The King of Zydeco

Clifton Chenier grew up in rural Louisiana, watching how his father’s accordion could magically turn front porches into dance parties. When he was old enough to play himself, Chenier began blending the Creole zydeco of his childhood with R&B and blues sounds of the 1940s and ’50s. His style packed dance halls across Louisiana and eventually carried zydeco to stages around the world. Through rare archival recordings and firsthand stories, we trace Chenier’s journey from a sharecropper’s son to the undisputed King of Zydeco. Guests: Adam Machado, director of the Arhoolie Foundation and producer of the retrospective box set, King of Louisiana Blues and Zydeco CJ Chenier , son of Clifton Chenier and lead singer and saxophonist for CJ Chenier and the Red Hot Louisiana Band Dickie Landry , saxophonist, composer, and photographer Maureen Loughran , director and curator of Smithsonian Folkways Recordings This episode features archival interview recordings of Clifton Chenier courtesy of the Arhoolie Foundation. You can find the full interviews and archival photographs here.

You can listen to The King of Zydeco online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

The King of Zydeco is an episode from Sidedoor by Smithsonian Institution .

This episode is 50:37 long.

This episode was published on Jan 21, 2026.

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