September 23

Willis Prudhomme, lead accordionist of Willis Prudhomme & the Zydeco Express was born on Tuesday, September 22, 1931 in Kinder, Louisiana. Willis Prudhomme was one of twelve children and grew up as a...

On Wednesday, October 2, 1929, Douglas Bellard and Kirby Riley became the first rural Afro-Creoles from Southwest Louisiana to commercially record Louisiana Creole music on Vocalion and Columbia Recor...

Talented blues and jazz singer Alton "Big Al" Carson was born on October 2, 1953 in New Orleans, Louisiana. At the urging of his mother and grandmother, Big Al started his blues journey by learning to...

Freddie "Big Roger" Collins, native of Bayou Chicot, Louisiana and Houston Bluesman died on October 2, 2001 at the age of 66."Big Roger" Collins hosted a blues show on KPFT in Houston, and organized "...

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...

Joe Simien, esteemed Creole Accordionist, was born on October 3, 1923, in Le Beau, Louisiana. He moved to Los Angeles, California in the 1950's where he pioneered and kept Louisiana Creole music alive...

Joseph Adam Mouton, known to the Zydeco Nation as Zydeco Joe, died on Saturday, November 17, 2007 at Lafayette general hospital in Lafayette Louisiana of a massive heart attack due to complications re...

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...

Alvin Batiste, a widely respected jazz clarinetist, composer and educator who played across the musical spectrum, from traditional to avant-garde styles, and was a prolific figure on the jazz festival...

Creole enthusiast and Zydeco music pioneer Luke Collins (b 1941) died on February 19, 2004 in Opelousas, Louisiana at the age of 63 after suffering a stroke a week earlier. Affectionately known as "th...

Creole Accordionist Clement “King Ned" Norman was born on Saturday, July 14, 1906 in L’Anse Meg, Louisiana ( a rural unincorporated community between Mamou and Eunice) to Jean Batiste Ned and Oceole F...

Martin Luther King Jr. was assassinated on April 4, 1968, at 6:01 PM, on the balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, Tennessee, while preparing to lead a local march in support of the heavily black...