Zydeco Force

We're Back! proclaims the cover of the new CD released in spring 2000 by Zydeco Force recorded for J&S Records of Ville Platte.  Those of us at LSUE who were in the Acadian Center the Monday afternoon before Mardi Gras 2000 when Zydeco Force performed at the annual St. Landry Parish Council on Aging Dance already knew that.  Before a crowd the was a combination of elderly parish residents and out-of-state Mardi Gras visitors, Jeffery Broussard, one of the top accordion players in zydeco, showed that he had not lost his touch. The band's performance featured a wide range of styles, from the "double-clutchin" funk sound that the group helped to initiate back in the late 1980s to a more traditional rural French zydeco sound. The son of the late Delton Broussard, who led the Lawtell Playboys, Jeffery Broussard showed during his LSUE performance that he can still play and sing a diverse repertoire of French zydeco numbers along with the songs in English that make up most of the group's new CD.

Zydeco Force was established in 1988, led by Robby "Mann" Robinson on bass. Robinson has also written and arranged many of the band's songs. As the band's popularity grew, Zydeco Force not only drew large crowds to South Louisiana dance halls but also toured the country, including a performance on ABC's Good Morning America. According to Herman Fuselier, their music was also used in a Windex.commercial and   was featured in the remake of the Disney movie Shaggy Dog. When by the mid-1990s other groups began to eclipse their popularity , Zydeco Force split up. However, none of the band members seems to have found real satisfaction musically playing with other groups, so now, at the start of a new millennium, Zydeco Force is back, better than ever.

Earlier CDs released by Zydeco Force include It's La La Time (1995), The Zydeco Push (1994: the title cut helped to spark a new zydeco dance style), Shaggy Dog Two-Step (1992), The Sun's Going Down (1991), and Zydeco Force (1990), all recorded on the Maison de Soul label.

The new CD, We're Back! includes some of the group's previous hits like "Madeline," "B-Flat" ("I ain't going to play my C no more," Broussard sings, referring to the tuning of his accordion), and "Just Because" along with new songs like "Love to Zydeco," "Country Days," "Brittany Two-Step," "All White Girls Love to Zydeco," "Pretty Eyes" (in French), and Zyde'Y2K."

The other band members on the new  are Raymond Thomas, drums; Shelton Broussard, rhythm guitar and lead guitar plus vocals; Shelton Sonnier, rhythm guitar and lead guitar plus vocals; Demetric Thomas, scrubboard.

For more information on the band, contact Robby "Mann" Robinson, P.O. Box 7257, Opelousas, LA 70571, (337) 942-2790, or sharonr@eatel.net.

Jeffery Broussard is shown in the top two pictures performing with Zydeco Force on May 20, 2000, on the front steps of the St. Landry Parish Court House in Opelousas on the day when Opelousas was declared the Zydeco Capital of the World. The program commemorated Clifton Chenier's origins in St. Landry Parish, so Zydeco Force performed several of the Chenier songs that are also included on their earlier recordings.   Robby "Mann" Robinson is shown below and beside him a shot of Jeffery when Zydeco Force played at LSUE for the Council on Aging Dance the Monday before Mardi Gras 2000. Beneath that is a shot of Jeffery when he played with the High Rollers at the Crowley Rice Festival in October 1999. After a brief period with the High Rollers following the death of Beau Jocque, Broussard became part of the new millennium version of Zydeco Force. The group shots are from the performance on the court house steps and, shown below, the performance in the LSUE Acadian Center.

All photographs and text by David Simpson.

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