Boozoo Chavis – Johnnie Billy Goat – Rounder Records 1166-11594-2

Blending blues, R&B, Cajun, and Creole inspirations, zydeco is a music shaped by Afro-American Creoles in Louisiana, melding Caribbean and African cadences, with the main instruments of the genre including the accordion and rubboard.  It is an up-tempo music with a very accented base, with the lyrics sung generally either in French or English.

Boozoo Chavis played a rather simplistic, but oh-so-enjoyable, design of zydeco that harkened the music back to its origins.  Chavis was extremely enthusiastic on stage, some would even say raucous, always giving it his all, and continually mesmerizing his audiences with the affecting runs on his accordion.  Chavis personified zydeco’s jubilant nature in all that he did.

This wonderful 22-selection zydeco outing is a stirring survey and treasure that mixes fantastic “live” performances with various jewels from work done for the Goldband Records and Rounder Records imprints.  This collection is a party and a dance on a CD, a continual spin around the dancefloor. 

Chavis’ career arc is presented here going back to certain of his mid-1950s best represented by “Paper In My Shoe” right up to his late 1990s-era best.  This is Chavis at his primal best, always rocking with his stirring frolicking tempos.

Each cut ideally exemplifies Chavis’ allure, his wild accordion sorties being musical delights, and his singing laden with euphoric frameworks.

Purely, these are superlative examples of Chavis at the height of his zydeco powers.

Highly recommended!