Zydeco Artist Terrance Simien Continues To Champion His Creole Culture And Music

By John Roos

So many miles, so many smiles.

Those are lyrics found on "This Old Road," a song from Terrance Simien's 1999 album titled Positively Beadhead. Behind the zydeco artist's trademark big grin, however, is a seriousness befitting a man on a mission.

The relentless drive of this cultural ambassador to not only keep Creole-infused zydeco music alive but to share it across the globe has diminished not one bit since recording his debut album, Zydeco on the Bayou, back in 1990. Sure, winning two Grammy awards, performing or participating in several major movies (including The Big Easy, The Lucky One, The Princess and the Frog) and getting a timely boost from Rock 'n' Roll Hall of Famer Paul Simon are highlights that certainly raised the profile of the Louisiana born and bred singer-songwriter-accordion player.

But what matters most to Simien--an eighth generation Louisiana Creole--is that his Creole 4 Kidz turned 25 this year.

This enduring arts-in-education zydeco history program is a multi-cultural, participatory experience that has reached over 250,000 K-12 and college students, parents, and educators at hundreds of schools, art centers and festivals around the globe. Simien immerses himself and the audiences in Creole culture and zydeco, which is the traditional music of Black and mixed race, French-speaking Creoles of south Louisiana and is characterized by the prominent use of the accordion, the frottoir (or rubboard), and often features electric guitar, bass, keyboard, and drums.

Imagine kids getting up on stage and playing the frottoir with spoons. Talk about making learning fun and infectious.

"Creole 4 Kidz means the world to me," said Simien, 59, during a recent phone interview from his home in Lafayette, La. "Getting in front of students of all ages so they can learn about the music . . . they get a little French lesson . . . history lesson . . . science lesson . . . . and the kids are into it!"

Simien said that the program aims to reach everybody, including as many underprivileged kids as possible. Teachers have noted that some of their students who've experienced bullying wind up beaming throughout the program, perhaps finding much-needed solace and a sense of belonging.

When not serving as educator, the charismatic Simien is joyfully making dance-inducing zydeco music that respects the genre's forbearers while simultaneously transporting the music ahead by infusing it with elements of New Orleans jazz, reggae, soul, R&B, funk, pop, and rock. Add Simien's smooth, Sam Cooke-like tenor and you've got one very appealing, unique sound and style. He is supremely backed by the Zydeco Experience, featuring keyboardist-vocalist Danny Williams, bassist-vocalist Stan Chambers, drummer Ian Molinaro-Thompson, trumpeter, and saxophonist Noah Boshra (plus rotating touring trombonists Ethan Santos and Emanuel Mitchell, with the latter being on this current tour.)

In fact, Simien's latest recording titled Ancestral Grooves is an adventurous mix of zydeco with New Orleans-style brass, whereby the Black roots of African American and French-speaking Louisiana Creole ancestors music blend together marvelously. Officially dubbed Terrance Simien's Krewe De Monifique, this recording's super-group features 23 artists--including 21 people of color and four women--topped by Zydeco artists Simien and Keith Frank and reknowned New Orleans trumpeter James Andrews (plus several of their family members, including Simien's talented daughter, Marcella.)

About Ancestral Grooves' origins, Simien shared, "I'm a fan and lover of New Orleans music . . . Dr. John, Professor Longhair, the Neville Brothers, Allen Toussaint . . and my band was playing the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Foundation 50th Gala in April of 2019, and James (Andrews) was playing there, too. He came up to me and said, 'We've got to get the brass band and zydeco together sometime.' So, he was really the one who planted the seed for the whole Ancestral Grooves project. I got Keith Frank on board, and James got the brass bands together. We were interested in going after a different kind of perspective and approach. We used this cool space (Race Street Studio) in New Orleans, (Recording Engineer) David Farrell set everything up, and we just started groovin'. The vibe was amazing, like the spirits were with us from the great ancestors of Louisiana music."

When speaking about zydeco's legacy, names of greats like John Delafose, Clifton Chenier, Boozoo Chavis, Queen Ida (Guillory), Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural, Sr.) and Rockin' Dopsie often come to mind. They have influenced scores of those who followed, including Simien. Yet, the roots to this great music can be traced back even further--to the times of slavery, in fact-- to a style called Juré, a type of call-and-response music performed a capella that is accompanied by hand clapping and dancing. To make up for a lack of instruments, the Creole enslaved peoples used hand claps and foot stomps to create rhythms to sing to. At the time, Juré was known to keep the enslaved people's energy and spirits up. Once slavery was abolished, and with its strong religious roots, Juré became a way of making music during the Lenten season when using instruments or going to clubs or bars was deemed unacceptable.

"This music is ever-evolving," insists Simien, "because it has to in order to survive. Zydeco really started in the fields with Juré but it kept evolving or it wouldn't be here today. Clifton Chenier is sometimes seen as the 'Father of zydeco,' but he really just took the music before him, like Juré, one step further. He even told me once, 'Terrance, do your own thing, like me.' Look at what people are doing today. They're taking ownership of what's theirs by being true to themselves where you're not just a musician, you're an artist. My inspiration is never limited."

