Clifton Chenier

Buckwheat Zydeco

Rest Of The Best: Houston's Top 8 Jukeboxes

Along with pickled pig's feet and a steady supply of Slim Jims, a good jukebox is a prime element for any great bar. But, like dinosaurs, jukeboxes are a vanishing breed. Unlike digital jukes, iPods or DJs, jukeboxes require love, care and maintenance, as well as -- among the truly great ones -- som ... More >>

RIP Earl Scruggs: 4 Other Icons For Odd Musical Instruments

Rocks Off was saddened to hear this morning that bluegrass great Earl Scruggs passed away Wednesday in a Nashville hospital at age 88. It's safe to say that the North Carolina native, best known for his fruitful partnership with guitarist Lester Flatt, was the most famous banjo player in the world. ... More >>

The Perfect Soundtrack To Your Next Crawfish Boil

Crawfish boils have become a springtime ritual in Houston. At least once a season, it's an accepted necessity that we waste an entire day pinching tails, sucking heads and covering ourselves in spicy, stinky seafood slime. Finding the bugs typically isn't a problem -- you can hit up any number of r ... More >>

Bartender Chat: Susan of The Big Easy

It's Mardi Gras weekend, y'all, and I can't think of a better place to kick off the party than The Big Easy Social and Pleasure Club, a little slice of NOLA in the Bayou City. I stopped in earlier this week to get a jump start on my bon temps since this Thibodaux native will be celebrating Mardi Gra ... More >>

Ragin' Cajun Jo-El Sonnier Plays Nutty Jerry's Saturday

​Nutty Jerry's in Winnie has been doing a great job bringing in legacy acts like Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, Guess Who, Mickey Gilley, Ronnie Dunn, and Blood, Sweat and Tears. But the club really got our blood pumping when they booked the Cajun wildman, Jo-El Sonnier, who plays the club Satu ... More >>

New Orleans' Ponderosa Stomp: A Photo Diary

Photos by Brett KoshkinNew Orleans' Ponderosa Festival thrives on 45s.​Maybe it's age or my ever-increasing tailspin of stagnating taste, but I just don't find music festivals palatable in the slightest these days. Multi-day romps to summertime smorgasboards is for the birds. No matter if it t ... More >>

Zoo Station: A Noah's Ark Of 75 Animal Songs

And of every living thing of all flesh, two of every sort shalt thou bring into the ark, to keep them alive with thee; they shall be male and female. Of fowls after their kind, and of cattle after their kind, of every creeping thing of the earth after his kind, two of every sort shall come unto thee ... More >>

Saturday Night: Accordion Kings & Queens At Miller Outdoor Theatre

Photos courtesy of Miller Outdoor Theatre Advisory BoardBrave Combo​Accordion Kings & Queens Festival Miller Outdoor Theatre June 4, 2011 Timing can be everything. And it only took about ten seconds standing in the wings 20 feet from Clifton Chenier's former guitarist Lil Buck Sinegal and the ... More >>

Texas Zydeco, In Five Indelible Images

​One of Rocks Off's main resolutions most years is to both see more zydeco and write about it more often. Unfortunately, we don't get out to the country as often as we should, and no one ever seems to want to give us a ride to Jax Grill on Friday evenings. We have to remind ourselves to check ... More >>

Friday Night: Black Joe Lewis & The Honeybears And The Relatives At The Continental Club

Photos by Jay LeeBlack Joe Lewis​Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears, The Relatives Continental Club August 27, 2010 A few times a year, the Continental Club hosts shows that can be legitimately described as "soul happenings," usually featuring venerable Gulf Coast stars such as Archie Bell, Roy ... More >>

ACL 2009 Day Three: Everybody Knows What Black Joe Lewis' Name Is Now

Photo by Katharine Shilcutt​It was almost like being back in Houston: Sunday was sticky and steamy as Rocks Off arrived at Zilker Park around noon, and the only way we knew we could make it through was with a stiff straight shot of Southern soul. Luckily, Black Joe Lewis & the Honeybears were ... More >>

Long Reach

Which guitarist do Mark Knopfler, Vince Gill and Erics Clapton and Johnson look up to? Louisiana's Sonny Landreth.

A Musical Guide to Post-Secession Texas: Houston and "Brazoria"

The final installment of our Five States of Texas project brings it all back home, to the new state of Brazoria, encompassing all of Southeast Texas from the Brazos Valley to Sabine Pass. ​Patron Saint: Clarence "Gatemouth" Brown. A master of rock and roll, country, Cajun/Creole, blues and jazz, n ... More >>

SXSW: Black Joe Lewis at the Radio Room

Photos by Chris GrayThe very first live music you intentionally lay eyes and ears on at SXSW can be a very delicate choice, unless it's a complete no-brainer. So when Black Joe Lewis is playing three blocks from your hotel, you go. Lewis, a young Austinite who rolls up some 25 years of R&B histo ... More >>

Sonny Landreth

Juneteenth Revisited

Two arts organizations attempt a new spin on an old event

Tremoloco

Creole Heritage Zydeco & Crawfish Festival

Great music and all the mudbugs you can eat — who could ask for more?

Texas Zydeco Hits the Big Screen

Catfish Reef: Happy Woman Blues

That Was the Year That Was

Looking back on the local scene in '06

H-Town Zydeco

Dr. Roger Wood and James Fraher serve up another heaping helping of Houston music lore

Easy Like Sunday Afternoon

These N'awlins musicos are a real Eyeopener

C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band

Friday, October 14, at the Conroe Cajun Catfish Festival, Downtown Square, Conroe, 832-298-4161.

Free to Jam

Get the blues at the Eldorado Ballroom's Juneteenth Bash

Make Mine a Guinness

The author discovers his genetic Irishness

J. Paul Jr. and the Zydeco Nubreedz

Zeality (Self-released)

Sonny Landreth

Saturday, April 17

Step Rideau & the Zydeco Outlaws

From: Step 2 U (Bridge Entertainment)

Club Directory

Change of Beat

Just like the rest of Houston, the local music scene saw plenty of ups and downs

Squeeze City

Mark Halata hopes his Texavian strains can be heard in a town full of accordions

Old-School Rules

Wilfred Chevis provides the link between Clifton Chenier and the Zydeco Dots

Treasure Hunter

Chris Strachwitz's 40-year journey through ethnic music deserves an arhoolie of its own

Zydeco Kingdom

Travelers and artists from all over descend on Opelousas, Louisiana, for its annual celebration

Local Rotation

Leon Sam and the Zydeco Dots

Rotation

Various Artists

Gare-on-teed Phat

L'il Brian Terry drags zydeco into the hip-hop era by mixing it with rap

Zydeco Rap?

Houston's Step Rideau drags Creole music into the '00s

Zydeco's Birthplace

Hint: It's where you're standing

Rotation

Boozoo Chavis and the Magic Sounds, Keith Frank & the Soileau Zydeco Band, Verbena

Night & Day

August 13 - 19, 1998

Hard to Kill

Young Gun

Static

Sound Check

Ready for Home

Sherman Robertson left for success; now he's returning for a shot of the Houston blues

Press Picks

Zydeco Blues

Are these the final days of the Continental, zydeco's original Houston home?