Product Description Live from Louisiana's Creole Country comes Buckwheat Zydecos "Down Home Live!," the first-ever live album of zydeco's best-loved ambassador, Buckwheat Zydeco. "Down Home Live!," is a record of rollicking good times tracked in the intimate confines of El Sid O's Zydeco & Blues Club during a hometown break for the barnstorming bandleader's annual Thanksgiving show in Lafayette, La. Blues Access, in a cover story and lead review, said: "The good-natured energy that literally pops off of this disc immediately makes you wish you had been at El Sid Os to witness the show in person. But youll be glad to have this document of the event that catches not only every feel-good note but the essential vibe of the evening as well ... its impossible to resist being caught up in the sheer sense of fun and release (it) draws you into." From the powerhouse dance floor boogie of "What You Gonna Do?" to the majestic soul of Dural's brilliant reading of "Beast of Burden," the band does it all. The group even revisits their inventive reworking of Fats Domino's "Walking to New Orleans" and Dural's reggae-tinged zyde-soul anthem "Make A Change." The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and others have called Buckwheat Zydeco "one of the best party bands in America," and now music fans need venture no farther than their CD players to find out what all the fuss is about. " Down Home Live!" showcases the show-stopping dynamics that've turned countless curious listeners and concert-goers into full-fledged zydeco fanatics. This is also the disc the converted have been waiting for, as it captures Bucks irresistible personality, bottling the between-song patter, soaring solos and horn-driven workouts that are this legendary live act's trademarks. Amazon.com Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural didn't spend the evening of Thanksgiving 2000 in a turkey-laden stupor. Instead, the longtime leader of Buckwheat Zydeco led his band through this typically high-energy set, recorded in his birthplace of Lafayette, Louisiana. The mode here is extended cuts--the shortest one clocks in at five and a half minutes--that allow the band to shuffle as long as there are dancers on the floor. While the amped-up bottom that Dural helped bring to zydeco is here--as is an R&B horn section that makes a cover of King Curtis's "Soul Serenade" sound like the product of a bayou-bred Van Morrison--Down Home Live! concentrates mostly on originals that bring plenty of Cajun flavor. (One of two other remakes, Fats Domino's "Walkin' to New Orleans," replaces the master's piano with Dural's accordion and the rubboard of son Sir Reginald Master Dural.) This could've been one of those in-concert discs that screams "You had to be there," but the sound and feeling are so vivid that you might end up feeling like you were. --Rickey Wright About the Artist Buckwheat Zydeco: Just The Facts... * BETs #1-rated show, Comic View, uses "What You Gonna Do?" from Buckwheat Zydecos "Down Home Live!" as theme music for the shows 10th anniversary "Pardi Gras" 2001-2 season. * "Buckwheat Zydeco: Down Home Live!," the bands first-ever live album, was released in April, 2001. * Buckwheat performed his own version of "Jambalaya" as part of the Closing Ceremonies of the Atlanta Summer Olympics before a worldwide audience of three billion viewers ... plus 17,000 crazed athletes in the stadium. * The band opened and closed President Clintons Second Inauguration in January, 1997. The band played his first Inauguration, too. * BZ played the Democratic National Committees 150th Birthday Celebration at Union Station, hosted by Vice President and Mrs. Al Gore. The Vice President told the crowd that he owned and enjoyed Buckwheat Zydecos CDs thanks to his daughter, who attended school in New Orleans. * On the Fourth of July, 1998, the band performed on the Boston Pops Orchestras 25th anniversary. More than 500,000 sang along and cheered wildly as Buck and the band played three songs specially arranged for them and the full orchestra. The event was televised live on the A&E Network. * BZ has played and headlined major festivals in America and around the world closing the Playboy Jazz Fest, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, The Jambalaya Jam, Newport, Summerfest, Winterfest, San Diego Street Scene, Ben and Jerrys, Bumbershoot, Montreux, North Sea, Nice, Nancy Jazz Fest, etc. * The band has opened for Eric Clapton (including an entire North American Tour and a 12-night stand at Londons Royal Albert Hall), U2, Robert Cray, Los Lobos and many other acclaimed performers. * Buckwheats resume includes numerous appearances on David Letterman, The Today Show, CBS Morning News, NBC Nightly News, MTV, The BBC, National Public Radio, etc. * BZs video for "Hey Good Lookin" featuring Dwight Yoakam and David Hidalgo of Los Lobos was in Five Star rotation on VH-1. * Duets with Willie Nelson and Mavis Staples appear on BZs "Five Card Stud" album. Eric Clapton was a featured guest on Bucks version of "Why Does Love Got To Be So Sad?" Buck played on Keith Richards' "Talk Is Cheap" album. Hes been featured at jam sessions with Clapton, Neil Young, Robert Plant, Ringo Starr, Gregg Allman, Jimmy Buffett, John Hiatt, The Neville Brothers, Bonnie Raitt, Andy Summers and countless other well-known musicians. * BZ songs are featured in many major motion pictures including "The Waterboy," "Mission to Mars," "Little Buddha," "Gone Fishin," "Fletch Lives," "The Big Easy," "Casual Sex," "Little Monsters" and "Hard Target," as well as on TV shows such as "Northern Exposure" and "A Different World." * BZ songs can be heard on national TV commercials for Cheerios, Lincoln Mercury, Toyota, Coke and Budweiser, and in regional TV commercials for Leinenkugels Beer. See more
