Archive Files of Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco Musicians
Posted between 1999 and 2008

T-Broussard and
the Zydeco Steppers

Click for photos posted on Flickr.

Click here to go to the Official Web Site of T Broussard and the Zydeco Steppers.
Click here to go to the band's MySpace page.

Note: T Broussard's 2008 CD is titled Super T.
Go to his web site for details.

2007 CD:
Zydeco Lover

In their 2007 CD, Zydeco Lover, T-Broussard and the Zydeco Steppers offer 12 original cuts ranging from slow to fast, traditional to contemporary, meeting the needs of listeners who love Zydeco and especially those who have found love through Zydeco. T-Broussard tells us in one song that he is a Zydeco Lover looking for a “Zydeco Diva.” “Thing Called Love” is a slow drag, and, in the next cut, “Nice and Slow” has a comfortable beat that matches the lyrics: “you’re nice and slow when you zydeco.” “Lost My Woman” also rolls along smoothly, even if the lyrics describe a broken relationship involving another woman. Other songs like “Get Your Boogie On” pick up the pace without breaking the mood. The CD includes two songs in French, “Jolie Femme,” an expression of love for a pretty woman, and “Old Time Waltz,” about the pain of missing a woman, with the beat suddenly accelerating into zydeco toward the end.

The CD was recorded by Chris Ardoin at his Backroom Studios in Lake Charles.

Photos taken May 5, 2007, at the Breaux Bridge Crawfish Festival. Click on thumbnails.

Mary Jane
Broussard, who
sings on two of
the cuts, is
shown at Festivals Acadiens in
2005. Click thumbnail for larger photo.

2006 CD: Knock Knock

T-Broussard has released another CD that offers both contemporary zydeco sounds and some old style Creole music, including two songs sung by his mother Mary Jane Broussard, niece of the legendary Bois Sec Ardoin. The title cut sets up a nice smooth groove. "I Don't Know" is an appealing version of zydeco boogaloo. "Belly Rub" is a romantic slow drag. "Never Gonna Give Up" offers motivation both in the lyrics and the beat. The CD includes seven other original songs in English, plus a couple of French originals, "Pray for Me" and "Tonight I'm Getting Drunk." Mary Jane Broussard sings "Quo Faire" and "Lacassine Two-Step." The CD was released by Keith Frank's Soulwood Records (Keith is among the musicians who performed with T-Broussard on the CD).

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The photos were at the the Yambilee Building in Opelousas August 30,2003, at the Zydeco Throwdown organized by Cullen Washington. That's Classie Ballou on bass with his trademark cloth fluttering at the end of his guitar stem.

T-Broussard's full name is Bryant Keith Broussard. He is the son of Mary Jane Ardoin Broussard, the only female Creole accordionist. His great uncles include the legendary Bois Sec Ardoin and Carlton Frank, the renowned Creole fiddler. His cousin is Keith Frank.

With that rich musical heritage, T-Broussard was literally born to play zydeco. As a child, he played drums and scrubboard with his mother when she performed. He learned the accordion and in 1993 established his own band. As he explained to Todd Ortego on the "Swamp and Roll" television program, he slid into a life that ultimately led to incarceration for a time, a experience he seems to be singing about when he explains, "I say the zydeco two-step. It means the world. I never realized what it meant to me til it was that zydeco they took from me."

T-Broussard has now definitely re-established himself and returned to zydeco with an excellent 2003 CD, Git It On, Git It On. The CD features 11 original songs, including T-Broussard's Creole version of "Cajun from Church Point," reworked in French as "Creole from the Country." Among the other songs are "T-Bo Party" ("There ain't no party like a T-Bo Party"), "Waiting for My Ya Ya," "Honky Tonk Zydeco" (described as "Hilly Billy Zydeco"), and "T-Broussard's in the Land," which begins with Classie Ballou's thumping bass. T-Broussard offers a mellower side of zydeco in "3 O'Clock in the Morning" and "Don't Want You No More."

The CD Git It On, Git It On was released by SoulWood Records. Other musicians in addition to T-Broussard and Classie Ballou are Eddie Sinegal on scrubboard, Paul Levan on drums, and Keith Frank on guitar.

T-Broussard also recorded Party Time, a CD with Robby Robinson's Zydeco Warriers (after Zydeco Force had dissolved), released in 1999 by Louisiana Red Hot Records.

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T-Broussard in 2004

T-Broussard is shown performing with the Zydeco Steppers during a program on Creole and Zydeco music at the Strand Theater in Jennings. Among the other performers was his mother, Mary Jane Broussard, shown at lower right, the only female accordionist currently playing in the traditional Creole style.

Updated 6-5-07.
All photographs and text by David Simpson.

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