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Biography
Infobox musical artist | | name = Buckwheat Zydeco| image = Buckwheat Zydeco.jpg| caption =| image_size =| background = solo_singer| birth_name = Stanley Dural, Jr.| alias = Buckwheat Zydeco| birth_date = Birth date and age|1947|11|14|mf=y| death_date =| origin =| instrument = Vocals , accordion | genre = Zydeco , Rhythm and blues|R& B , Country music|Country | occupation =| years_active = 1971—| label = Alligator Records , Tomorrow Recordings, Rounder Records|Rounder , Island Records|Island ,| associated_acts =| website = http://www.buckwheatzydeco.com www.buckwheatzydeco.com| current_members =| past_members =| notable_instruments = Buckwheat Zydeco is the stage name of Stanley Dural, Jr. (born November 14, 1947), an United States|American accordionist and zydeco musician. He is one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success. His music group is formally billed as Buckwheat Zydeco and Ils Son Partis Band , but often they perform as merely Buckwheat Zydeco .
The New York Times says, “Stanley ‘Buckwheat’ Dural leads one of the best bands in America. A down-home and high-powered celebration, meaty and muscular with a fine-tuned sense of dynamics…propulsive rhythms, incendiary performances.”Parales, Jon. New York Times , 15 February 2008. USA Today calls him “a zydeco trailblazer.”Gundersen, Edna. http://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2009-04-22-jazzfest-music_N.htm "Can't hit Jazz Fest? Let the music come to you", USA Today , 22 April 2009.
Buckwheat Zydeco has performed with a large number of famous musicians from Eric Clapton (with whom Buckwheat also recorded) and U2 to Boston Pops Orchestra|The Boston Pops . The band performed at the closing ceremonies of the 1996 Summer Olympics to a worldwide audience of three billion people. Buckwheat performed for Bill Clinton|President Clinton twice, celebrating both of his inaugurations. The band has appeared on The Late Show With David Letterman , CNN , The Today Show , MTV , NBCNews , CBS Morning News , National Public Radio ’s Weekend Edition .
Early life
Dural was born in Lafayette, Louisiana|Lafayette , Louisiana . He acquired his nickname as a youth, because, with his braided hair, he looked like the character Billie Thomas|Buckwheat from Our Gang|Our Gang/The Little Rascals movies. His father, a farmer, was an accomplished, amateur traditional Creole peoples|Creole accordion player, but young Buckwheat preferred listening to and playing rhythm and blues .
Career
Dural became proficient at the organ (music)|organ , and by the late 1950s he was backing Joe Tex , Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and many others.Ankeny, Jason. Allmusic|class=artist|id=p716|pure_url=yes All Music Guide Biography
In 1971, he founded Buckwheat & the Hitchhikers , a funk band that he led for five years before switching to zydeco. They were a local sensation and found success with the single, “It’s Hard To Get,” recorded for a local Louisiana-based label.
He began backing Clifton Chenier , one of the most legendary zydeco performers. Though not a traditional zydeco fan when growing up, Buckwheat accepted an invitation in 1976 to join Clifton Chenier ’s Red Hot Louisiana Band as organist. He quickly discovered the popularity of zydeco music, and marveled at the effect the music had on the audience. “Everywhere, people young and old just loved zydeco music,” Buckwheat says. “I had so much fun playing that first night with Clifton. We played for four hours and I wasn’t ready to quit.”
Buckwheat’s relationship with the legendary Chenier led him to take up the accordion in 1978. After practicing for a year, he felt ready to start his own band under the name Buckwheat Zydeco. They debuted with One for the Road in 1979 on the Blues Unlimited label and then recorded for New Orleans ’ Black Top Records|Black Top label. In 1983, they were nominated for a Grammy Award for Turning Point and in 1985 for Waitin’ For My Ya Ya after switching to the Rounder Records label. The band then signed to Island Records , becoming the first zydeco act on a major label, and released On a Night Like This , a critically acclaimed album that was nominated for a Grammy as well. The band appeared in the movie The Big Easy (film)|The Big Easy in 1987.
In 1988, Eric Clapton invited the band to open his North American tour as well as his 12-night stand at London’s Royal Albert Hall . As even more doors opened, Buckwheat found himself sharing stages and/or recording with Keith Richards , Robert Plant , Willie Nelson , Mavis Staples , David Hidalgo , Dwight Yoakam , Paul Simon , Ry Cooder and many others, including indie music stalwarts Yo La Tengo on the soundtrack to the Bob Dylan bio-pic, '' I'm not there|I'm Not There . His music has been featured in films including The Waterboy , The Big Easy (film)|The Big Easy , Fletch Lives and Hard Target . Black Entertainment Television|BET ’s show Comic View , used his live version of “What You Gonna Do? ” as theme music for the program’s 10th anniversary “Pardi Gras” season. He also wrote and performed the theme music for the Public Broadcasting Service|PBS television series Pierre Franey ’s Cooking In America . Buckwheat won an Emmy Award|Emmy for his music in the CBS TV movie, Pistol Pete: The Life and Times of Pete Maravich|Pistol Pete: The Life And Times Of Pete Maravich .
Buckwheat Zydeco has played many major music festivals, including the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (numerous times), Newport Folk Festival , Summerfest , Street Scene (San Diego music festival)|San Diego Street Scene , Bumbershoot , Montreaux Jazz Festival , the Voodoo Experience , and countless others.
During the 1990s and early 2000s Buckwheat recorded for his own Tomorrow Recordings label and maintained an extensive touring schedule. Buckwheat Zydeco's latest album, Lay Your Burden Down , was released on May 5, 2009 on the Alligator Records label. It was produced by Steve Berlin of Los Lobos and included guest appearances by guitarists Warren Haynes and Sonny Landreth , Trombone Shorty , JJ Grey & MOFRO|JJ Grey and Berlin himself. The album was nominated for a Grammy Award . Sonicboomers.com says, “The CD is a vastly entertaining and appealingly diverse package. Bandleader Dural remains an ever-engaging vocalist and a whiz on any keyboard he touches. So, for Buckwheat Zydeco fans, Lay Your Burden Down finds the maestro and his group near the top of their form. For listeners with less interest in the ol' accordion get-down, the collection supplies enough interesting wrinkles to get the good times rolling.Morris, Chris. http://www.sonicboomers.com SonicBoomers.com, http://www.sonicboomers.com/albumreviews/buckwheat-zydeco Review of Lay Your Burden Down , May 15, 2009
Buckwheat’s especially powerful and haunting version of the classic "Cryin' in the Streets" appears on the benefit album for Hurricane Katrina recovery, Our New Orleans: A Benefit Album for the Gulf Coast .
Buckwheat's version of Led Zeppelin's "When the Levee Breaks" appeared on 2011's Alligator Records 40th Anniversary Collection. It originally appeared on the 2009 Buckwheat Zydeco album "Lay Your Burden Down".
Discography
2009 Let The Good Times Roll: Essential Recordings ( Rounder Records )
2009 Lay Your Burden Down ( Alligator Records )
2006 The Best of Buckwheat Zydeco: Millennium Collection ( Island Records )
Persondata | NAME =Zydeco, Buckwheat | ALTERNATIVE NAMES = | SHORT DESCRIPTION = American accordianist | DATE OF BIRTH =November 14, 1947 | PLACE OF BIRTH = | DATE OF DEATH = | PLACE OF DEATH = DEFAULTSORT:Zydeco, Buckwheat Category:1947 births Category:Living people Category:Zydeco musicians Category:Musicians from Louisiana Category:African American musicians Category:Black Top Records artists
