WOMAD

CJ Chenier

From United States

It would be easy, if you were born Clayton Joseph Chenier and your father was zydeco pioneer Clifton Chenier, to hang on your dad’s coat-tails and join the family firm. And, sure, CJ Chenier did indeed strap on the tool of his father’s trade – the accordion, the dominant instrument of zydeco, the bluesy dance music of southern Louisiana. And, on Chenier Sr’s death in 1987, he also inherited dad’s Red Hot Louisiana Band. But from then on, he showed his own drive and ambition, a young spirit determined to cast his own shadow. He took zydeco in an ever more explosive direction, fusing it with soul and R&B (the old version) to expand its popularity. Patronage from Paul Simon did no harm either, with CJ being handpicked to appear on the diminutive one’s Rhythms Of The Saints album. More recently (and post-Katrina), CJ’s been in more reflective mood, as evidenced on his most recent record, The Desperate Kingdom Of Love – named after, curiously enough, a PJ Harvey track. But fear not, CJ’s still on a mission to rock the joint. This is, after all, the man whom the Boston Globe said “attacks the accordion with the tension and drive of James Brown”. Get on up.