Everybody was little Cajun Wednesday evening, July 18, in Shepard Park as C.J. Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band created an atmosphere of moss-draped bayous and crawfish boils in this Adirondack venue better known for cool lakes and brook trout.
The high energy Zydeco music brought dozens to the dance patio and the more than 100 attendees, packed together in lawn chairs throughout the park, couldn’t help but do a little shoulder-sashaying-foot-tapping chair dancing to the Southern Louisiana sound.
Chenier and his band’s performance was the third concert this summer in the Lake George Arts Project free summer concert series.
Chenier is the son of the “King of Zydeco”, Clifton Chenier, known for bringing this Louisiana French Creole style of music into the American mainstream. C.J. took up the accordion and band leadership upon his father’s passing in 1987. The band’s album “Can’t Sit Down” was nominated for the Best Regional Roots Music Album at last year’s Grammy Awards.
Zydeco is the name coined by Clifton Chenier. The word derives from the French for snap beans and refers to the phrase “The snap beans aren’t salty” – a Clifton Chenier song title and a popular expression that describes hard times when folks can’t afford salt pork to season their meal of beans. The accordion-led music is a blend of traditional Cajun music and R&B with a syncopated rhythm driven by a rubboard – an evolved washboard designed specifically for Zydeco music.
The Lake George Arts Project hosts free concerts in Shepard Park Wednesday nights through the summer. Next Wednesday Missy Raines and the New Hip are scheduled to perform, taking the stage at 7:30 p.m.