Buckwheat Zydeco

Buckwheat Zydeco, the band USA Today called zydeco trailblazers, won a Grammy Award for LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN in the Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album category. The band has been nominated five previous times in three different categories. This is their first Grammy Award. OffBeat called LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN the bands most adventurous disc yet. American musical icon and bandleader Stanley Buckwheat Dural, Jr. has been leading the band for 30 years. Im thrilled the album won the Grammy, says Dural. We really appreciate it. Thanks to all of our fans who have been so supportive over the years. Now come out and see us next time were in your town. Buckwheat Zydeco recorded LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana with Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) producing as well as leading the horn section. Guest stars including Louisiana slide guitar wizard Sonny Landreth, Govt Mule and Allman Brothers guitarist Warren Haynes and Alligator label mate JJ Grey (on their own compositions) and New Orleans phenomenon Trombone Shorty lent their formidable talents. The album boasts five new Buckwheat originals and complete reinventions of songs by Memphis Minnie (When The Levee Breaks, made famous by Led Zeppelin), Bruce Springsteen (Back In Your Arms), Govt Mule (Lay Your Burden Down), Captain Beefheart (Too Much Time), Jimmy Cliff (Let Your Yeah Be Yeah) and JJ Grey & Mofro (The Wrong Side). LAY YOUR BURDEN DOWN has received terrific reviews. Living Blues says, Buckwheat Zydeco returns with a new release on famed Chicago blues label Alligator Records, and the results are stunning. 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 Sonicboomers.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 Radios Weekend Edition Saturday - in a nearly 10 minute feature airing shortly after the albums release - brought Buckwheat Zydecos 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 CDs scope from feel good, get-up-and-dance music to slow R&B grooves and brooding blues. Simons far ranging discussion with Dural was heard by more than five million listeners worldwide, helping to start the 30th anniversary celebration. The album remained on the Billboard Blues Chart for weeks, and has landed in rotation on top tastemaker radio stations nationwide including WXPN in Philadelphia, WTEP in Pittsburgh, WYMS in Milwaukee, WFDU in Teaneck, NJ, KRSH in Santa Rosa, CA, 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 Zydecos spirit, reminding us that Louisianas 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.