Jeffery Broussard & The Nighttime Syndicate
Bayou Moonlight
Fairground Records
There is something about zydeco music that reaches down into the soul and pulls out an enlightenment to life that drives a reaction. We see that represented in film. As the sound of the band winds up, it brings humanity together. Nothing from the Deep South can reflect the geography of an era like a good zydeco tune.
And this is what happens with Bayou Moonlight. It’s an album that incorporates the feelings of the genre, but immediately you understand, this is not your Boozoo Chavis or Buckwheat Zydeco. Jeffery Broussard & The Nighttime Syndicate has set a new soulful standard.
Broussard is a renaissance man in the world of Zydeco, painting colors with his sound. Adding in members of the New Orleans’s TBC Brass Band and a banging rhythm section you open yourself up to a world of creativity that goes from traditional to soulful zydeco to hymnal-esque soul searching.
Hearing a refreshed version of Rosie Ledet’s “Hello Baby,” featuring Anna Moss, just feels so good, especially when the piano comes in pounding out some lively honky tonk soon followed by a conversation with the horns.
Rocking Sidney’s “No Good Woman” is the perfect example of how Broussard takes a classic and makes it his own. The song is iconically soul with all of the right parts coming together. It’s the same feeling when they go into their version of Sam Cooke’s “A Change Is Gonna Come.”
The iconic moment on Bayou Moonlight is the Cajun standard “Madeline.” This song emits so much power and beauty coming from the music, Broussard and the musicians just does an amazing job giving respect to a classic.
Bayou Moonlight is the party, the romantic serenade in the swamp, and the moment of realization all in one.
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