So said Chenier, who worked at the Lake Area's Gulf Oil refinery in the late 1940s. He played his accordion for tips by the front gate at the end of the workdays. Their book is the second one in less than a year on the music and culture. Sandmel has been following zydeco since before he came to Louisiana. The producer and drummer for the Hackberry Ramblers loves the freedom it gives percussionists.
Zydeco drummers seem to have free reign to go crazy in the middle of a vocal.
They drop these bombs out of nowhere, which I think is really cool. There's a wildness to it that appeals to me a lot. His first zydeco assignment was some dozen years ago at Richard's in Lawtell. In addition to the chapter on Chenier, there are ones on Boozoo Chavis, Buckwheat Dural, Warren Ceasar and Lynn August. Sandmel also writes about the delicate issue of race in the black culture of zydeco.