Wayne Toups

In fall 2005, Wayne Toups returned to his roots with a CD of traditional Cajun songs, performed with the same energy and commitment that have made his zydecajun style popular with crowds everywhere but minus the rock-influenced keyboard and some of the hard-driving rhythms that have been a major influence on many younger Cajun musicians.

There's less, but there's also much more: Toups' heartfelt vocals on songs like "Memoires de mon coeur," his versions of classics by Belton Richard like "Le paradis des musiciens" and "Je veux plus te voir" and Camey Doucet's "C'est ça que me fait du mal," Marty Broussard's lively steel guitar, and Chad Cormier on fiddle played with less flash than he typically displays but ample originality improvising within the tradition. Other songs include "Trop jeune pour se marier," "Reno Waltz," "Quand j'etais pauvre," "Wafus Two Step," "Trops jours après ma mort," "Creole Stomp," "La lettre qu'elle m'a laissée" (by Jean Arceneaux a.k.a. Barry Ancelet, who plays triangle on the CD), and Iry LeJeune's "Petit monde" and "Church Point Breakdown"

Toups' ends the CD with a tribute to Iry LeJeune and his accordion style with an acoustic medley consisting of "Jolie Catin," "La valse du grands chemins," and "La Valse de Bayou Chêne." In between songs, the musicians chat in French, recreating the sounds of a studio session from decades past.

Wearing a red and a black Jimi Hendrix shirt, Wayne Toups is shown at top left during Festivals Acadiens 2005 in Lafayette and in other photos at the2005 International Rice Festival in Crowley. During the Crowley performance before a hometown audience, many in the crowd joined to sing along on numbers like Johnnie Allan's "La bague que brille."

The CD has French lyrics with an English translation (though you may need a magnifying glass to read the small print).

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Chad Cormier at Festivals Acadiens

Wayne Toups

and Zydecajun