finetune artist: Beau Jocque/Zydeco Hi-Rollers

b. Andrus Espre, 1 November 1953, Duralde, Louisiana, USA, d. 10 September 1999, Kinder, Louisiana, USA. Literally entering music by accident, Jocque worked for many years as an electrician. Seriously injured in an accident in 1987, he spent his long convalescence learning to play the accordion and studying ways by which he could update traditional Cajun music to accommodate contemporary pop in all of its manifold forms. He unleashed the result on New Orleans audiences in 1991 with his newly formed band, the Zydeco Hi-Rollers. The band was an instant hit and audiences, especially the younger element, loved the manner in which Jocque had incorporated not only and expectedly blues and R&B, but also and unexpectedly, funk, hip-hop and rap. Skilfully building these genres into the solid core of zydeco, Jocque, who also wrote some of the band's music, had found a way to attract a new audience while not alienating the old. The band's debut album sold extremely well and for the next few years Jocque turned out several impressively high quality and eminently danceable albums for Rounder Records, all of which vividly capture the band's appeal. In 1999, the band was recorded live in concert but before its release the leader was dead from a heart attack.

Listen to Beau Jocque/Zydeco Hi-Rollers at Finetune.

(1993) Beau Jocque Boogie

Give Him Cornbread
Beau Jocque Boogie
I Went to the Dance Last Night
Beau's Cajun Two Step
Baby Please Don't Go