Buckwheat draws many to blues-tinged accordian sound

He’s been on the zydeco circuit now three decades, and Stanley Dural Jr. — a.k.a. Buckwheat Zydeco — has helped attract plenty of listeners across the board to his frenetic brand of the blues and R&B-tinged accordion sound of South Louisiana and New Orleans.

As he celebrates his 30th anniversary this year, Zydeco, who will be appearing Thursday night at the Exit/In along with special guest Josh Charles, is also doing something a bit different these days. He’s just joined a new label and his stunning debut for Alligator Records Lay Your Burden Down easily ranks among his finest releases ever.

“It (joining Alligator) was something that I had to think about a lot,” Zydeco said. “You look at the business today and all over the place people who were selling 500,000 copies might be selling 10,000 or 20,000, and smaller acts are getting crowded out of the marketplace. I’ve had my own label (Tomorrow Recordings) and done my own business a long time and wasn’t really interested in getting into a situation where someone who doesn’t know anything about your music is trying to tell you to do this and do that. Alligator just said do what you do and let us help you get it out there. That’s what really interested me in recording with them.”

Lay Your Burden Down, cut at Dockside Studio in Maurice, La., exemplifies the broad musical approach that’s always been at the heart of Buckwheat Zydeco’s releases. Guest stars include a pair of slashing, marvelous guitarists in Sonny Landreth and Warren Haynes, plus the always festive and exciting maverick Trombone Shorty, as well as JJ Grey and Los Lobos’ Steve Berlin (who doubled as session producer).

The disc also ranges all over the musical map, with covers of tunes from Gov’t Mule, Bruce Springsteen and Captain Beefheart, plus fervent renditions of reggae (Jimmy Cliff) and blues items (Memphis Minnie, JJ Grey & Mofro) interspersed around five Zydeco originals. Perhaps the strongest of the blues pieces is a masterful performance on “When The Levee Breaks.” Led Zeppelin had a huge hit with it, but it’s actually a Memphis Minnie number and he recaptures her evocative sensibility. The reunion with Berlin (who produced another outstanding Zydeco disc Five Card Stud) also proved artistically profitable, with Berlin able to perfectly capture the rollicking sound and fire that’s made Buckwheat Zydeco among the most popular performers ever in his genre.

Also a wonderful vocalist and tremendous organist, Buckwheat Zydeco actually was better known early in his career for his work on the Hammond B-3 organ. Though his father had been a good but non-professional accordionist, Buckwheat Zydeco began playing funk and soul music. After developing his skill and technique backing the likes of Joe Tex and Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown, Zydeco formed Buckwheat and The Hitchhikers in 1971. They became one of the top soul and funk ensembles in Louisiana, and for five years Buckwheat Zydeco didn’t even think about revisiting the music he’d heard his father playing. Then a major event forever changed his life, when Clifton Chenier, the unquestioned “King Of Zydeco,” invited him to join his Red Hot Louisiana Band in 1976.

“I started out in his band playing the organ, but Clifton Chenier soon took me aside and talked to me about the tradition and history of zydeco,” Zydeco explained. “He told me it was important to keep things going, because the time would come when he wasn’t around anymore. Plus, we just had so much fun from the very first night I joined him. Finally, I just decided to try the accordion.”

After spending almost a year learning and honing his accordion talents, Buckwheat Zydeco started his own band. Since 1978, he’s shared the stage, backed and/or toured with a host of stars, among them Willie Nelson, Mavis Staples, Keith Richards, David Hidalgo, Paul Simon, Ry Cooder and Yo La Tengo.

Zydeco has had songs featured in such films as The Waterboy, The Big Easy, Fletch Lives and Hard Target, while also joining Yo La Tengo on I’m Not There, the soundtrack for the Bob Dylan biopic of the same name. His music won Zydeco an Emmy award for its inclusion in the CBS TV movie Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich. He also wrote and performed the theme song for the PBS show Pierre Franey’s Cooking in America.

Zydeco’s now the acknowledged champion in the field, but he’s helping keep alive the style and sound created by not only the great Chenier, but other venerable and now deceased zydeco bandleaders and accordionists like Rockin’ Dopsie, Boozoo Chavis and John Delafose.

“I don’t look at [playing music] as a responsibility, or a job, but just something I love to do,” concluded Zydeco, 61. “I don’t have any thoughts or notions about quitting or spend any time worrying about how long I want to keep playing. I’m just interested in going out there and giving the people a great show every night.”

What: Zydeco master Buckwheat Zydeco along with special guest Josh Charles
When: 7 p.m. Thursday
Where: Exit/In, 2208 Elliston Place
Cost: $18
Info: 321-3340