It's A Groove Thing!
Rosie Ledet
Maison De Soul Records
<http://www.floydsrecords.com>
REVIEW BY BILL NEVINS
ALBUQUERQUE — It's a hot summer night at a south-west juke-joint. Rosie Ledet is on stage. Her head cocked to the right, black hair curled to her shoulders, fingers running the keyboard of her big zydeco accordion, and a slight smile on her face. Rosie Ledet is having a good time. Her lyrics make that explicit: "Get out on the floor/You know I like to watch!".
As always, the floor for a Rosie Ledet show is packed. With only Queen Ida and a precious few other woman bandleaders working the notoriously macho zydeco circuit, Ledet is giving those squeezebox-slinging boys (Keith Frank, Buckwheat, CJ Chenier, the late Beau Jocques et al) a run for their money in the race to claim the Zydeco crown once worn by the late great Clifton Chenier. Ledet's tuff-woman trance music makes her a true contender.
This CD gives a good taste of a Rosie Ledet dance-concert. Lyrics so sexy. Riddims so hypnotic. Fluid accordion lines on Cajun and piano accordions caress the ears and set the feet flowing. You can't help but move to this good music. And Ledet never minces words: "So Damn Bad" and "Something Wicked" suggest sinful thrills the Dixie Chicks only wish they could find.
Ledet sings in her smooth style, with fine backing by Morris Ledet on bass, Cory Ledet on drums and Kent August on guitar. Keith Frank sits in on guitar on several cuts, with Wilfred "Caveman" Pierre providing essential rubboard accents. The band is augmented further by Pat Breaux on sax, Ed Gore on keyboards and Kevin Cormier guitar, with Annie Jo Cormier singing backup.
Good times rolling, n'est-ce pas?
From Green Left Weekly, December 5, 2001.
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