The New York Times caught Nathan Williams at 25 and called him “poised to become important” in revitalizing zydeco, and that turned out to be something of an understatement. Four decades of accordion, rubboard, and a family committed to what they call the “Zydeco Flame” later, Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas bring their Louisiana party music to the Hudson Valley for a night at Daryl’s House in Pawling on Sunday, January 24.
About the Show
Williams grew up in a Creole-speaking home in St. Martinville, Louisiana, inspired by the zydeco pioneers he heard as a boy. After recovering from a serious illness and committing himself to the accordion, he recorded early sides for his brother Sid’s El Sid label until Buckwheat Zydeco recommended him to Rounder Records. Williams founded Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas in 1985, drawing inspiration from a Clifton Chenier instrumental, and debuted the group at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival in 1988. They have returned every year since.
The band is a family enterprise: brother Dennis Paul Williams on guitar, cousin Mark Anthony “Chukka” Williams on rubboard, saxophonist Allen “Cat Roy” Broussard, and son Nathan Jr. in the lineup. They call themselves “Keepers of the Zydeco Flame” (a mission statement as much as a motto), blending zydeco with jazz, blues, and R&B across a catalog composed almost entirely by Williams himself. His Grammy nomination for the album Lucky Man brought him to the 65th Grammy Awards; his catalog also includes A New Road, Creole Crossroads (1995), and I’m a Zydeco Hog: Live at the Rock ‘N’ Bowl (1997). The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame inducted Williams in 2005; the Zydeco Music Association honored him with a Lifetime Achievement Award; the Big Easy has named the Cha Chas Best Zydeco Band multiple times.
Their live resume runs from Lincoln Center, Carnegie Hall, and the Kennedy Center to the Grand Ole Opry, and internationally to Austria, Spain, France, Japan, the Netherlands, Turkey, Germany, and Poland, where they became the first zydeco band to perform.
Venue & Logistics
Daryl’s House, at 130 NY-22 in Pawling, is a 300-cap listening room — the kind of space that compresses a band like this into something a concert hall cannot replicate. The zydeco accordion carries differently in a room of that size; so does the rubboard. Doors open at 5:00 p.m.; the show begins at 7:00 p.m. All ages.
Tickets
Tickets are $28.69 to $45.17. Buy tickets