PORT TOWNSEND — Sixteen-year-old Rosie did not want to go to this party, even if it involved dancing and live music. It was her parents’ crowd, for heaven’s sake. She listened to rock ‘n’ roll, not that old washboard-accordion stuff.
But somehow her folks talked her into it: a night full of zydeco music in her hometown of Eunice, La.
“We called it a French la-la,” recalls Rosie Ledet, known nowadays as the Queen of Zydeco.
Ledet, who’ll bring her Zydeco Playboys band to The Upstage on Wednesday night, fell crazy in love that night, way back when.
“The late, great Boozoo Chavis was on stage,” she remembers.
Knockdown love
Chavis, the larger-than-life zydeco master, knocked the teenager out with his accordion.
The following year, Ledet’s life took another big turn. She was 17 when she married bassist Morris Ledet, whom she’d met at that very same dance. Soon Morris went on the road with his band, leaving his bride behind to take care of his ailing mother.
Over the next several years, while at her mother-in-law’s side, Ledet learned — by ear — a repertoire of zydeco songs. She also taught herself how to play the accordion.
Then came the day when she surprised her husband by playing a classic John Delafose song, in all of its heat and flavor. Next thing she knew, Ledet was recording a demo tape of her songs and landing herself a recording contract with Maison de Soul, a zydeco label in nearby Ville Platte, La.
The accordion is one complicated instrument, with its bellows and keyboard — but it did not daunt Ledet.
“It’s not that difficult,” she says, “if you set your mind to it.”
Learned by listening
Ledet learned her way around the box by listening to cassette tapes of the great zydeco players and mimicking what she heard.
Then she got to developing her own sound and composing original songs. She’d always written stories and poems — even wanted to be Louisiana’s Stephen King. It was natural for her to set her poetry and prose to music.
Yet Ledet, still in her 20s, was nervous as a cat when she had to go on stage.
She remembers keeping her eyes closed through whole concerts. This didn’t dim her flame, though, as she played and sang the Creole French music with all her young might.
Ledet is a single woman now. She and Morris have split. And she is in full command of her musical powers, a husky-voiced performer who lives to make people dance.
She’s released a batch of records, from 1997’s “Zydeco Sensation” and 1999’s “I’m a Woman” up to 2011’s “Come Get Some.” Over the years her voice has deepened, and Ledet’s lyrics, like her playing, have stayed quite hot and spicy.
Zydeco awards
Six years ago she won the New Orleans Big Easy Award for best zydeco artist; in 2007, she took the Zydeco Music & Creole Heritage award for best female vocalist and, in 2008, the Black Heritage Association’s Louisiana Treasure Award.
This month, Ledet and her band are touring the West with shows at the Boom Boom Room in San Francisco, the Domino Room in Bend, Ore., and the Highway 99 Blues Club in Seattle.
European tour
In March, they’ll take off for Europe, to bring zydeco to Austria, Italy, the Czech Republic and Slovenia.
When everything is flowing together on stage, and everybody is moving on the dance floor, oh, there is no better feeling, says Ledet.
“You feel the love flowing back and forth,” and when the people get out there to dance, “we say, all right, we got ’em now.”
There are people, though, who hesitate. They tell her they don’t know how to dance to zydeco.
‘No wrong way’
“There is no wrong way,” is Ledet’s laughing response. “Don’t worry about that. Just come out and have a good time.”
Tickets to see Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys are $18 at The Upstage, 923 Washington St. Details about the venue’s dinner menu and forthcoming concerts are also at www.UpstageRestaurant.com and 360-385-2216.
