Zydeco Joe Mouton *
High-energy musician speaking Creole French.
Inducted on May 6, 2000
From www.downtowncajunband.nl/sitewillem/Acadiana%20Gateway/music/zydecojoe.htm.html
No one else could improvise lyrics in Creole French like Zydeco Joe. No one else could pump that accordion to make dancers move with the same energy that he sang about in “Jack Rabbit.” No one else could equal his joyous celebration of the deep sense of community in Creole culture that pulsates through “Mama Fred.” No one else could capture the vitality of rural Creole masculinity the way Zydeco Joe did in “You Can’t Rooster Like You Used To.” Zydeco Joe was a true original. Zydeco Joe’s music tells stories in Creole French and in English drawn from his own experience and imagination, propelled along by his boundless energy and a pulsating zydeco beat.
The death of Zydeco Joe Mouton on Nov. 17, 2007, came as a real shock. According to Herman Fuselier’s obituary in The Daily Advertiser, Mouton died after a very brief bout with pneumonia. He had performed only a couple of days before at the annual El Sido’s Thanksgiving Benefit. His death is a great loss.
* Asterisk after a person’s name indicates that the person is deceased.