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 Clayton
Joseph Chenier was born September 28, 1957, the son of the great
King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier. C.J.'s father was the first
Creole musician to win a Grammy Award. C.J. spent his childhood
in the tough tenement housing projects of Port Arthur, Texas.
His earliest musical influences were an eclectic mix of funk,
soul, jazz and Motown, and his first musical instruments were
piano, tenor saxophone and flute. It wasn't until his 21st birthday,
after winning a scholarship and studying music at Texas Southern
University, that C.J. first performed with his famous father
and the legendary Red Hot Louisiana band.
On the road his father showed him how to front a world class
touring band, teaching C.J. how to run the family business
and how to develop his lifelong passion for music into a career.
When Clifton died in 1987 his son adopted the Red Hot Louisiana
Band and recorded his debut album for the great American independent
label Arhoolie Records. As he told a journalist at the time,
he does not try to imitate his father's playing: "I play
it the way I play it. All my father really told me was to do
the best I could do with my own style." In the following
years C.J. would record albums Slash Records and the legendary
Chicago label Alligator Records. When Paul Simon recorded his
1990 album Rhythm of the Saints, he handpicked C.J. Chenier
to play accordion (alongside Ringo Starr on drums).
In the autumn of 2005, just prior to recording his latest album
for Harmonia Mundi's World Village label, the delta region of
the United States was pummeled twice by vicious hurricanes that
left much of Louisiana and large sections of C.J.'s hometown
of Port Arthur, Texas decimated. In the aftermath of these floods, C.J. began writing and recording a collection of songs in
a stark contrast to the upbeat nature of some of many his past
recordings.
Inspired by Bob Dylan's 1960's collaboration with The Band,
C.J. Chenier sought out an existing working band to back him
during these sessions. Rounder recording artists The Tarbox
Ramblers fit the bill with a combination of tight musical camaraderie,
from years of touring, and a deep knowledge of American roots
music history. Augmented by session pianist Joe Deleault, the
musicians quickly rehearsed and recorded these songs in the
cavernous Room A of Boston's Q Division Studios in the autumn
of 2005. Inspired by the 1950's Rudy Van Gelder jazz recordings
for Blue Note, and Zydeco albums of Clifton Chenier, the songs
were recorded live with everyone playing together in the studio
with minimal overdubs.
In essence this is C.J.Chenier's first solo album as a singer-songwriter.
Harking back to the deep southern roots of Creole music, C.J.
has recorded a collection of some of the most urgent and heartfelt
songs of his career. He tapped deep into his father's songbook
starting with the smitten sing-along hit "Rosemary" to the barbed
wire blues of "Ain't No Need of Cryin' (Everyday is the Same)"
and haunting "Black Snake Blues". The southern gothic images of
Hank Williams penned "Lost on the River" and the devastating P.J.
Harvey ballad "The Desperate Kingdom of Love" complete the somber
canvas - a metaphor of the recent carnage in New Orleans.
But a C.J. Chenier recording, like a traditional New Orlean's
funeral, would not be complete without a tremor of hope for
the future and a few great dance tunes. C.J. composed several
classic songs (with Denise Labrie and Gerard Chenier) for the
album including the plaintive "I've Been Good To You Baby" and
the swinging mea culpa "Who's Cheatin' Who?". One of the album
highlights is the Fender Rhodes driven track, "Livin' To Learn".
Sans accordion and rubboard, "Livin' To Learn" highlights C.J.'s
sixties soul and Motown influences. "As a teenager I played
the Fender Rhodes in a top 40 cover band, practicing Soul Ray
Charles, and Motown songs for 10 hours a day," recalls C.J.
Next, C.J. leads the entire band through a Clifton Chenier tune
"Bogalusa Boogie" as a tribute to the late great Clarence 'Gatemouth'
Brown. Gatemouth died just days after Hurricane Katrina decimated
his home in southwest Louisiana. The album ends fittingly with
Van Morrison's "Comfort You", his great waltz-poem of healing
and forgiveness, a fitting end to a stormy night.
A self-described 'road dog' C.J. will be touring extensively
in North America and Europe in 2006-2007.
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Purchase C.J. Chenier & The
Red Hot Louisiana Band's Music Online:
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Photo credit: George Balthazar |
