CJ Chenier

When zydeco superstar C.J. Chenier stepped onto the main stage at the 2001 Chicago Blues Festival and looked over the crowd of 60,000 eager fans, he had one thing in mind: get them on their feet and make them dance. Almost immediately after launching into their first song, C.J. Chenier and The Red Hot Louisiana Band had people young and old shaking their hips and cheering in unison. With a solo career dating back to 1987 and five previous albums under his belt, C.J. Chenier is widely and wildly regarded as one of the genre’s best singers, musicians and live performers. According to The Boston Globe, “C.J. Chenier attacks the accordion with the tension and drive of James Brown...creating contemporary, turbo-charged dance music.” Living Blues magazine named C.J. Chenier “the best living zydeco singer and accordionist,” and Billboard called him “the heir to the zydeco throne.”
C.J.’s music has always embraced the traditions of his famous father, zydeco legend Clifton Chenier, but he continues to push the music to new levels. “I won’t limit myself,” says C.J., and it’s clear why. Born and raised away from the Louisiana bayou in the housing projects of Port Arthur, Texas, C.J. was aware of his father’s music but also had other tastes. He liked James Brown and Funkadelic, John Coltrane and Miles Davis. He learned saxophone early on and as a teenager played in black Top 40 bands in Port Arthur. He studied music in college and dreamed of making it as a jazz or funk player.
After Clifton’s death in 1987, C.J. inherited his dad’s accordion as well as The Red Hot Louisiana Band. But he took his father’s music and built upon it, adding elements of the music he grew up with and infusing traditional zydeco with a contemporary punch. When asked about his accordion playing, C.J. is quick to defer to his father, whom “nobody could ever touch,” as C.J. says. But others have formed their own opinions. According to Blues Revue, “Whether he and his band of red hots burn on rocking contemporary songs or simmer on traditional country waltzes, C.J. Chenier is poised to be zydeco’s new torch bearer.”
After taking over The Red Hot Louisiana Band, C.J. forged ahead, releasing three solo albums (one on Arhoolie and two on Slash) and playing hundreds of gigs. The band attracted the attention of fans, critics and fellow musicians by playing major festivals like the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, San Diego’s Street Scene, and Milwaukee’s Summerfest. Singer/songwriter Paul Simon heard C.J. and handpicked him to play on his Rhythm Of The Saints album, then asked him to join his “Born At The Right Time” tour. A few years later C.J. showed up as a guest on the Gin Blossom’s New Miserable Experience album.