Buckwheat Zydeco hits the North Bay

Growing up in the 1950s in Lafayette, La., Stanley Dural Jr. was surrounded by zydeco, that fast-tempo Cajun music propelled by the accordion. His father, a close friend of zydeco king Clifton Chenier, played the accordion “24/7.” But despite his father's insistence, Stanley vowed never to play the squeeze box.

As a kid, Dural — known as “Buckwheat” because a friend thought he looked like the “Little Rascals” character — adored pop music and snuck into local clubs to see legends such as Fats Domino.

A natural talent, Dural chose to play keyboards, and by the early '70s led a 15-piece funk-soul band on the Hammond B3 organ. When he left that band, Dural got a call that would change his life: Chenier asked him to play the organ in his band.

“I thought I'd play one gig because of my dad and say, ‘Now I've played zydeco music and I still don't like it!'”Dural, 61, said. But something changed the night he played with the king.

“The very first night I performed with Clifton, this man got on stage and played four hours nonstop,” Dural said. “He was tellin' people goodnight — I didn't know what he was doin' — I had so much fun I didn't realize it was four hours we played.”

Chenier “really inspired me to play the accordion. I didn't know it could be played like that because I hadn't been listening to zydeco music.”

Dural spent two years backing Chenier, then took up the accordion and formed Buckwheat Zydeco. In the 1980s, the band signed with Chris Blackwell's Island Records, the first zydeco act on a major label. (Blackwell also signed Bob Marley and gave reggae a worldwide audience.)

Buckwheat became widely known for his incendiary energy, the propulsive Creole rhythms of his band vaulting concert-goers out of their seats and onto the dance floor.

Buckwheat Zydeco's breakthrough album, 1987's “On a Night Like This,” combined traditional works with zydeco treatments of songs from other genres, like the Bob Dylan title cut and the Blasters' “Marie, Marie.”

Soon, Dural was jamming at all-star benefits with rock royalty, including Eric Clapton and U2. He performed at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta and twice for President Clinton at inauguration celebrations.

In the late '80s, Dural stopped playing keyboards at concerts to focus on the accordion. A couple of years ago, he had a special Hammond organ built for touring and now alternates between keys and squeeze.

The new album, “Lay Your Burden Down,” is Buckwheat's first post-Katrina album and an ode to victims of the hurricanes that battered Gulf Coast states in recent years. Five original tunes are complemented by well chosen cover songs.

The first cut is a torrential reinterpretation of the old blues song “When the Levee Breaks” (made popular by Led Zeppelin). Other highlights include a rollicking version of Jimmy Cliff's “Let Your Yeah Be Yeah” and a calypso treatment of Bruce Springsteen's “Back in Your Arms.”

Released in May, “Burden” evokes the “reality of what happened back in Louisiana with the hurricane and all the destruction that went on in New Orleans and Mississippi,” Dural said. “People still don't have homes after four years. The levee broke, people died, and people still can't find their way home.”

Produced by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin, “Burden” features guest appearances from blues guitarist Sonny Landreth, New Orleans horn player Trombone Shorty and Warren Haynes of Gov't Mule.

The album closes with the traditional zydeco of “Finding My Way Back Home,” a song to comfort the afflicted. “At the end of the song you have the up tempo of the accordion just to get the good spirit going,” Dural said.

Buckwheat Zydeco is on the road up to 10 months a year, but the band always returns home to Lafayette to headline a Thanksgiving concert to benefit food banks.

“You can't just receive all the time and never give back,” Dural said. “Like the man says: you wonder where you're going, don't forget where you come from. You have to give some of your blessings.”

Celebrating his 30th anniversary playing zydeco music, Buckwheat Zydeco's tour takes Dural from Napa's luxe Lincoln Theater to Marin's Rancho Nicasio roadhouse to chic San Francisco jazz club Yoshi's.

“I'm content no matter where I perform,” Dural said. “I love doin' what I'm doin' man, whether it's a chicken shack or the Taj Mahal. When I see a smile on your face, that's rewarding for me.

“If I can make you happy for five or 10 minutes, then I think I'm doing a good job,” Dural added. “Anywhere I am and people are happy, then I'm home away from home.”

Michael Shapiro can be reached at michaelshapiro@yahoo.com. His most recent entertainment story for The Press Democrat was about B.B. King.