September 11

Andrus Espreé, known to the Zydeco Nation as Beau Jocque (which means Big Guy), died of a heart attack in Kinder, Louisiana on September 10, 1999, at the age of 47. Lead singer of the Zydeco group Bea...

Blues Legend Charles Brown was born on September 13, 1922 Texas City, Texas. Mr. Charles Brown was a major musical figure in the pre-rock and roll era of the late Forties and early Fifties. As a membe...

Mark Matthews, the oldest surviving Buffalo Soldier in the United States Army, died on September 6, 2005 age of 111. While working at a racetrack in Kentucky, he met several Buffalo Soldiers, and when...

Blues pianist Albert "Sunnyland Slim" Luandrew was born on September 5, 1907 in the Mississippi Delta on a farm near Vance, Mississippi. The son of a preacher and the grandson of a slave, Albert "Sunn...

The Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival, the world’s oldest and first Zydeco Festival, was started on September 4, 1982 on a farmer’s field in the Plaisance community on the outskirts of Opel...

Carlton "Guitar" Thomas, Jr., Guitarist worked with the late Boozoo Chavis died on September 4, 2001 at the age of 57.

Step Rideau & the Zydeco Outlaw's song "From Step To U" became the first Zydeco song to be sample by a major Hip Hop/Rap group. The song was sampled in the UGK's hip hop track "Swishas and Dosha" on t...

Wilson Anthony "Boozoo" Chavis, famed zydeco accordionist was born on October 23, 1930 in the small town of Church Point, Louisiana. Known as the "Creole Cowboy" for his signature C&W attire (complete...

One of the Zydeco Nation’s mainstay figures and unsung mentors, Joseph Wilfred Chavis died on Friday, May 7, 2010 at the age of 65 in Houston, Texas. Wilfred Chevis was born in Church Point, Louisiana...

Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was born on January 15, 1929 in Atlanta, Georgia. He was the son of the Reverend Martin Luther King, Sr. and Alberta Williams King. Dr King helped break down the color barri...

Joseph Adam Mouton, known to the Zydeco Nation as Zydeco Joe was born on October 25, 1943 in Lafayette, Louisiana. He was "raised up in Carencro" (as he sang in many of his songs), living on a farm gr...

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...