I've been doing extensive research with my harmonicas trying to decide what key to get my next box in. (yeah, I know, a harmonica is like playing with only the two middle reeds open, but I still like them) Last night Bb sounded really nice. My favorite song on Charles Thibodeax's album, "Cafe Chaud", is in Bb and it just winds me up. Hmmmm, decisions decisions.

Capt. E.

Yah can't go wrong if you play it right

Seriously though .. follow your vocal.

Buy the key that you are the most comfortable singing in.

--Big

(Your results may vary )

It's tough to decide these things.

I have accordions in 4 keys: A, Bb, C and D. I seem to always come back to the Bb as being my mainstay key.

And it's not just the vocal thing either. If anything, I should be on the A more than the Bb as far as that goes.

-David

I know fiddle players are supposed to hate Bb, perhaps why you don't see fiddles much in Zydeco. Bb seems to have an energy not found with C and D. Not as sweet, of course, but more emotional, true of just about all those keys on the flat side of the circle of fifths.

Capt. E.

Fiddles were gone in zydeco long before Bb single row accordions came on the scene. In fact, with just a very few exceptions, zydeco never had fiddles in the first place. That is one of the distinguishing characteristics: Cajun almost always has fiddles, and Zydeco almost never has fiddles.

-David

Times have changed yet again, my friend!

I know of three Lousiana Creole Zydeco bands with fiddles in them!

Can you name them?

-DP

I can name twice that many, if we're talking electric/modern, and not acoustic:

1) Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys
2) Geno Delafose & French Rockin' Boogie
3) Dexter Ardoin & the Creole Ramblers
4) Preston Frank & Family
4) Keith Frank's Creole Connection aka "The Masked Band"
5) Corey Ledet & Cedric Watson Duo aka "Gong Down To Louisiana" Valcour Records release
6) Lisa Haley and the ... JUST KIDDING! Hahahaha...

So what the hell do I win? Or am I missing one?

R!CK

Ya got all the one's I know, and a few I was NOT thinking of...

You have won a Beautiful Air Accordion!

Kind of like an "air guitar" but it sounds like an accordion. And boy is this one sweet sounding box!

Jolie bon!
(Even has Mitered corners )

This is the problem with labels, isn't it.

Note that I left some wiggle room in my statement. As a general rule it holds true: Zydeco *almost* never has fiddles.

I am very well aware of zydeco type bands with fiddles. Heck, Clifton had a big hit with his uncle playing the fiddle. But that was somewhat of a novelty. The first Zydeco band I ever saw was Queen Ida, and she has pretty much always had a fiddle. But you might say that her style is something of a hybrid. So, in a sense, times have not changed at all: there has always been *some* use of fiddles in the music that is within the zydeco spectrum.

I see you added Creole to the description of the genre, and I think I see where you are going with that. There is not universal agreement on terminology, but we could add a third genre to our collection of labels: Cajun, Zydeco and Creole. An excellent example of the Creole genre, is Canray Fontenot and Bois Sec Ardoin. Canray was very outspoken about the fact that he did not play zydeco. And yet it wasn't exactly Cajun, was it? If we have the third category, what would we do with it? Would we say that Preston Frank is Zydeco or Creole? What about Jeffrey Broussard, in his current stylistic incarnation?

Many of the Creole Zydeco bands today which have fiddle in them, might be thought of as more on the Creole side than the zydeco side. Or, that they switch around between the styles.

Such distinctions are arbitrary, and serve at best as generalizations.

It's interesting to think about.

But regardless of all that, the point I was trying to make in my previous post was not that zydeco rarely has fiddles. The point was that the rarity of fiddles in zydeco had nothing to do with the emergence of the Bb accordion in the late 80's and early 90's.

-David

We know.

But it's just so much fun to give you a hard time!

Poullard and Ardoin have a fiddle in their Creole band. Saw them in San Antonio last October.

I think fiddles are cool, but for the most part, not a "progressive" instrument. What I mean by this is, they fit best in a traditional sense -- and tend to color music with a "country" feel. This is probably why you don't find a lot of fiddles in current zydeco.

Creole music? You bet. But the Creole label could include Caribbean genres as well. So you've almost got to say, Louisiana Creole music. But then that could include some NOLA trad-jazz, too. You almost have to specifically spell it out... Louisiana Acadian Traditional Fiddle Creole Music.

R!CK