Louisiana accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco has died
NEW ORLEANS (AP) — Musician Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr., who rose from a cotton-picking family in southwest Louisiana to introduce zydeco music to the world through his namesake band Buckwheat Zydeco, has died.
"Buckwheat Zydeco embodied a genre and represented a community with his signature playing style that brought distinctly creole zydeco music to fans across the globe," said Neil Portnow, who heads The Recording Academy.
Zydeco music was well known across southwest Louisiana where people would often drive for miles to small dancehalls where zydeco bands featuring an accordion and a washboard would rock the crowds for hours.
[...] Dural took zydeco music mainstream, launching a major-label album — the Grammy-nominated "On a Night Like This," — with Island Records in 1987.
In 1978 he took up the accordion so closely associated with zydeco music and later formed his own band called Buckwheat Zydeco, his obituary said.
[...] Fox said while Dural loved Cajun music and often performed with Cajun musicians, he was very clear that he and his music were Creole, to the point where Fox said he even included in contracts language explaining that he was not Cajun.
Fox says his daughter Tomorrow Dural has created a fundraising campaign to help with medical and other expenses.