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Carry On Carrier
Mathew Socey
One word to describe the swampdelic sounds of Chubby Carrier and
Bayou Swamp Band? Fun. Pure Louisiana zydeco fun with a hot sauce
chaser. Anybody who has doubts about the accordion as an instrument
will be swayed the right way with Carrier's passion and fire on the
instrument.
Chubby Carrier started out as twinkle in Roy Carrier's eye (Roy
looks more Chubby's older brother than his dad). The Carriers are
one of the great musical families in Louisiana. There's Poppa Roy,
Chubby, Chubby's brother Troy (AKA Dikki Du and The Zydeco Krewe),
Roy's nephew Dwight Carrier and The Zydeco Ro Dogs. There's also
Chubby's Aunt Laura Maria Doolittle (AKA Zydeco-T) who plays with
Mojo and the Bayou Gypsies. Now if we can organize a basketball
tournament between the Carriers, the Neals and the Nevilles to
settle it once and for all. (Just kidding). A documentary about the
family has been filmed (Not kidding) and will hopefully be shown at
a theatre near you (Or look for in on DVD if you movie houses are
documentary-challenged).
There's traditional roots in Chubby's zydeco, but expands the sound
for all ages. Live and in studio he's taken songs like B.B. King's
"Rock Me Baby," Billy Preston's "Will It Go Round in Circles," The
Who's "Squeeze Box", War's "Cisco Kid" and the Grateful Dead's "Fire
On The Mountain" and dragged them through the swamp with
beautiful results. It's adding Louisiana spice to popular tunes that
help Carrier build the bridge between zydeco and the rest of the
world. Mardi Gras can happen 365 days a year and you don't have to
flash anything to enjoy the band (Unless you REALLY want to).
Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band is one of the most energetic
groups around. An evening or an afternoon with these guys will
result in a full night's sleep and a bowl of Wheaties (When we gonna
see Chubby on their cereal box?).
In the post-Katrina world there has been a newfound awareness of the
music of Louisiana. It's awareness that shouldn't be paid to these
artists out of pity over what happened. It should be paid because
the music of Louisiana is one big stewpot of many flavors and it's
really damn tasty. It was tasty before Katrina and it's still tasty
now. Chubby Carrier and The Bayou Swamp Band is the musical part in
the stewpot where the gumbo meets the rice and you want to sop it up
with some French bread. Prepare to be funkified, zydecofied and the
pleasant victim of a Chubby party.
Mathew Socey is host of THE BLUES HOUSE PARTY, Saturday at 10PM on
WFYI 90.1 FM in Indianapolis (wtyl.org) and a regular contributor to
NUVO Newsweekly in Indianapolis. His articles have appeared in
Downbeat, Blues Access, Big City Blues,
The King Biscuit Times and
Blues Revue.
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