C. J. Chenier (born Clayton Joseph Thompson, September 28, 1957 in Port Arthur,

Texas Texas ( , ; or ) is the most populous U.S. state, state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. It borders Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, New Mexico to the we ...

) is the Creole son of the

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards, stylized as GRAMMY, and often referred to as The Grammys, are awards presented by The Recording Academy of the United States to recognize outstanding achievements in music. They are regarded by many as the most prestigious ...

-winning "King of Zydeco", Louisiana musician, Clifton Chenier. In 1987, Chenier followed in his father's footsteps and led his father's band as an

accordion Accordions (from 19th-century German language, German ', from '—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a Reed (mou ...

performer and singer of

zydeco Zydeco ( ; ) is a music genre that was created in rural Southwest Louisiana by French speaking, Afro-Americans of Creole heritage. It blends African and Caribbean rhythms, blues and rhythm and blues with music indigenous to the Louisiana ...

, a blend of

cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states. Whi ...

and creole music. With five previous albums to his credit, by 1994, Chenier began to record for Chicago-based Alligator Records.

Career

Chenier grew up in the 1960s, in the housing projects of his native Port Arthur, Texas. There, Chenier was aware of, but not exposed to, his father's music as a young child, and had not heard the word Zydeco until later in his youth. Instead, Chenier developed tastes in the 1970s

soul The soul is the purported Mind–body dualism, immaterial aspect or essence of a Outline of life forms, living being. It is typically believed to be Immortality, immortal and to exist apart from the material world. The three main theories that ...

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African-American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African-Americans in the ...

and

jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana, in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Its roots are in blues, ragtime, European harmony, African rhythmic rituals, spirituals, h ...

music of

James Brown James Joseph Brown (May 3, 1933 – December 25, 2006) was an American singer, songwriter, dancer, musician, and record producer. The central progenitor of funk music and a major figure of 20th-century music, he is referred to by Honorific nick ...

Funkadelic Funkadelic was an American funk rock band formed in Plainfield, New Jersey in 1968 and active until 1982. As one of the two flagship groups of George Clinton's P-Funk collective, they helped pioneer the funk music culture of the 1970s.John, ...

John Coltrane John William Coltrane (September 23, 1926 – July 17, 1967) was an American jazz saxophonist, bandleader and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the Jazz#Post-war jazz, history of jazz and 20th-century musi ...

and

Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th century music, 20th-century music. Davis ado ...

. Upon first listening to his father's music, Chenier thought all the songs sounded the same. But he eventually began to appreciate and master the zydeco style, as he later joined and then took over his father's band and career. The first instrument Chenier learned to play was the

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed on a mouthpiece vibrates to p ...

. As a teenager in the early 1970s he played in black Top 40 bands in Port Arthur. By the mid 1970s Chenier went to college to study music. In 1978 his father invited Chenier to play his saxophone with the Red Hot Louisiana Band, whose members also included his Uncle, Cleveland Chenier, on washboard. By 1985, as his father was growing ill from diabetes, he invited Chenier to start playing the

in a larger role with the band, and to open the shows. In 1987, the year his father died, Chenier continued his own musical career where his father left off. He has since played such venues as the

New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (commonly called Jazz Fest or Jazzfest) is an annual celebration of local music and culture held at the Fair Grounds Race Course in New Orleans, New Orleans, Louisiana. Jazz Fest attracts thousands of vi ...

, San Diego's Street Scene and Milwaukee's

Summerfest Summerfest is an annual music festival held in downtown Milwaukee, Wisconsin. First held in 1968, Summerfest is located at Henry Maier Festival Park, adjacent to Lake Michigan and Milwaukee's Third Ward business district. Summerfest is known ...

Paul Simon Paul Frederic Simon (born October 13, 1941) is an American singer-songwriter known for his solo work and his collaborations with Art Garfunkel. He and Garfunkel, whom he met in elementary school in 1953, came to prominence in the 1960s as Sim ...

first heard Chenier in 1990, and featured him on the album '' The Rhythm of the Saints'', and that year's 'Born At The Right Time' tour. In 1992 Chenier played accordion on "Cajun Song", a track on the

Gin Blossoms Gin Blossoms is an American alternative rock band formed in 1987 in Tempe, Arizona. They rose to prominence following the 1992 release of their first major label album, '' New Miserable Experience'', and the first single released from that al ...

