Ernest James Zydeco

You see zydeco, so you think high-energy, accordion-fueled Louisiana sound. Ernest James Zydeco does that but adds a laid-back feel to the Creole music party on Jubilee. That feel comes from playing for audiences in Kansas City, where the zydeco dance tradition isn’t as strong as it is in the Bayou State. What he throws into the pot is reggae blues or KC blues with a zydeco backbeat. “My Little Josephine” has a Creedence Clearwater Revival sensibility to it, even throwing in a “Suzie Q” Like the way you walk lyric. “Get Right Church” has that reggae bounce to it with a nod to 1930s bluesman Blind Willie Johnson; the words Won’t somebody tell me what is the soul of a man? are from Johnson’s “Soul of a Man.” “Thought About Venus” is, for lack of a better term, zydeco pop. Jubilee is a musical gumbo that starts zydeco-strong and ends blues-mellow, and it’s a good taste of what you’ll hear live from Ernest James Zydeco.