Of course, it's always great to schmooze with the 'Net community, make new friends and new connections, and escape the Chicago winter for a few precious days. But the true highlight has to be wandering the streets of the French Quarter, soaking up the sights and the sounds emanating from every corner shop with a stuffed 'gator and 500 bottles of hot sauce on the wall. Invariably that sound is zydeco, a genuine melting pot of French Arcadian and African music, the indigenous music of Southern Louisiana. Music is seldom as joyous as zydeco and, not surprising for a town with a serious party rep, zydeco is everywhere from the Big Easy down to the swamps and bayous farther south. Two new Putumayo collections wonderfully document the diversity of zydeco music from rollicking party tunes to bluesier slow-burners.
Few collections span the older styles and today's popular bands as effectively.
Louisiana Gumbo is zydeco, but so much more. Pick up both and then head on down to the Big Easy and eat yourself silly at Antoines, Nola, and K Pauls. All rights reserved.