January 7

On this date, January 8, 1811, Black African slaves rebelled against their white masters in Louisiana. Known as the Point Coupee Revolt of 1811, the slave revolt took place in the area known as the Lo...

Leo "The Bull" Thomas was born on January 8, 1937 to Hubert “Ebear” Thomas and Orelia Bushnell Thomas in Basile, Louisiana. Known in the Zydeco Nation as "The Bull" and the "Best Dress Man In Zydeco,"...

Ernest Joseph Thomas, known to the world as “Tabby Thomas”; also known as “Rockin’ Tabby Thomas,” was born on January 5, 1929 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Tabby Thomas is one of the best known blues mus...

Albert “Little Smokey” Smothers was born on January 2, 1939, in Tchula, Mississippi, and began playing guitar at 15. Two years later, Smothers moved to Chicago and shortly after landed gigs with Arthu...

Earl Rodney Jones, legendary radio personality, DJ, and Bluseologist, died on Friday, January 2, 2004 in Baton Rouge, Louisiana of lung cancer at the age of 75. E. Rodney Jones was born on August 8, 1...

Bo Diddley’s “Pretty Thing” becomes a Top Forty hit in January 1956. One of Bo Diddley’s best-known songs, “Pretty Thing,” inspired a British band to name itself the Pretty Things.

Rockin’ Sidney won a Grammy Award for Best Ethnic or Traditional Folk Recording for his 1986 single "My Toot Toot." from his third album “My Zydeco Shoes Got The Blues.”

Bo Diddley releases his monumental first single, “Bo Diddley” b/w “I’m a Man,” on Checkers Records on March 2, 1955. “Bo Diddley” b/w “I’m a Man,” topped the R&B chart for two weeks.

Southern Soul and Blues singer Isaac “Big Ike” Martin died on August 31, 2003 from complications from a gastric bypass operation in his hometown of Lake Charles, Louisiana. Big Ike became lead singer...

Gerald Dunnaway, drummer for the Zydeco Boneshakers, was born on January 16, 1958 in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Alton Rubin, known to the Zydeco Nation as Rockin' Dopsie "the Prince of Zydeco", died on August 26, 1993 in Opelousas, Louisiana of heart failure at the age of 64. He was married Alvina LeBlanc and h...

Stanley Dural, Jr., known to the world as Buckwheat Zydeco was born on November 14, 1947 in Lafayette, Louisiana. In 1971, he founded Buckwheat & the Hitchhikers, a funk band that he led for five year...