Buxckwheat Zydeco Receives Grammy Award Nomination
BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO RECEIVES GRAMMY AWARD NOMINATION FOR 2009 RELEASE, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN
CATEGORY 72 -- Best Zydeco Or Cajun Music Album
Buckwheat Zydeco - Lay Your Burden Down (Alligator Records)
Buckwheat Zydeco - Lay Your Burden Down (Alligator Records)
American musical icon and bandleader Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. and his band Buckwheat Zydeco (who are celebrating their 30th anniversary together) received a Grammy Award nomination for their Alligator Records debut CD, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN. The CD was produced by Los Lobos' Steve Berlin and features guests Warren Haynes, Sonny Landreth, JJ Grey, Trombone Shorty, and Berlin. Awards will be announced on January 31, 2010 in Los Angeles.Since its release on May 5, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN has received some of the best reviews of the year for a roots/blues album. USA Today says the CD is "a zydeco trailblazer with a soulful bayou-steeped set of originals and covers." Living Blues adds, "Buckwheat Zydeco returns with a new release on famed Chicago blues label Alligator Records, and the results are stunning." Blues RevueSonicboomers.com, which named LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN an "Album Of The Week," called it "a vastly entertaining and appealingly diverse package."
Scott Simon, on National Public Radio's Weekend Edition Saturday - in a nearly 10 minute feature airing shortly after the album's release - brought Buckwheat Zydeco's music to millions of listeners across the country. Simon called leader Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. "the go-to guy for zydeco music...a master of accordion and organ," and praised the new CD's scope from "feel good, get-up-and-dance music to slow R&B grooves and brooding blues." Simon's far ranging discussion with Dural was heard by more than five million listeners worldwide, helping to kick-start the 30th anniversary celebration.
The album remained on the Billboard Blues Chart for six weeks, and landed in rotation on top tastemaker radio stations nationwide including WXPN in Philadelphia (where Buckwheat Zydeco taped a World Café performance), WYEP in Pittsburgh, WYMS in Milwaukee, WWOZ in New Orleans, KRSH in Santa Rosa, CA, and KUT in Austin, TX, with new music airplay from WXRT in Chicago and WFUV in New York City, among many others.
As Living Blues says, "The entire work is a vibrant testament to Buckwheat Zydeco's spirit, reminding us that Louisiana's musical heritage has taken all the hurricanes could give. This is an album that can introduce a new generation of music fans to the world of zydeco music and serve as a wonderful reminder about what a great zydeco band can do."
THE PRESS SPEAKS ABOUT BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO:
Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural celebrates his 30th year as a zydeco trailblazer with a soulful, bayou-steeped set of originals and covers by artists as diverse as Jimmy Cliff, Bruce Springsteen and Captain Beefheart.
-- USA Today
On this sucker he nails it firm and deep. The opener, When The Levee Breaks, the Memphis Minnie/Kansas Joe McCoy classic known to rock fans from Led Zep's version, signals that something magical is happening here with its Louisiana-style Southern rock fury. With the able assistance of Steve Berlin as producer, the singer and accordionist creates a potent brand of Greater Gulf Music. By the time this delicious disc cools down on the closing grace note instrumental waltz of Finding My Way Back Home, you know you're in the presence of bayou music greatness.
-- Blurt.com
Ace accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural) celebrates his 30th anniversary in the business with the hands-down best album he's ever waxed, moving away from straight zydeco and into a vital, ultra-soulful zone of his own. Is this the R&B-based zydeco with which Dural made his bones? No. It's something deeper and better.
--The Boston Herald
Buckwheat Zydeco, has been carrying the torch for his eponymous music for more than three decades. He functions brilliantly outside the confines of zydeco. The CD is a vastly entertaining and appealingly diverse package. Bandleader Dural remains an ever-engaging vocalist and a whiz on any keyboard he touches. So, for Buckwheat Zydeco fans, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN finds the maestro and his group near the top of their form. For listeners with less interest in the ol' accordion get-down, the collection supplies enough interesting wrinkles to get the good times rolling.
-- Sonicboomers.com
Dural has put together a collection of thoughtful, wide-ranging songs that may not have been originally intended for the accordion, but still come up pulsating with the Buckwheat spirit. They create a work of intense emotion, passion and hearty good times. It's a fine album, mixing Dural's multi-talented approach, thoughtful songwriting, and elegant production.
--Pittsburgh Post-Gazette
Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural, Jr.), is in terrific form on LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN. Buckwheat shines on accordion and vocals, and his tight band is superbly captured by producer Steve Berlin of Los Lobos.
--Detroit Free Press
Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural, Jr. and his namesake band are not just about zydeco, although that infectiously propulsive dance music of the singer-accordionist's native southern Louisiana is at the heart of just about everything the group does. Its new album, LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN, is a richly substantive collection that faces up to hard times while conveying a joyous sense of resilience.
--Philadelphia Inquirer
LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN ends up being Dural's most accomplished and mature album yet, moving from start to finish like everything belongs together. Nothing misses its mark, and several tracks do so much more than that. He has given us something else again, an album that works both at the dance party and still rings clear the next day when maybe it's time to dig deeper and do a little thinking. It's the best kind of musical synthesis.
--Allmusic.com
You can't attack a levee with a guitar, but Buckwheat Zydeco and Sonny Landreth seem to try on When the Levee Breaks. It's a startling and potent opening to an album that goes on to subvert all expectations. There's almost too much life on this near-bursting release, proving that 30 years into the music game, Buckwheat Zydeco is still brimming with ideas.
--Rhapsody.com
The entire work is a vibrant testament to Buckwheat Zydeco's spirit, reminding us that Louisiana's musical heritage has taken all the hurricanes could give. This is an album that can introduce a new generation of music fans to the world of zydeco music and serve as a wonderful reminder about what a great zydeco band can do. The results are stunning.
--Living Blues
Producer Steve Berlin captures Dural's natural bayou bounce but lets him wander into other territory while keeping one foot firmly in zydeco. But Dural's sound is as steeped in blues as in the joyous Louisiana soul at the heart of this outstanding, wonderfully diverse set.
--Blues Revue
continues, saying the album "is as steeped in blues as in the joyous Louisiana soul at the heart of this outstanding, wonderfully diverse set." Chris Morris, writing in
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