June 21

Derrick J. Guidry, scrubboard player for the Zydeco Boneshakers, was born June 20, 1986 in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Harry 'Big Daddy' Hypolite, talented guitarist and sideman for more than 40 years, most notably in the bands of the Zydeco great Clifton Chenier, later Chenier's son C.J. Chenier and Nathan & the Zyde...

Clifton Chenier, “the King of Zydeco” was born on June 25, 1925 in the rural community of Notleyville, just east of Opelousas, Louisiana. Clifton Chenier was the first Creole artist to win a Grammy aw...

Albert John Lewis, lead accordionist for Al Rapone & The Zydeco Express was born on Friday, June 26, 1936 in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He partnered with his sister Ida Guillory and brother Willie Lewis...

Wilbert Guillory, agricultural organizer and activist, Zydeco music promoter and long time director of the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Music Festival in Plaisance, Louisiana died on June 14, 2...

Thomas Andrew Dorsey, the father of gospel music, was born on July 1, 1899 in the small town of Villa Rica, Georgia. Earlier in his life he was a leading blues pianist known as Georgia Tom. As Georgia...

William Thomas Dupree, known to the Blues, Nation, Southern Soul Nation, Zydeco Nation and the world as “Champion” Jack Dupree, considered one of the most prolific recording Bluesmen of all time, was...

Baldemar Huerta, known to the world as Freddy Fender, was born on June 4, 1937 in San Benito, Texas. Freddy Fender was a Mexican-American, Tejano, country, and rock and roll musician, known for his wo...

Albert “Little Smokey” Smothers died on November 20, 2010 at the age of 71 at Little Company of Mary Hospital in Chicago, Illinois of natural causes. He began playing guitar at 15. Two years later, Sm...

Eddie Shuler, renowned pioneering Southwest Louisiana recording engineer and founder of Goldband Records, the nation's longest running independent record label, was born on March 27, 1913 in Wrightsbo...

Isaac "Ike" Willis died on Saturday, May 16, 2026 of prostate cancer at the age of 70. A guitar protege since the age of 8, Ike Willis was a mainstay in progressive rock, alternative rock and R&B and...

Andrus Espreé, known to the Zydeco Nation as Beau Jocque (which means Big Guy), was born on November 1, 1953 in Duralde, Louisiana. Lead singer of the Zydeco group Beau Jocque & the Zydeco Hi Rollers,...