Can't Sit Down

CJ Chenier is the son of the late, great Clifton Chenier, the black Louisiana accordion player whose zydeco recordings on Arhoolie Records in the 1960s and 70s helped establish the blues-flavoured Cajun offshoot as a genre of its own. Like his father, CJ also plays accordion and sings – yet he sticks to English while Clifton often sung in a French patois. CJ shares with his father a high-energy style that is certain to keep people dancing all night. The big differences are in their approaches: CJ wants to win as broad an audience as possible and so adds rock guitar and flute to certain tunes (not always effectively). He also mixes original material he has written with songs his dad wrote and a handful of songs from outside the zydeco tradition. Big Joe Williams’ perennial blues chestnut ‘Baby Please Don't Go’, Tom Waits’ ‘Clap Hands’, Richard M Jones’ timeless ‘Trouble In Mind’, John Lee Hooker's ‘Dusty Road’ and Curtis Mayfield's ‘We Gotta Have Peace’ all get zydecofied to varying levels of success. Mostly these covers work simply because CJ grapples with them with such enthusiasm that they fall into line. But the album's strongest tunes are ‘Red Shack Zydeco’ and ‘Hot Tamale Baby’, which are simple, infectious accordion dance numbers. CJ obviously wants a broad audience but he might consider that doing what he does best – playing down home Louisiana zydeco – is what should win him this. Recorded live in the studio, Can't Sit Down is a lot of fun.