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Buckwheat Zydeco
Buckwheat Zydeco, the stage name of accordionist Stanley Dural Jr., became the artist most responsible for bringing zydeco to mainstream national and international audiences following his commercial breakthrough in the 1980s, well beyond the genre's traditional Louisiana Creole base. His background performing in touring rhythm and blues bands before switching to accordion and forming his own zydeco band gave his music a particularly strong soul and funk influence, distinguishing his sound from more traditionally rooted zydeco contemporaries. Buckwheat Zydeco's numerous high-profile collaborations and television appearances, including performing at presidential inaugurations and major American cultural events, gave zydeco a level of mainstream national visibility that few other artists in the genre achieved during the same period. His combination of his mainstream commercial breakthrough and his role bringing zydeco to national audiences well beyond Louisiana has made Buckwheat Zydeco one of the most significant ambassadors in the genre's modern history.
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Clifton Chenier
Clifton Chenier is widely credited as "the King of Zydeco," the accordionist most responsible for defining the genre's modern sound by fusing Louisiana Creole music with rhythm and blues, blues, and Cajun influences into what became the recognized zydeco template. His 1965 recording "Louisiana Blues" and subsequent catalog established the piano accordion, played through amplification alongside a full rhythm and blues-style band, as zydeco's signature instrumental combination, distinguishing it clearly from the more purely acoustic French Louisiana music traditions that preceded it. Chenier won the first Grammy Award ever given for a zydeco recording, for his 1983 album "I'm Here!," a milestone that brought unprecedented mainstream recognition to a genre that had previously existed almost entirely within Louisiana's Creole community. His combination of his foundational role defining zydeco's modern sound and his genre's first Grammy Award has made Chenier almost universally regarded as the single most important figure in zydeco's entire history.
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