Cajun and Zydeco

In 1946, Harry Choates, a western swing band leader who hailed from south Louisiana’s Vermilion Parish, hit the national charts with “Jolie Blonde,” a traditional Cajun song that had first been recorded by Cleoma and Amadie Breaux in 1928. In an achievement unsurpassed to this day in Cajun music, Choates’ swinging treatment—sung entirely in French—rose above the number five position. But most importantly, it alerted the world at large to a culture that most people outside of the Bayou State had no idea existed. Cajun and Zydeco music began to grow in popularity and remains an important genre in the world of music today.

Swamp Pop

Swamp pop originated in south Louisiana as a blend of New Orleans rhythm and blues, hillbilly, rockabilly, cajun, and creole music. The style evolved in the mid-1950s when cajun and creole teenagers began exchanging fiddles, accordions, and steel guitars for saxophones, pianos, and electric guitars. What resulted was great music from down on the bayou that took over the dancehalls and jukeboxes of south Louisiana.

D.L. Menard

D.L. Menard's honky tonk classic "La Porte d'en Arrière" is a rowdy tale of hard-living and hard-drinking that ends in sorrow. The narrator of the song happily recalls dancing with his girl and drinking all night before sneaking in through the "back door" of the title...

Kermit Ruffins

Swing is the thing in New Orleans today, and no one swings harder than trumpet man, vocalist, band leader and best selling Basin Street recording artist Kermit Ruffins. Fronting his great quintet, the Barbecue Swingers, or leading his blasting big band, Ruffins plays and sings with an effortless grace and charm that makes people of all persuasions feel perfectly at ease.