Ay-Tete Fee
5. Rockin' Accordion
6. Baby What You Want Me to Do
7. That's Alright
8. Ay, Ai, Ai
9. Why Did You Go Last Night
10. Zydeco et Pas Sale
11. Louisiana Blues
12. Lafayette Waltz
13. Hot Rod
14. Louisiana Shuffle
15. French Zydeco
16. Bon Ton Roulet
17. Jole Blonde
18. If I Ever Get Lucky
19. Black Gal
20. Keep on Scratching

Disc 2
1. Black Snake Blues
2. Let's Talk It Over
3. Walking to Louisiana
4. Johnny Can't Dance
5. Grand Mamou
6. Gone a la Maison
7. Live from PHR Studio, Clifton Chenier!
8. Mr. Charlie
9. Hey Madeleine
10. 634-5789 (That's My Number)
11. Drifting Blues / Breaux Bridge Waltz
12. Shake, Rattle and Roll
13. Rock House
14. Breaux Bridge Waltz
15. Ma Negresse Est Gone
16. Fannie Mae
17. Going Home Tomorrow

Disc 3
1. J'ai Conet, C'est pas Me Femme (I Know, You're Not My Woman)
2. Since I Met You Baby
3. Cher Catin
4. You're My Mule
5. I'm on the Wonder
6. You're Fussin' Too Much
7. All Your Love
8. Zydeco Cha Cha
9. Ti Na Na (Little Na Na)
10. Someone Told Me It Was All Over
11. You Can't Sit Down
12. Oh! My Lucille
13. Take Off Your Dress
14. M'Appel Fou (They Call Me Crazy)
15. Je Suis En Racolteur (I'm a Farmer)
16. Je Marche le Plancher (I Walk the Floor)

Disc 4
1. Tu Le Ton Son Ton (Every Now and Then)
2. Down the Road I Go
3. Calinda
4. Zydeco
5. What I'd Say
6. Dust My Broom
7. My Mama Told Me
8. Night Time is the Right Time
9. I'm a Hog for You
10. Grand Prix
11. You Got Me Crying
12. Tit Mam's Zydeco
13. Party Down (At the Blue Angel Club)
14. I'm Coming Home (To See My Mother)