| Boozoo Chavis | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
 | ||||
| Studio album by | ||||
| Released | 1991 | |||
| Genre | Zydeco | |||
| Label | Elektra/Nonesuch | |||
| Producer | Terry Adams | |||
| Boozoo Chavis chronology | ||||
| ||||
Boozoo Chavis is an album by the American musician Boozoo Chavis, released in 1991. [1] [2] It was part of the Elektra/Nonesuch American Explorer series. [3] The album was the culmination of a comeback for Chavis that had begun in 1984. [4] [5] Chavis supported the album by playing the Newport Folk Festival. [6]
Boozoo Chavis was produced by Terry Adams; Adams and NRBQ had recorded a song titled "Boozoo, That's Who!" [7] [8] [9] The album was recorded in Louisiana over the course of four days, a long period of studio time for a Chavis album. [10] Two of Chavis's sons played on the album; Chavis's band used rubboard, bass, two guitars, and drums. [11] [12] Chavis did not always enjoy recording in a professional studio setting, even though Adams took a hands-off approach. [13] [14] Chavis performed a few solo numbers with just his accordion and vocals. [15]
Chavis first recorded some of the songs, such as "Tee Black", in the 1950s. [16] On "Forty One Days", he acknowledges his sometimes shaky sense of cadence: "If it's wrong, do it wrong." [17] "Bernadette" is performed as a ballad. [18] "Dog Hill" is about Chavis's neighborhood in Lake Charles, Louisiana. [19] Chavis sang some songs in a French-English dialect. [20]
| Review scores | |
|---|---|
| Source | Rating |
| AllMusic |    [21] |
| Calgary Herald | B [22] |
| Entertainment Weekly | B− [23] |
| Houston Chronicle | [5] |
| MusicHound World: The Essential Album Guide | [7] |
Entertainment Weekly wrote that Chavis's "shuffling snare drum is a mark of an authentic (even exemplary) excursion into zydeco." [23] The Austin American-Statesman noted that the production "gives the music the benefit of modern studio clarity without diminishing the rough-hewn immediacy that makes it sizzle." [24] The Calgary Herald concluded: "This is zydeco music without any of the slickness that has affected it in recent years, but with all the infectious joy that the music brings to listeners." [22]
The New York Times stated that "the tempos shuffle and jive, the melodies swagger; it's pure and primitive, with just a hint of down-home blues." [25] The Vancouver Sun deemed the album "a must for zydeco fans," writing that "he's got a knack for hilarious song titles ... is a masterful accordion player and can whoop it up with the best of them." [26] The Fort Worth Star-Telegram opined: "The difference between Chavis and many of his contemporaries, however, is how well he works within the rather limited boundaries of zydeco; he constantly varies the tempos and instrumentation, and his accordion lines are much more interesting than the usual easygoing zydeco oom-pah." [27]
AllMusic wrote that "the call and response can get a bit overly burdensome in the slow numbers, but there's an element of the rural sounds of zydeco throughout." [21]
| No. | Title | Length |
|---|---|---|
| 1. | "Boozoo's Theme Song" | |
| 2. | "I'm Ready Me" | |
| 3. | "Dog Hill" | |
| 4. | "Keep Your Dress Tail Down" | |
| 5. | "Johnnie Billy Goat" | |
| 6. | "Gilton" | |
| 7. | "Goin' to La Maison" | |
| 8. | "Forty One Days" | |
| 9. | "Oh Yae Yae" | |
| 10. | "Tee Black" | |
| 11. | "Zydeco Hee Haw" | |
| 12. | "Don't Worry About Boozoo" | |
| 13. | "Bernadette" |
