Rounder Records, the pioneering American roots music label, is continuing its 45th anniversary celebration.  Over the past months, the Cambridge-founded, Nashville-based Rounder has been making titles from its deep catalogue available as digital downloads.  We've previously reported on Rounder's bluegrass initiative, and now Rounder is turning its attention to a digital roll-out of the label's diverse and rich Cajun and Zydeco catalogue.

Rounder's VP of A&R, Scott Billington, comments, "In the final decades of the 20th Century, the accordion and fiddle-driven music of South Louisiana was reborn. Cajun and Creole musicians such as Michael Doucet and Beau Jocque rediscovered the traditional music of their intertwining cultures, then pushed into new musical territory that brought young audiences into the dance halls (and to stages across the world). The May digital release from Rounder Records includes some of the best Cajun and zydeco music you could hope to hear, including Beau Jocque's funky masterpiece Gonna Take You Downtown, and classic releases by John Delafose & the Eunice Playboys, Chris Ardoin & Double Clutchin', The Magnolia Sisters, and Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys. This is joyful music for dancing and listening."

So if you're ready to get into the spirit, you can check out Rounder's digital releases below with Amazon U.S. links and brief descriptions provided by the label of each title!  And remember, a free 15-track Rounder digital sampler is still available at NoiseTrade, and you can read more about Rounder's history here!

Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas, Steady Rock

The debut studio album by Nathan Williams is one of his best, displaying his ability to shape Creole/American wisdom and proverbs into catchy songs that reach deeply into tradition while incorporating many modern touches. His "Everything on the Hog, " celebrates the variety of culinary products that may be made from a pig, while his rendition of Paul Kelly's "Steady Rock," which was heavily covered by other zydeco bands, acknowledges the connection between Louisiana Creole music and Caribbean styles such as reggae and ska.

Various Artists, Zydeco Shootout At El Sid O's

This live album, recorded over the span of a weekend at Lafayette's hottest Creole nightspot, offers and exuberant overview of the Louisiana zydeco scene in the early 1990s. Zydeco Force: Warren Ceasar & Creole Zydeco Snap; Pee Wee & the Zydeco Boll Weevils; Lynn August and the Hot August Nights; and Morris Ledet and the Zydeco Playboys foreshadow the zydeco explosion manifested by Beau Jocque and Keith Frank only a few years later (and, really, led by Zydeco Force). There is excitement in the air.

Nathan And The Zydeco Cha-Chas, Boozoo Chavis And The Magic Sounds, Zydeco Live!

For a weekend in March 1988, producer Scott Billington and engineer Mark Bingham set up recording equipment in a van parked behind the legendary zydeco dance hall Richard's Club, aiming to capture the energy of a live zydeco dance. The first volume features one album side each by veteran Boozoo Chavis, who had come out of retirement at this same venue a few years earlier, and young newcomer Nathan Williams, both making their Rounder Records debuts. Chavis's primal stomp is contrasted with Williams's sprightly new songs.

John Delafose & The Eunice Playboys, Willis Prudhomme And The Zydeco Express, Zydeco Live!

With a huge wooden dance floor that pulsed with the weight of dancers; with its setups of Coke, Crown Royal and buckets of ice; and with its relative lack of air conditioning, Richard's Club was the quintessential zydeco dancehall. John Delafose, from nearby Eunice, plays a set that balances the fluidity of his accordion riffs with the drive of his band. Willis Prudhomme, who began his professional career while in his 50s, offers a solid set of mostly traditional two steps and waltzes.

John Delafose & The Eunice Playboys, Blues Stay Away From Me

John Delafose was one of the most traditional zydeco artists on the scene in the 1990s, with roots that reach back to Louisiana Creole music founder Amédée Ardoin, who was from the nearby Duralde area. Yet, Delafose was also one of the most popular, consistently packing dancehalls and church halls. This beautifully recorded album shows the band at its best, with a nice mix of new and old songs, and John swapping vocals with his son, Geno.

Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Follow Me Chicken

By the time Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas made their third Rounder album in 1993, the influence of guitarist (and Nathan's brother) Dennis Paul Williams was pushing the band in more adventurous directions, including the translation of Stevie Wonder's "Isn't She Lovely" into Creole, and the wholly original instrumental motif on the title track. Along with a few traditional zydeco songs, the band plays a ska beat on "Mama's Tired," and employs African polyrhythms (along with djembe player Kenyatta Simon) on two songs.

Chris Ardoin & Double Clutchin', Gon' Be Jus' Fine

Only fifteen years old at the time of this recording in 1997, Chris Ardoin was a already a virtuoso accordion player and, with his brother Sean, at the vanguard of zydeco, adding hip-hop, R&B and pop influences while never straying from the dance floor. The brothers' harmony vocals on songs like the college chant "We Are the Boys" are a refreshing addition to zydeco, but they're just as capable of doing justice to tradition, as on the Creole French waltz "Dimanche Aprés Midi," sung by Sean.

