Terrance Simien and the Mallet Playboys



Although the now immensely popular zydeco and Cajun musics grew from the same,
wet Acadiana ground, outside influences molded them differently. Cajun grafted country
western onto French ballads and Acadian folk tunes. Zydeco evolved parallel to Cajun
music but was strongly influenced by a love of southern Louisiana Creoles for blues
music.

When Clifton Chenier took his new mixture of blues and French waltzes out to Los
Angeles in the 1950s, homesick blacks from Louisiana and East Texas (who had
migrated to California for work) packed little clubs to hear his completely original
accordion blues music. Others, mainly LA session musicians (such as Steve Miller and
Ry Cooder) took notice, too.

Nowadays, it seems as if you can't go anywhere without hearing zydeco. The Madison
Avenue advertising firms never seem to tire of using zydeco's fun, uptempo sound for
selling cars and other objects that appear to need “excitement.” The good time
irresistibility of the music has gained a large worldwide following; acts like Terrance
Simien, Buckwheat Zydeco, and CJ Chenier tour incessantly. All three play more
regularly in clubs in Chicago, New York, and LA than they do in their homes in and near
Lafayette.

Until his death this year, the eldest zydeco pioneer and star was the eccentric and very
funny Boozoo Chavis, considered the king of the hill since Clifton Chenier passed away.
That is, until Beau Jocque burst onto the scene in 1992. His souped-up, James
Brown?ed version of zydeco breathed new life into the music, and made its complexion
flushed and funky. Beau Jocque and Boozoo (who sold underwear at his concerts, with
his image printed on them and the words “Take Em Off and Throw Em in the Corner,”
and “Let Me Play With Your Poodle!”) once engaged in largely friendly cutting contests.
But Beau Jocque was in many ways a traditionalist, who very successfully added new
elements. For a short few years, Boozoo again regained his title after the enormously tall
Beau Jocque died suddenly of a heart attack at age 45 in 1999.

Although Beau Jocque's sound influenced every single newer act down in Acadiana,
veteran Terrance Simien's sound and approach were already long established. In his
case, New Orleans R&B is as strong an influence as Clifton Chenier. Simien's voice has
been described as the best in zydeco, and certainly is. His voice and much of his
approach has been strongly influenced by Aaron Neville's countryish warble and smooth
attack.

Thirty-five year old accordionist Simien may not be a zydeco traditionalist, but he is the
best practitioner of a “nouveau zydeco.” The Mallet, Louisiana native brings to his music
a strong New Orleans sound not otherwise seen in music from the southwestern
Louisiana parishes. With his charm and Creole handsome good looks, he cuts quite a
figure onstage, where he prefers to play barefoot and with his wild hair flying.
A single bar of any of his songs shows a resemblance to the Neville Brothers sound,
what with Simien's Aaron Neville-influenced voice, and a mixing of other elements into
his zydeco--primarily rock and R&B, but also reggae. Simien and band, the Mallet
Playboys, came into their own organic sound without any direct Neville influence. “It's
funny, you know, but I never saw the Nevilles until 1985, which is when I saw Aaron for
the first time, too. It was the most incredible thing I've ever heard. Since then I've just
gotten all over their music. The way they sing, all that Meters funk thing. I didn't even
know that it existed in my music until I began to travel outside Louisiana. People would
tell us that we sounded something like the Neville Brothers. When I finally went to hear
them, it changed the whole way I look at music. There I am still trying to yodel.”
Bringing rock and other styles into zydeco isn't so unusual nowadays (Buckwheat
Zydeco also does it with great success), but a powerful singing voice is unusual in this
music. Because zydeco is exclusively a dance music, the vocals normally aren't very
interesting (aside from being sung, exotically enough, in French). Growing up, Simien
sharpened his voice in the black church of Saint Ann's in rural Mallet, just down the road
from the famous Richard?s zydeco dance club. His records include songs that can't really
be categorized as zydeco, and even lack accordion playing.

