Cheap More Cajun Music & Zydeco (Music) (Various Artists) Price

While Rounder Records'--Louisiana Spice compilation is aimed at the newcomer, another Rounder anthology, --More Cajun Music and Zydeco is aimed at the hardcore fan. Only three of the 20 tracks on this single-CD collection are from other Rounder albums; most of the rest are from small Louisiana labels which are hard to track down outside the state, and the climactic live duet between Bois-Sec Ardoin and Canray Fontenot has never been released before. The cuts were chosen by Philip Gould and Barry Jean Ancelet as a complement to their 1992 book from the LSU Press, Cajun Music and Zydeco. By emphasizing swamp music which makes few concessions to American mainstream pop, the compilers have zeroed in on the essence of French Louisiana culture.

The French lyrics, the raw nasal cries, the bleating squeeze box riffs, the sawing fiddles, the washboard polyrhythms all make this music as forbidding, distinctive and ultimately rewarding as Appalachian string-band music or Mississippi Delta blues. Three recordings from the '30s provide the historical set-up for classic singles from D.L. Menard and Clifton Chenier and brilliant modern tracks by Beausoleil, Boozoo Chavis and David Greely. Rodney Crowell even makes a guest appearance on the Hackberry Ramblers' rollicking, Cajun-swing version of "Old Pipeliner." As good as the individual performances are, it's the complete story told by all 20 cuts together which makes this such a special package. Gould's striking photographs and Ancelet's knowing liner notes add to the class of this project.--Geoffrey Himes

ARTIST:	Various Artists
CATEGORY:	Music
MANUFACTURER:	Rounder / Pgd
MEDIA:	Audio CD
TRACKS:	Madam Atchen - Amede Ardoin/Dennis Mc Gee, Rosalie - Reed and Vidrine Mc Cauley, La Maleureuse - David Greely, Old Pipeliner - The Hackberry Ramblers, Tow Step De L'anse Aux Pailles - Balfa Brothers, Pop, Tu Me Parles Toujour - Balfa Toujours, Grand Bois - Jimmy Peters and The Ring Dance Singers, Josephine Par Se Ma Femme - Clifton Chenier, Je Peux Pas T'oublier - D.L. Menard, Poor Man's Two-step - John Delafose, Je M'endors - Jesse Stafford, Je M'endors - Beausoleil, Allons A Lafayette - Jo-El Sonnier, I'm On My Way - Zydeco Force, Old Home Waltz - Steve Riley And The Mamou Playboys, Johnny Billy Goat - Boozoo Chavis, La Ballade De Howard Hebert - Zachary Richard, Follow Me Chicken - Nathan and The Zydeco Cha-Chas, Zydeco Est Pas Sale - Wayne Toups, Jongle A Moi - Bois-Sec and Canray
# OF MEDIA:	1
UPC:	011661157323