Mel Melton is an American musician, singer, and chef. Much of his music is in the
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 ...
style and his cooking primarily focuses on the culture of southern Louisiana.
Biography
A native of Gastonia, North Carolina, Roy "Mel" Melton first went to
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette ( , ) is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River (Louisiana), Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's List of municipaliti ...
, to visit a college friend during the summer and play music before returning to the
University of North Carolina
The University of North Carolina is the Public university, public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referre ...
. He changed his plans when he fell in love with the rich culture and physical beauty of southwest Louisiana. Melton soon moved permanently to Lafayette and began playing in a band he co-founded with slide-guitar player
Sonny Landreth
Clide Vernon "Sonny" Landreth (born February 1, 1951) is an American blues musician from southwest Louisiana who is especially known as a slide guitar player. He was born in Canton, Mississippi, and settled in Lafayette, Louisiana. He lives in Br ...
.
To help support his musical career, Melton took a series of jobs and eventually discovered a new talent and another part of the Cajun lifestyle: Louisiana cooking. Over the next fifteen years, he honed his musical and cooking skills, eventually becoming a well-known Cajun chef. At the same time, he was becoming known as a singer and a harmonica player who created a Zydeco style of playing that put him in great demand. In addition to playing with Sonny Landreth, Melton was frequently on stage with the King of Zydeco,
Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music that arose from Creole music, with R&B, blues, and Cajun influences. He sang and played the accordion. Chenier won ...
, and spent a year touring with internationally known
Zachary Richard
Ralph Zachary Richard (born September 8, 1950) is an American singer-songwriter and poet. His music is a combination of Cajun and Zydeco musical styles.
Biography
Zachary Richard began his musical career at the age of 8, as soprano in the Bish ...
.
Melton recorded on Landreth's first record, ''Blues Attack'', which also featured
C.J. Chenier on saxophone and
Buckwheat Zydeco
Stanley Dural Jr. (November 14, 1947 – September 24, 2016), better known by his stage name Buckwheat Zydeco, was an American accordionist and zydeco musician. He was one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success. His music gro ...
on the Hammond organ.
In 1982, Landreth and Melton formed the band Bayou Rhythm, and eventually added C.J. Chenier to the lineup. The band recorded ''Way Down in Louisiana'' in 1985.
A song on that record “Congo Square,” was co-written by Landreth and Melton and has since been recorded by
The Neville Brothers
The Neville Brothers were an American R&B/soul/funk group, formed in 1976 in New Orleans, Louisiana.
History
The group notion started in 1976, when the four brothers of the Neville family, Art (1937–2019), Charles (1938–2018), Aaron (b. 19 ...
,
John Mayall
John Brumwell Mayall (29 November 1933 – 22 July 2024) was an English blues and Rock music, rock musician, songwriter and producer. In the 1960s, he formed John Mayall & the Bluesbreakers, a band that has counted among its members some of ...
,
Tom Principato
Tom Principato (born 1952) is an American electric blues and blues rock singer, guitarist, and songwriter.
Principato has recorded more than twenty albums over the years. One of his most recent releases, ''Robert Johnson Told Me So'' (2013), fe ...
and several other artists. Bayou Rhythm toured heavily,
headlined national shows and also opened for musicians including
Ray Charles
Ray Charles Robinson (September 23, 1930 – June 10, 2004) was an American singer, songwriter, and pianist. He is regarded as one of the most iconic and influential musicians in history, and was often referred to by contemporaries as "The Gen ...
,
B.B. King
Riley B. King (September 16, 1925 – May 14, 2015), known professionally as B.B. King, was an American blues guitarist, singer, songwriter, and record producer. He introduced a sophisticated style of soloing based on fluid string bending, sh ...
,
Dr. John
Malcolm John Rebennack Jr. (November 20, 1941 – June 6, 2019), better known by his stage name Dr. John, was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. His music combined New Orleans blues, jazz, R&B, soul and funk.
Active as a session mus ...
, The Neville Brothers,
Stevie Ray Vaughan
Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...
,
Dave Edmunds
David William Edmunds (born 15 April 1944) is a Welsh retired singer, songwriter, guitarist and record producer. Although he is mainly associated with Pub rock (United Kingdom), pub rock and New wave music, new wave, having many hit record, h ...
, and
The Fabulous Thunderbirds
The Fabulous Thunderbirds is an American blues rock band formed in 1974. Singer Kim Wilson is the only constant member through the band's entire history. Their 1986 album ''Tuff Enuff'' sold over a million copies, and spawned two minor hit singl ...
.
One of the special attractions of a Bayou Rhythm concert began at the American Music Festival in 1986, when Melton was challenged to a gumbo cook-off with fellow musician
Rockin' Dopsie
Alton Jay Rubin (February 10, 1932 – August 26, 1993), who performed as Rockin' Dopsie (sometimes Rockin' Dupsee), was an American zydeco singer and accordion player who had success first in Europe and later in the United States. He played acco ...
. The success of the event led Melton to cook more as part of his bands’ gigs.
In 1986, Melton left the band to pursue a full-time chef career in Chicago. In the first month there, as chef at Capers, he won the Grand Prize at the Rolls-Royce/Krug Champagne Invitational Chef Competition. The restaurant was named one of the top ten new Chicago restaurants of 1987. He frequently did cooking demonstrations and appeared on various Chicago radio and television programs. He was also a featured chef at the
Chicago Jazz Festival
The Chicago Jazz Festival is an admission-free, four-day annual jazz festival in Chicago's Millennium Park. It is run by the Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events and programmed with the assistance of Jazz Institute of Chicago during ...
