02/06/2026
Vinyl and CD Box sets • Now in the shop •
❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️❤️
On February 1, 2026, at the 68th Grammy Awards, the star-studded compilation, A Tribute to the King of Zydeco (Clifton Chenier) took home the prize for Best Regional Roots Music Album. Six days later, Smithsonian Folkways, in its first release on Chris Strachwitz’s reactivated Arhoolie Records, issued The King of the Louisiana Blues and Zydeco, a box set commemorating Chenier’s 100th birthday. A decade in the making, it offers 19 unreleased performances among 67 tracks cut between 1954 and 1983. Produced by Adam Machado, executive director of the Arhoolie Foundation, the multi-disc/LP set also contains a 160-page hardbound book containing a biography by Machado, essays by folklorist and radio host Nick Spitzer and Louisiana journalist Herman Fuselier, and a personal remembrance by Clifton’s son and zydeco musician C.J. Chenier. It is copiously illustrated with dozens of rare photographs from Strachwitz’s archive. Accordionist and singer Chenier didn’t invent zydeco, which descended from a dance style called “La-La music,” he wove Cajun and Creole music into blues, R&B, and swamp pop, with a little jazz, country, and early rock that he called zydeco. The set includes not only Arhoolie sides, but also some recorded for Elko, Specialty, and Chess. While one can easily make the case that King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco is for collectors and completists, it also provides a definitive record of Chenier’s best work over four decades, and makes the argument for a major reappraisal of Chenier’s influence, innovation, and nearly universal appeal.
Review by Thom Jurek