Ever since his 1990 debut record Zydeco on the Bayou (Restless Records), Simien has
become a national household name and makes appearances at countless festivals year
round. He is most famous for his appearance in the film The Big Easy, for which he cowrote
“Closer to You” with star Dennis Quaid. When Quaid's character takes Ellen
Barken to Tipitina's, Terrance Simien and the Mallet Playboys are playing onstage.
Since beginning his professional career at 17, Simien has become zydeco's crown
prince. He has made a White House appearance for an inaugural ball--backing Stevie
Wonder playing harmonica--for President Clinton. He recorded with Paul Simon and
toured with Robert Palmer and Los Lobos. Several of his songs have been used in major
motion pictures and national advertising campaigns.

Simien's second record in 1993, There's Room for Us All (Black Top Records) was one
of the few zydeco records reviewed by Rolling Stone magazine. It is also one of the best
zydeco records around, and intersperses R&B and a Bob Dylan cover of “I Shall Be
Released” with hot zydeco. Like the old jazz player's trick of quoting from popular songs
during a solo, Simien tosses in Jackson Five phrases in “Zydeco Boogaloo.” Add a
Dickie Betts-style guitar solo and punchy drumming throughout and the result is one of
the genre's classics. Showing his love of New Orleans funk, Simien includes two songs
backed by the Meters, one of which is a sexy version of the King Floyd soul classic,
“Groove Me.” The rest of this very nice record uses several of New Orleans' best session
musicians on other covers of classic zydeco songs and Simien originals.

Although fluent in French, Simien doesn't often sing in the language. “I don't do it as
much as I used to because not that many people understand it anymore. We usually do
about 3 songs each set in French. But if someone requests something in French, we are
happy to do it.”

The most interesting recent project Simien is a self-produced zydeco recording for
children. Narrated by a wise old cypress tree, it is the story of a rural Louisiana Creole
man, zydeco, Creole cooking, and local history.

“That was real fun to research all the old people in the neighborhood, to hear different
stories and songs about the Creole culture. One song came from an old lady from the
neighborhood. It's in French and came from her grandmother who was a child at the time
of the Civil War. I had never heard it before, but kids sang it when the war was coming to
an end and they knew they'd be free. I sing the French part and then sing the English. I
just sing it a cappella probably because this was before the accordion really came to
zydeco music.”

An English portion of the song translated by Simien proves to be an intriguing and
musically complex slave chant.

“A lot of stuff got lost and never got recorded,” Simien laments. “With me, people would
start off singing a song like that and then be embarrassed and stop. I'd be like, „sing,
sing! We can share this stuff with the world!?”

Simien undertook another project because he figured that there are lots of Mardi Gras
songs, so why not a New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival song? Consequently, the
title song from his Jam the Jazzfest, is often heard at the New Orleans Jazz Fest, which
is growing in popularity exponentially every year. A line from the song promises that
coming to Fest will be “the most fun you'll ever have without getting undressed.” The EP
on Tone Cool Records (1998) includes a New Orleans medley Simien has done live for
years: “Iko-Iko/Brother John/Jambalaya,” that comes with steel drums to add a floating
Caribbean feel. The 5-song EP adds a rollicking zydeco “Macque Choux” (named after a
popular Cajun sidedish of spiced corn) and “May Your Music Live On,” a tribute to the
late John Delafose, who was a major influence on Simien's playing. “May Your Music”
features an echoing accordion as a backdrop to Simien's love for his mentor and a wish
to see him in heaven.

Simien tours without much of a break all year, and especially hard in summer. When
home, he only manages to play Grant Street Dancehall in Lafayette once or twice a
year.

“When I'm home, we're in the studio a lot. That and my wife has me doing all those
things I don't do when I'm gone.” Simien's wife Cynthia holds down the fort while her
husband is gone, and is plenty busy since she also manages the band and raises their
young daughter, Marcella. The fourth-grader is musically talented and has perfect pitch.
Most of the Mallet Playboys have been with Simien for some time. They include Danny
Williams on keyboards and background vocals, Darwell Davis on drums and background
vocals, Ralph Fontenot playing frottoir and spoons, Harold Scott on bass, and Wayne
Dalcourt on lead guitar. They will soon release Tribute Sessions with Australian AIM
Records.
©Offbeat Magazine 2001, reprinted in Baltimore Blues Rag 2002

– download pdf