, The American Cancer Society Christmas Gala, and Mardi Gras at the Limelight Club.
In 1990, Melton moved back home to North Carolina, where he continued showcasing his cooking skills at numerous events and cooking schools and by opening several restaurants. In 1995, he formed his current band, Mel Melton & the Wicked Mojos, and in 1998 recorded his first CD, ''Swampslinger'', for New Moon Music, a Chapel Hill-based blues label. The CD was named one of the top ten blues CD of the year by ''The Washington Post''. He followed that up with ''Mojo Dream'' in 2000, on the Nashville-based Nightfly label,
and it was awarded “Zydeco Record of the Year” by ''Real Blues Magazine''. He also authored his first cookbook, ''Cookie Boy, the Authentic Cajun Recipes of Mel Melton, published'' by Kartobi Press of Farmington, New Mexico.
Melton's third album with his band was ''Papa Mojo’s Roadhouse'', featuring guest appearances by Sonny Landreth and Trisha Yearwood's former guitarist, Johnny Garcia, on Louisiana Red Hot Records. The record covers the scale of Louisiana dance hall music, “with rowdy Zydeco and Cajun tunes, swamp bop, juke joint blues and New Orleans funk.” Music journalist Philip Van Vleck (''Billboard, Dirty Linen, Metro''), said in ''Triangle Live'': “It’s the best record he’s ever released because he just keeps getting better instead of older. His vocal work has never been more forceful, or polished, and his harmonica playing is simply unfailingly brilliant.”
Melton's band features
Max Drake on guitar.
Melton describes his band's sound and his songs, as “Mojo Music.” “It’s like the food,” he stated. “Down in Louisiana everyone cooks, and they like to stir it up their own way. And when people leave one of our shows I want them to feel like they’ve been down in the swamp at a big party and they’ve had a great time. That’s what it’s all about.”
In 2007, Melton opened Papa Mojo's Roadhouse in
Durham, North Carolina
Durham ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of North Carolina and the county seat of Durham County, North Carolina, Durham County. Small portions of the city limits extend into Orange County, North Carolina, Orange County and Wake County, North Carol ...
. There he focused on how bringing in first-class original musical talent became a stopping-off point for many acts on tour through the southeast. The food at Papa Mojo's Roadhouse was critically acclaimed as being one of the best places for authentic Cajun food outside of Louisiana. In 2008, celebrity television chef
Bobby Flay
Robert William "Bobby" Flay (born December 10, 1964) is an American celebrity chef, food writer, restaurateur, and Television presenter, television personality. Flay is the owner and Chef de cuisine, executive chef of several restaurants and fr ...
presented Melton with the restaurant's award first place in the casual dining category during the N.C. State Fair. In 2014, Melton closed Papa Mojo's Roadhouse to focus on his music and to continue teaching cooking. He frequently plays in North Carolina and Virginia and several of his 2018 shows featured
John Dee Holeman.
Music discography
With Sonny Landreth
* 1981 – ''Blues Attack''
With Bayou Rhythm
* 1985 – ''Way Down in Louisiana''
With Mel Melton and the Wicked Mojos
* 1998 – ''Swampslinger''
* 2000 – ''Mojo Dreams''
* 2003 – ''Papa Mojo’s Roadhouse''
Culinary career

Charter Member of Chefs de Cuisine Acadian, Lafayette, LA, 1983
Grand prize winner, Rolls-Royce / Krug Champagne Invitational Chef Competition, Chicago, IL, June 1986
Named as one of the top ten new restaurants in Chicago, ''Chicago Tribune & Pioneer Press'', Chicago, IL, January, 1987
Certified Senior Executive Chef, Marriott Conference Services,
Duke University
Duke University is a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina, United States. Founded by Methodists and Quakers in the present-day city of Trinity, North Carolina, Trinity in 1838, the school moved to Durham in 1 ...
Fuqua School of Business
The Duke University Fuqua School of Business (pronounced ) is the business school of Duke University, a Private university, private research university in Durham, North Carolina. It enrolls more than 1,300 students in degree-seeking programs. Du ...
, Durham, NC, 1991
Grand Prize Winner - Casual Restaurant, Best in the State Award, State of N.C. Agricultural Commission, 2008
Second Place Winner - Casual Restaurant, Best in the State Award, State of N.C. Agricultural Commission, 2009 & 2010
Voted Best Cajun Restaurant in the Triangle - ''Indy Week'', 2009 - 2013
Performed and cooked with
Paula Deen
Paula Ann Hiers Deen (born January 19, 1947) is an American chef, cookbook author, and TV personality. Deen resides in Savannah, Georgia, where she owns and operates The Lady & Sons restaurant with her sons, Jamie and Bobby Deen. She has pu ...
at the Durham Performing Arts Center, 2010
Named one the Fifteen Best Cheeseburgers in the U.S. - Wisconsin Cheese Board, 2012
Selected to appear on ''Deep Fried Masters'', episode featuring fair food and “Got to Be NC”, 2013
Published works
* 2000 - ''Cookie Boy, the Authentic Cajun Recipes of Mel Melton'' (Kartobi Press)
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Melton, Mel
Year of birth missing (living people)
Living people
American chefs
People from Gastonia, North Carolina
People from Caswell County, North Carolina
Zydeco musicians