* En anglais uniquement
A third generation product of the southwestern Louisiana region's most famed musical dynasty, nouveau zydeco accordionist
Chris Ardoin followed in the traditions established by his father, French Zydeco Band frontman
Lawrence "Black" Ardoin; his grandfather, Cajun "la la" legend
Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin; and his distant cousin, Creole virtuoso
Amadé Ardoin. Born in 1981,
Chris made his public debut at the age of four, playing with his father at a Texas gumbo cook-off; just five years later, he backed his grandfather during an appearance at Carnegie Hall. The child prodigy also soon joined his father's new band Lagniappe as a full-time member, but like
Lawrence before him,
Ardoin eventually rejected the confines of traditional zydeco to pursue his own muse; with his older brother
Sean, cousin
Alphonse and family friend Peter Jacobs, he formed the band Double Clutchin', the name representative of the kind of repeated bass drum kicks which define the funky "new zydeco" sound. Double Clutchin' debuted with 1994's That's Da Lick, recorded when bandleader
Ardoin was just 13; Lick It Up! followed a year later, and in 1997 the group signed to Rounder for
Gon' Be Jus' ine.
Turn the Page followed in 1998 and
Best Kept Secrets arrived two years later. ~ Jason Ankeny