Uploaded October 2025 | Updated September 2026, 1 week ago
Listen to Clifton Chenier's "Cher Catin," recorded live in 1971 at St Marks Church in Richmond, California and out for the first time on 'King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco.' "Cher Catin" is part of an eight-song sampler that collects acclaimed classics alongside unreleased material from the "King of Zydeco" on his 4 CD / 6 LP vinyl box set.
Clifton Chenier: accordion and vocals
Cleveland Chenier: rubboard
Felix Benoit: guitar
Joe Morris: bass
Robert St. Julien: guitar
Purchase/Stream:
Smithsonian Folkways: https://folkways.si.edu/clifton-chenier/king-of-louisiana-blues-and-zydeco
Bandcamp: cliftonchenier.bandcamp.com/album/king-of-louisiana-blues-and-zydeco
All other platforms: orcd.co/clifton-chenier-king-of-louisiana-blues-and-zydeco
In South Louisiana, Clifton Chenier (1925-1987) grew up hearing his father play a style of music known as La La at house dances held in Black French Creole communities. It had a percussive and syncopated sound, played in spare combinations of an accordion and a washboard used to scrub out a rhythm. After picking up accordion as a curious teenager, Chenier soon brought into this sound the rhythm and blues that dominated radios and jukeboxes, crafting a new style that would be called zydeco. In the 1950s, he recorded for Elko, Specialty, and Chess, and joined national package show tours with stars like Little Richard and Etta James. A decade later, Chenier was quietly settled in Houston, the big stages seemingly behind him. But one rainy Saturday night at a Houston neighborhood bar, Chenier’s cousin Lightning Hopkins introduced him to Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records, where zydeco and Clifton Chenier would find a new home and champion.
King of Louisiana Blues & Zydeco is a 4 CD/6 LP retrospective box set assembled in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Chenier’s birth. The set features a chronology of Chenier’s landmark work with Arhoolie and other labels, alongside a healthy dose of previously unissued gems. The 160-page book includes photos, posters, and other graphic artifacts from the Strachwitz Collection and deeply researched liner note essays by Grammy award-winning writer Adam Machado, public folklorist and radio host Nick Spitzer and longtime Louisiana journalist Herman Fusilier, along with a moving personal remembrance by Clifton’s son, Zydeco musician C.J. Chenier. The set is the first release on Arhoolie since the label became a part of Smithsonian Folkways.
With music and storytelling and abundant visual imagery, this set demonstrates Clifton Chenier's life as a transformative artist -- from his earliest days practicing in the barn back home, to his reign as the undisputed King of Zydeco.
Clifton Chenier: https://folkways.si.edu/artists/clifton-chenier
Smithsonian Folkways: https://folkways.si.edu
Facebook: facebook.com/smithsonianfolkwaysrecordings
Twitter: twitter.com/Folkways
Instagram: instagram.com/smithsonianfolkways
Support our work! Become a Friend of Folkways: https://folkways.si.edu/friends-of-folkways
The content and comments posted here are subject to the Smithsonian Institution copyright and privacy policy (www.si.edu/copyright). Smithsonian reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove any content at any time.
Listen to Clifton Chenier's "Cher Catin," recorded live in 1971 at St Marks Church in Richmond, California and out for the first time on 'King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco.' "Cher Catin" is part of an eight-song sampler that collects acclaimed classics alongside unreleased material from the "King of Zydeco" on his 4 CD / 6 LP vinyl box set.
Clifton Chenier: accordion and vocals
Cleveland Chenier: rubboard
Felix Benoit: guitar
Joe Morris: bass
Robert St. Julien: guitar
Purchase/Stream:
Smithsonian Folkways: https://folkways.si.edu/clifton-chenier/king-of-louisiana-blues-and-zydeco
Bandcamp: cliftonchenier.bandcamp.com/album/king-of-louisiana-blues-and-zydeco
All other platforms: orcd.co/clifton-chenier-king-of-louisiana-blues-and-zydeco
In South Louisiana, Clifton Chenier (1925-1987) grew up hearing his father play a style of music known as La La at house dances held in Black French Creole communities. It had a percussive and syncopated sound, played in spare combinations of an accordion and a washboard used to scrub out a rhythm. After picking up accordion as a curious teenager, Chenier soon brought into this sound the rhythm and blues that dominated radios and jukeboxes, crafting a new style that would be called zydeco. In the 1950s, he recorded for Elko, Specialty, and Chess, and joined national package show tours with stars like Little Richard and Etta James. A decade later, Chenier was quietly settled in Houston, the big stages seemingly behind him. But one rainy Saturday night at a Houston neighborhood bar, Chenier’s cousin Lightning Hopkins introduced him to Chris Strachwitz of Arhoolie Records, where zydeco and Clifton Chenier would find a new home and champion.
King of Louisiana Blues & Zydeco is a 4 CD/6 LP retrospective box set assembled in celebration of the 100th anniversary of Chenier’s birth. The set features a chronology of Chenier’s landmark work with Arhoolie and other labels, alongside a healthy dose of previously unissued gems. The 160-page book includes photos, posters, and other graphic artifacts from the Strachwitz Collection and deeply researched liner note essays by Grammy award-winning writer Adam Machado, public folklorist and radio host Nick Spitzer and longtime Louisiana journalist Herman Fusilier, along with a moving personal remembrance by Clifton’s son, Zydeco musician C.J. Chenier. The set is the first release on Arhoolie since the label became a part of Smithsonian Folkways.
With music and storytelling and abundant visual imagery, this set demonstrates Clifton Chenier's life as a transformative artist -- from his earliest days practicing in the barn back home, to his reign as the undisputed King of Zydeco.
Clifton Chenier: https://folkways.si.edu/artists/clifton-chenier
Smithsonian Folkways: https://folkways.si.edu
Facebook: facebook.com/smithsonianfolkwaysrecordings
Twitter: twitter.com/Folkways
Instagram: instagram.com/smithsonianfolkways
Support our work! Become a Friend of Folkways: https://folkways.si.edu/friends-of-folkways
The content and comments posted here are subject to the Smithsonian Institution copyright and privacy policy (www.si.edu/copyright). Smithsonian reserves the right in its sole discretion to remove any content at any time.
