You're hearing some hot-sounding Zydeco in the latest release from Horace Trahan and the New Ossun Express. It's called "Reach Out and Touch A Hand" and is on Eunice-based Zydeco Hound Records.

Trahan, a 25-year old Carencro native, is lead singer and top-notch accordion player of this increasingly popular Zydeco band.
He has played accordion for about a decade and written songs about half that time.

Trahan started in the 1990s as a traditional Cajun music player. He shifted to zydeco with the release of his 2000 Zydeco Hound release "Get On Board."
He is backed by a seasoned quartet of players who know south Louisiana Cajun and zydeco music like the backs of their dexterous hands.
Trahan is backed up on guitar by Paul "Slim" Washington. John "The Sheriff" Best plays that scrubboard like there's no tomorrow. James Prejean is on bass. And Paul "Bird" Delafoss keeps the beat on those solid drums and sings on "Crawfish Got Soul" and "Oh Ye Yie."

The catchy title track opens the album like a thunderstorm over the Gulf on a sticky summer day.  Trahan said "Reach Out and Touch a Hand" is his favorite song because of its racial harmony message, a theme that reflects the band's diversity.
"I like it because it tells you that people are people," Trahan said. "This isn't the 1950s, this is 2001."
You'll be really shaking your caboose as the Express rolls through track three with the infectious tune "That Butt Thing." This follow-up to the popular single "High School Breakdown" is expected to be the crowd fave.

A couple of other favorites include "Lake Charles Two-Step" and "My Name is Horace Trahan."
The mood slows on the gorgeous cover of Clifton Chenier's "Comin' Home Tomorrow." Listeners are treated to 14 songs, none of which could remotely be called "filler."

All photographs by the LSUE Office of Public Relations.
Updated July 2001.

Article taken from:
  Cajun, Creole, and Zydeco Music Home Page.

Horace Trahan,
a small biography

I am sure that, given time, Trahan will become a household name in Louisiana. He said he has a lot of plans for future recordings. In the meantime he'll continue spreading his positive message and good-time Zydeco music.

The album is available at Floyd's Record Shop in Ville Platte. It and other Zydeco Hound recordings can be ordered by calling 1-866-518-6465 or through the Internet at deescajungifts.com.

Both albums were released on the Zydeco Hound label by Acadiana Records of Eunice.
For more information 
on the New Ossun Express, contact Horace Trahan, (337) 896-4144.

Trahan and the New Ossun Express offer their versions of Zydeco favorites from Southwest Louisiana while also giving us some new songs. Like the first album, the second release includes songs from musicians at the center of the rural Zydeco tradition like Boozoo Chavis and John Delafose.

Horace credits Geno Delafose and his mother, JoAnn, with providing him with encouragement.  He began moving in his new direction in July 1999, and subsequently put together a band that, in addition to his own accordion playing, features Paul (Slim) Washington on guitar, John (The Sheriff) Best on scrubboard, and Paul Delafosse on drums.

The new song on the second CD receiving the most play on radio is probably "That Butt Thing," a celebration of a certain part of female anatomy in the earthy tradition of rural Zydeco. Also new are "We Gonna Party on Down" and "Sassy Girl Two-Step."

Trahan and The New Ossun Express offer their versions of   Boozoo Chavis' "Uncle Bud" and Willis Prudhomme's "Crawfish Got Soul," as well as "Monkey and the Baboon." French songs include John Delafose's "Lake Charles Two-Step," "Pointe aux Pins," and "Ou Ye Yie," with Paul Delafosse handling vocals on the latter song.

The second CD also offers Clifton Chenier's "Comin' Home Tomorrow" and "My Name Is Horace Trahan,"adapted from Chenier's song.

The most popular song in area clubs from the first album has been "High School Breakdown." The song is based on the drumbeat that Trahan remembers when he played percussion at Carencro High football games. Many of the other cuts on the first album cover songs by Boozoo Chavis ("You Talk About Your Baby," "Oh Yeah," "Zydeco Hee Haw") or John Delafose ("Find My Woman," "One Hour Too Late," "Poor Man Two-Step"). Also included are Trahan's versions of Iry LeJeune's "Big Road Waltz" and Dewey Balfa's "Lanse aux Paille Two-Step," as well as  "Eunice Two-Step." Paul Delafosse, who handles backup vocals on a number of songs, is the lead vocalist on "The Blues Is All Right."