One of Simien's biggest career boosts came from legendary singer-songwriter Paul Simon. When Simon became interested in exploring zydeco music for his 1986 album Graceland, he turned to Simien as a key collaborator for his research prior to making the album. Simien helped Simon fuse strains of Zydeco, and the boldly adventurous Graceland became a huge critical and commercial success. Simien participated in recording sessions with Simon, and they also shared a stage during Simon's 1991 tour, including a gig at the Cajundome in Lafayette, La.

Simien, who grew up listening to Simon and Garfunkel and cites Simon's solo hit single, "Slip Slidin' Away," as one of his favorite songs, speaks with fondness and gratitude for his support from and enduring friendship with Simon.

"Paul was so gracious to me at a time when I was just getting started," recalled Simien. "To have give me a leg up . . . . I mean, man, to be in the studio with Paul when I was 19-years-old, can you imagine?

Simon turned to Dickie Landry, who was Simien's manager for a few years, during his research prior to the making of Graceland, and it was Landry who helped connect Simon to zydeco. Landry believed strongly it would be a good fit for Simien to go into the studio with Simon as he was becoming intrigued with zydeco.

"To record a song (Clifton Chenier's "You Used to Call Me" and released as a 45 LP on Landry’s Grande Pointe label) with Paul Simon on it? What a gift!" remembers Simien. "Paul sung some vocal harmonies on that track, which inspired me to add harmonies to my own music. Paul Simon did more for zydeco music than he even knows or realizes. He definitely helped expose the music to a much wider audience."

A perhaps surprising supporter of Louisiana music and culture emerged more than 15 years ago when the Walt Disney Company released the animated, Oscar-nominated The Princess and the Frog, which featured Randy Newman and Simien collaborating to create the song, "Gonna Take You There," which includes images of a caterpillar accordion and a rigid bug underbelly frottoir , both played by Simien.

Furthermore, just last year at Walt Disney World, Florida, and Disneyland in California, Disney debuted a new ride based on the film, Tiana’s Bayou Adventure, whose setting is New Orleans. For the millions of families who visit these parks each year, they are introduced to New Orleans jazz, gospel, funk and zydeco music when they encounter the zydeco critters, Gritty the girl rubboard player, and Apollo on accordion.

Yet another watershed moment in moving zydeco beyond its regional base in the bayous was the recognition by the Grammy Awards of zydeco and Cajun music as deserving a separate category. Simien and his wife, Cynthia, spearheaded the effort to persuade the academy that lumping zydeco artists under the general Folk music category was a disservice to the zydeco community.

The effort by the Simiens resulted in the creation in 2008 of the "Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album" Grammy category for the 50th Annual Grammy Awards. However, this change was short-lived when four years later the category was part of sweeping changes in the awards structure whereby Cajun and zydeco were consolidated into Regional Roots with Native American, Hawaiian, Polka, who all had their own categories as well.

Even with that consolidation, Louisiana zydeco, Cajun and New Orleans brass bands have dominated the category with hundreds of nominations and dozens of Grammy winners ( 5-7 in each group all receive a trophy.)

According to Simien, it took seven years and lots of politicking with many layers to make this kind of impact.

"It was Cynthia who deserves all the credit, she was relentless in pursuing this goal," recalls Simien, who has won two Grammys, his latest in 2014 for Best Regional Roots album, Dockside Sessions; and his first in 2008 for Best Cajun or Zydeco Album, Live! Worldwide. "She spent so much time educating and doing outreach to the academy and community. There were qualified members who didn't even know they were eligible voters. But we did meet so many good people through our networking that it became a beautiful journey in the end."

As for Simien's next album, he's looking to embrace the positive as our troubled political landscape only turned darker in recent weeks.

"I want the music and lyrics to send a message of hope," he said. "Many young people are feeling so hopeless right now with the political situation we're in. The suicide rate for younger people is out of site. There is a feeling of despair out there. Kids are seeing too much negativity, they hear lies being told as truth. But it's never hopeless. The future holds more good than bad because there is love, caring, and respect."

"In my many travels all around the world, I've found that I feel at home while on the road," offered Simien. "People sit down with you and they just want to chat. Talk about them, talk about you, and find out what we have in common. Love and respect have to come out of that equation."

Simien went on to share a heartwarming story from the road.

"I was performing with the band at a youth camp in Russia," he recalled. "There were about 1,000 kids, and I remember this one teenager up close singing along to (Simien's band's rendition of the Neville Brothers') 'Hey Pocky Way'. Well, that same teenager approached us after the show and made a point to give everyone in the band a Ukranian coin. He told us to give it to his Ukranian brothers and tell them we love them when we play for them."

"I remember thinking that was an example of how politics are one thing, people are another. People will do the right thing. What good is it to gain the world but lose your soul?"

So many miles, so many smiles.

*Terrance Simien and Zydeco Experience perform Wednesday at Freight & Salvage, 2020 Addison St, Berkeley; (510) 644-2020. 8 p.m. $34-$39. All ages. www.thefreight.org.