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GENO DELAFOSE
 The
Black Cowboy Experience and the Keith Richards of Accordion
Geno Delafose Ensures that Everybody’s Dancin’
to New CD and Tour
There is this other way of life
in the south; a musical ethnicity that has simmered itself
to a uniquely homespun flavor. Immersed in the culture since
birth, geno delafose has lived the life of a true cowboy.
He relies on his traditional Creole sensibility for guidance
in music, and divides his time between touring and operating
his Double D Ranch outside of Eunice, deep in Southwest Louisiana’s
bayou country, where he breeds cattle and raises quarter horses.
Unbeknownst to many northerners, who often reserve the image
of a cowboy for white Anglo-Saxons, Creoles (African-American
Francophones) also share in the rural roots of hard work and
dedication to the land. Geno epitomizes this cultural tradition.
Born into a family of Zydeco musicians, at the ripe age of
seven, Geno picked up the rubboard and joined his father John
Delafose’s band the Eunice Playboys, an ensemble that
Geno would one day lead. John Delafose was key in re-launching
the current upsurge of Zydeco, and Geno is poised to crossover
Zydeco to a wider country music audience with his charismatic
cowboy spirit and lively presentation.
To this day, Geno still performs in many of the same dancehalls
and churches that he visited as a child in his father’s
group. geno delafose and French Rockin’ Boogie are no
strangers to the stage. Performing a rigorous one hundred
fifty shows each year has left the band in a rigid state of
exactness. Cut after cut the group is right there, turning
on a dime with each spicy lick emitted from Geno’s squeezebox.
Geno fuses his Creole roots and modern voice through his multi-accordion
attack. Germans introduced the accordion to Louisiana, and,
ever since, it has been a popular instrument thanks to its
distinctive ability to speak above the hum in a crowded room
of dancers. Geno plays the single-row and triple-row diatonic
button accordions for more traditional “French style”
tunes, and changes to piano accordion for pounding out contemporary
Zydeco. Piano accordions were adopted for their chromatic
versatility and ability to play “blue notes.”
Up until the 1980s only the most sophisticated players could
incorporate them into Zydeco.
Everybody’s Dancin’
released May 13, 2003 on Times Square Records, is Geno’s
fourth release. A significant portion of the release is dedicated
to reinterpreting Creole standards like “Le Bluerunner”
and “He-Haw Breakdown”, in the band’s modern
Zydeco vernacular. Fiddle--player Michael Doucet of BeauSoleil—America’s
most-popular Cajun group—is featured on three tracks.
Geno—who was just awarded Best Zydeco Artist at the
2003 Big Easy Awards in New Orleans—is not afraid to
share his recipe for Zydeco with other approaches. Receiving
the same progressive musical attention as the Creole standards
are the old-fashioned waltzes, two-steps, blues, and soul
numbers that decorate the album. The fact that each cut was
recorded in one or two takes is further evidence of the band’s
unyielding proficiency.
“Delafose appears to be one of those cultural guardians
with the courage to inject modern influences and themes into
traditional Zydeco, without sacrificing its integrity." -
San Diego Tribune
“On both the traditional diatonic and more modern piano
accordion, Delafose is a Keith Richards kind of player, leading
the rhythm section while reeling off killer licks."
-
Orlando Sentinel
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