Accordionist and guitarist Al Rapone, the brother of zydeco’s celebrated Queen Ida, powered his sister’s rise while carving out his own path as a solo artist. Born Al Lewis in Lake Charles, Louisiana, in 1936, he first grasped the accordion at thirteen. After the family moved to California, he was already appearing regularly on West Coast stages by the early 1950s. Within a few years he added guitar and became a sought-after sideman on the San Francisco blues scene, supporting Big Mama Thornton, Clarence Gatemouth Brown, and Jimmy Reed. While in college he trained in composing, producing, and arranging; once graduated he started a band with his sister. When Queen Ida stepped back to raise a family, Rapone launched the Bon Ton Zydeco Band and shaped a distinctive style that merged his sharp guitar lines with zydeco accordion and country rhythms. Ida began joining the group in the mid-1970s. As her profile grew, the Bon Ton Zydeco Band became her regular backing unit. Rapone remained her lead sideman, producer, and arranger, overseeing the 1982 Grammy-winning Queen Ida and the Bon Ton Zydeco Band on Tour and writing one of her signature pieces, “Frisco Zydeco.” He soon departed to resume solo work, achieving his strongest reception in Germany with albums such as 1982’s Cajun Creole Music and 1984’s C’est La Vie. On returning to the United States he made New Orleans his home and released Zydeco to Go in 1990.