' album, '' New Miserable Experience''. 1992 saw Chenier featured with the Red Hot Louisiana Band on the

PBS The Public Broadcasting Service (PBS) is an American public broadcaster and non-commercial, free-to-air television network based in Arlington, Virginia. PBS is a publicly funded nonprofit organization and the most prominent provider of educat ...

music television program ''

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American Concert, live music Television show, television program recorded and produced by KLRU, Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", an ...

''. By October 1994, Chenier was signed by Alligator. His debut release there was '' Too Much Fun'', named the next year as best zydeco album of 1995 by '' Living Blues'' magazine. In 1995, Chenier gained his widest audience to date with television appearances on the Jon Stewart Show and

CNN Cable News Network (CNN) is a multinational news organization operating, most notably, a website and a TV channel headquartered in Atlanta. Founded in 1980 by American media proprietor Ted Turner and Reese Schonfeld as a 24-hour cable ne ...

. His 1996 appearance at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was featured in a segment by the

VH1 VH1 (originally an initialism for Video Hits One) is an American basic cable television network that launched on January 1, 1985, and is currently owned by the MTV Entertainment Group unit of Paramount Global's networks division based in New Y ...

cable music television network, as well as by ''

Entertainment Weekly ''Entertainment Weekly'' (sometimes abbreviated as ''EW'') is an American online magazine, digital-only entertainment magazine based in New York City, published by Dotdash Meredith, that covers film, television, music, Broadway theatre, books, ...

''. Chenier and the band also appeared that year at the

Austin, Texas Austin ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital city of the U.S. state of Texas. It is the county seat and most populous city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and W ...

, 1996

SxSW South by Southwest (SXSW) is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in mid-March in Austin, Texas. It began in 1987 and has conti ...

Music Conference, a special event for Alligator Records' 25th anniversary. Chenier won the 1997 Living Blues' Critics' Poll Award and also an AFIM Indie Award for best zydeco album, for his next release, ''The Big Squeeze''. In 2001, Chenier played in front of 60,000 fans at the

Chicago Blues Festival The Chicago Blues Festival is an annual event held in June, that features three days of performances by top-tier blues musicians, both old favorites and the up-and-coming. It is hosted by the Chicago, Illinois, City of Chicago Department of Cu ...

. In 2001 his recording ''Step It Up!'' was released, recorded at Dockside Studios in

Maurice, Louisiana Maurice is a Town (Louisiana), town in Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 964 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census and 2,118 for the 2020 census us, 2020 Census. It is part of the Abbeville, Louisiana, Abbevil ...

Discography

C. J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band

* ''

Hot Rod Hot rods are typically American cars that might be old, classic, or modern and that have been rebuilt or modified with large engines optimized for speed and acceleration. One definition is: "a car that's been stripped down, souped up and ma ...

'' (Slash Records), 1990 * ''My Baby Don't Wear No Shoes'' (Arhoolie Records), 1992 * '' Too Much Fun'' (Alligator Records), 1995 * ''The Big Squeeze'' (Alligator Records), 1996 * ''Step It Up!'' (Alligator Records), 2001

C. J. Chenier

* ''I Ain't No Playboy'' (Slash Records), 1992 * ''The Desperate Kingdom Of Love'' (World Village Records), 2006 * ''Can't Sit Down'' (World Village Records), 2011

Limited editions

* ''Live at 2012 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival'' (Munck Music), 2012 * ''Live at 2013 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival'' (Munck Music), 2013 * ''Live at 2014 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival'' (Munck Music), 2014 * ''Live at 2015 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival'' (Munck Music), 2015 * ''Live at 2016 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival'' (Munck Music), 2016 * ''Live at 2017 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival'' (Munck Music), 2017 * ''Live at 2018 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival'' (Munck Music), 2018 * ''Live at 2019 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival'' (Munck Music), 2019

References

External links

Official C.J. Chenier Website
*
C.J. Chenier YouTube ChannelC.J. Chenier MySpaceOld C.J. Chenier WebsiteC.J. Chenier Interview
NAMM Oral History Library (2019) {{DEFAULTSORT:Chenier, C. J. 1957 births Living people Zydeco musicians People from Port Arthur, Texas Louisiana Creole people Zydeco accordionists 21st-century American accordionists