In celebration of Clifton Chenier’s centenary year, Smithsonian Folkways will release Clifton Chenier: King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco this November on Arhoolie Records. It will be the first ever box set devoted to the iconic musician who blended African American blues, R&B, Afro-Caribbean rhythms, and Louisiana Cajun and Creole music into the genre now recognized as zydeco.
A visionary artist and legendary performer renowned as the “King of Zydeco,” Chenier (June 25, 1925 - December 12, 1987) created an energetic and enduring regional Black sound that travelled from the back roads of rural Louisiana to the world stage.
To celebrate the announcement, Smithsonian Folkways has shared a previously unreleased recording of the song “Mr. Charlie,” written by Chenier’s cousin and Arhoolie labelmate Lightnin’ Hopkins, recorded in 1971 and broadcast on KSAN in San Francisco. Listen HERE.
This historic box set release is also a milestone for the independent roots music label Arhoolie Records: it is the first new title on the imprint since Smithsonian Folkways acquired the label and its groundbreaking catalog of roots music in 2016. The collection will be available as a 4-CD or 6-LP vinyl box set, featuring 67 tracks—including 19 unreleased performances—and a 160-page book with rare photographs and other graphic artifacts as well as extensive liner notes with in-depth track notes and reflections on Chenier’s groundbreaking career. The set is produced by Adam Machado, the Grammy-winning Executive Director of the Arhoolie Foundation, who contributes an in-depth biography of Clifton’s life and career, and features an expansive essay by American Routes host Nick Spitzer, an examination on Cenier’s long-term impact on his community by journalist Herman Fuselier, and a personal remembrance by Clifton Chenier’s son, the musician CJ Chenier.
The collection features recordings from 1954 - 1983, including audio from Arhoolie and other labels and classic tracks such as “Bon Ton Roulet,” “Zydeco et Pas Sale,” “Jole Blonde,” and “Black Gal,” alongside previously unissued tracks such as the R&B hit “Shake Rattle & Roll,” “Mr. Charlie,” Cajun classic “Calinda,” and Wilson Pickett’s “That’s My Number / 634-5789.” The set spotlights Chenier’s earliest known (and previously unreleased) live recordings, a live performance from the 1977 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, and recordings from the Austin City Limits television series, which featured Chenier on their third-ever episode alongside Townes Van Zandt in 1976. As a career-long body of work, this breadth of recordings represents more than just Chenier’s mammoth achievements on accordion, rubboard, and voice. They also celebrate early, foundational zydeco artist collaborations, including with Clifton’s brother Cleveland, son CJ, and boogie-woogie pianist Katie Webster, and trace the expansion of zydeco from South Louisiana to Houston and Austin, Texas, to Southern California—a musical “great migration” that was symbolic of the mid-century music industry’s expansion at large.
On June 27, Smithsonian Folkways, Arhoolie Records, and Valcour Records will also release a limited edition vinyl 7” featuring a new recording of Chenier’s signature tune “Zydeco Sont Pas Salés” by The Rolling Stones, produced by acclaimed musician and songwriter CC Adcock. Mick Jagger, who has been a lifelong fan of Chenier since seeing him perform live in 1965, sings entirely in French, Keith Richards provides his signature rhythm guitar, while Ronnie Wood contributes lead guitar parts, combining their talents to bring a rock and roll edge to the zydeco classic. The recording also includes Cajun accordionist Steve Riley and longtime Chenier drummer Robert St. Julien, grounding the song in its Louisiana roots. On the single’s flip side is Chenier’s version from his 1965 sessions with Arhoolie founder Chris Strachwitz, which offers a contrasting take on the rollicking shuffle heard on his debut album. The Rolling Stones’ track also appears on the upcoming Valcour compilation A Tribute to the King of Zydeco.
Long before he became the King, Chenier was a young man working as a sharecropper and manual laborer at a Texas refinery, determined to make it in the music industry and swiftly gaining fame on the local circuit. One day, the story goes, he refused to climb into a pit on the job. He was fired, only to return two days later in a white suit, driving a Cadillac, and holding his first record contract.
Chenier began to attract national attention for his Cajun and R&B inflected-accordion playing in the early 1950s. The tracks, including “Clifton’s Blues” and “Louisiana Stomp,” both available on the set, which led to big deal with Art Rupe’s Specialty Records. He had his first hit with “Ay Tete Fee” (1955), which led to co-billings with major artists and friends like Etta James, Little Richard, and Ray Charles. Briefly, Chenier’s career sputtered, but in 1964 gained new life when he was introduced to Chris Strachwitz through Lightnin’ Hopkins. Strachwitz had by then recorded and worked with many of Chenier’s influences, and encouraged Chenier to lean into a more French Cajun traditional sound than the rock and R&B that he favored. The success of “Louisiana Blues,” their first collaboration in the recording studio, began a decades-long working relationship between Chenier and Strachwitz that included Arhoolie albums like Bogalusa Boogie, Louisiana Blues and Zydeco, King of the Bayous, and more.
Chenier’s bold style and driving accordion made him a beloved figure in American roots music, earning him a Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award and the National Heritage Fellowship, as well as a spot in the Blues Hall of Fame. In 2011, his 1975 track “Je Suis en Racolteur (I’m a Farmer)” was placed on the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress.
Clifton Chenier: King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco joins several other monumental box sets released by Smithsonian Folkways. In line with the label’s non-profit mission to preserve and give context to the world’s myriad musical histories and traditions, other releases of this magnitude include the classic compilation Anthology of American Folk Music, the definitive Pete Seeger set, The Smithsonian Folkways Collection, and 2023’s seminal Playing for the Man at the Door: Field Recordings from the Collection of Mack McCormick, 1958 – 1971, which traced the history of American folk and blues through the lens of McCormick’s legendary archive.
