Biography
Born Joseph Adam Mouton on 25 October 1943 in Lafayette, Louisiana, USA, he died in the same city on 17 November 2007. At age 13, while laboring as a field hand, Mouton mastered the guitar without formal lessons and soon earned widespread respect throughout his hometown. Although performances remained largely confined to the Lafayette area, the musician universally known as Zydeco Joe developed an international standing inside Cajun music circles. His singing, delivered chiefly in French Creole and occasionally in English with frequent on-the-spot lyric changes, conveyed the energetic character of the music he played. A brief period alongside Rockin’ Dopsie ended when he assembled Laissez Le Bon Temps Roulez in the late 1980s; he subsequently fronted the group at local dances and festivals that included the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival, the Folklife Festival in Eunice, and Festivals Acadiens. Each appearance drew additional listeners and thereby extended his reputation by personal recommendation. The steady personnel of Zydeco Joe’s band comprised Classie Ballou on bass, Cornelius Guidry on guitar, Joseph Edwards on scrubboard, and Kevin Menard on drums. The same self-produced debut album Jack Rabbit also featured guitarist Debra Kennedy, bass player Junius Antoine, scrubboard player T-Don Landry, and drummer Johnny Batiste. At roughly the same moment he launched the band, Mouton began accordion playing, acquiring most of his technique on his own while receiving lessons from Dudley Broussard, his wife’s uncle. Songs that appeared in his sets included ‘Jack Rabbit Zydeco’, ‘They Tried To Steal My Chicken’, ‘Caroline Riding In The Buggy’, ‘Black Cat’, ‘Mama Fred’s Back Yard’, ‘Poppa Jack’, ‘Creole Life’, ‘Why Can’t We Get Together’, ‘You Can’t Rooster Like You Used To’ and ‘Zydecoin’ Everywhere’. Toward the close of his career he began performing outside the Louisiana-Texas border region and learned that his renown had already arrived ahead of him. His sudden death resulted from strep pneumonia.
Albums
