Clifton Chenier – Bon Ton Roulet
Clifton Chenier – Keep On Scratching
Clifton Chenier – Jole Blonde
This coming Friday I’ll have the honor of spinning music at the Valerie June concert here in LA. Currently I’m in the process of figuring out what music to bring, how I want to set the mood and handle transitions from the classic country sounds of John C. Reilly & friends to Valerie June’s mosaic of American roots with soul. For whatever reason Clifton Chenier’s “Bon Ton Roulet” popped into my mind. The song is a cajunized version of “Let The Good Times Roll” and is something that I used to play back in Atlanta on Album 88’s blues show Crossroads. Even though I wasn’t even sure I’d find a way to play the track in my mix, I realized pretty quickly how much I missed it in my collection. I considered buying a copy of off Ebay, but there was always the chance that it wouldn’t arrive on time, so I tucked it back into my mental wish list. Turns out, the album was just waiting for me to pick it up, sittin’ pretty in the Cajun section over at Atomic in Burbank.
I’d forgotten just how enjoyable a sound Chenier had at this point, 1966, already well into his career and a legend on the rise in Louisiana, but a recent discovery for much of the rest of the country. The music certainly holds a lot of traditional elements, mixed up (as you’d expect) with a whole lot of other things, a true gumbo of musicality. In addition to “Bon Ton Roulet,” the album features a version of “Jole Blon” here titled “Jole Blonde” (which if I’m being completely honest is still my second favorite version of this, with my favorite remaining Buckwheat Zydeco’s featured in the closing credits of the film the Big Easy, likely the catalyst for much of my appreciation of music from out of Louisiana) and what is essentially the instrumental of “Keep On Scratching.” “Scratching” misses something without that Grandma Gee Gee rap that Cut Chemist and Shadow immortalized on Brain Freeze, but it’s still mighty groovy, as is the whole album. It might not magically appear in a record store near you, exactly when you need and want it, but it’s definitely worth looking out for.
Cheers,
Michael