Beau Jocque and the Zydeco Hi-Rollers, Gonna Take You Downtown

Beau Jocque (Andrus Espre) was the most creative and transformative zydeco artist of the 1990s, melding his teenage influences of bands such as War and Santana with a ferocious dancehall beat, featuring the extraordinary bass playing of Chuck Bush. This may well be Beau Jocque's best album, made after he added guitarist Russell "Sly" Dorian and keyboardist Mike Lockett to the band. The Zydeco Hi-Rollers are a non-stop funk and rhythm machine, while the variety of songs and high level of musicianship make this an album for listening as well.

Chris Ardoin & Double Clutchin', Turn the Page

Chris Ardoin's second Rounder album, also featuring his brother Sean on drums and harmony vocals, continues to find a creative and forward looking path for zydeco music, acknowledging the young dancers who began to follow the band at clubs and trail rides. Along with catchy originals such as "Talk, Talk" and "Friends Ain't Forever," the band covers Musical Youth's "Pass the Dutchie" and Jackie Wilson's "(Your Love Keeps Lifting Me) Higher and Higher." This is fun album by a great band!

Nathan & the Zydeco Cha Chas, Let's Go!

Nathan Williams and band offer one of their most varied records with Let's Go!, which includes two songs written or co-written by the great Lafayette-based songwriter David Egan: "Can't Get Nuthin' Sucka" and the humorous "Too Much Wine." The result is a record that is as danceable as it is listenable. In contrast to many younger zydeco artists, who play the smaller diatonic accordion, Nathan plays piano accordion in the style pioneered by modern zydeco forefather Clifton Chenier.

Chris Ardoin & Double Clutchin', Best Kept Secret

Chris Ardoin is part of what could reasonably be called the first family of zydeco. He is the grand nephew of Amédée Ardoin, who was the first person to record Creole music in the 1920s, and the grandson of Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin, who was still active as a vital traditional musician when this record was made. Chris stretches out as a multi-instrumentalist on this recording, adding guitar and bass to his skill as a virtuoso accordion player. Songs include surprisingly successful zydeco covers of Sheryl Crow's "If It Makes You Happy" and the Temptations' "Papa Was a Rolling Stone."

Michael Doucet & Cajun Brew, Michael Doucet & Cajun Brew

With Cajun Brew, Michael Doucet, the lead singer and fiddle player of the band BeauSoleil, pushes the boundaries of Cajun music while never straying from its exuberant spirit. Musicians include the guitarist Sonny Landreth, members of BeauSoleil, and, on several tracks, the guitarist Richard Thompson. Along with arrangements of traditional songs, the imaginative covers include "Do You Want to Dance," "The Wooly Bully," and Thompson's "Woman or a Man?"

Zachary Richard, Mardi Gras Mambo

Zachary Richard, the charismatic "Mick Jagger of Cajun Music," moves his point of musical reference a couple hours east from Cajun country to New Orleans for this collection of songs associated with Mardi Gras, and in particular the New Orleans R&B tradition. His original songs such as "Down on Second Street" are balanced by convers of New Orleans classics like Professor Longhair's "Big Chief," the Hawkettes' "Mardi Gras Mambo," and the Mardi Gras Indian chant "Handa Wanda."

Steve Riley And The Mamou Playboys, Steve Riley And The Mamou Playboys

Accordionist, fiddler and singer Steve Riley was part of the second wave of young Cajun musicians, following the example of slightly older players such as Michael Doucet and Zachary Richard, who not only brought Cajun music back from the brink of extinction, but infused it with enough new energy that the revival continues to this day. A protégé of the fiddler Dewey Balfa, Riley is an accordion virtuoso whose mastery of traditional styles was never better documented that on this debut album for Rounder Records.

Jimmy C. Newman & Cajun Country, The Alligator Man

Louisiana's Jimmy C. Newman was a successful country artist whose 1950s and 1960s hits included "Daydreamin'" and the original version of "Alligator Man." His 1963 album Folk Songs of the Bayou Country was an unprecedented affirmation of Cajun culture during the time that Cajun artists such as the Balfa Brothers began to attract the attention of folk audiences. Here, Newman is true both to his Cajun roots and his career as a country songster, performing primarily traditional songs in French and in English, with Bessyl Duhon on accordion and Rufus Thibodeaux on fiddle.

Eddie LeJeune, D.L. Menard & Ken Smith, Le Trio Cadien

This all-star band captures the joy and soul of Cajun music at its best. D. L. Menard, "The Cajun Hank Williams," provides rock-solid rhythm guitar and his distinctive vocals. The vocals of Eddie LeJeune, the accordion-playing son of Cajun music legend Iry LeJeune, are as raw and emotive as anyone in the genre, while fiddler Ken Smith provides a soaring instrumental voice and adept counterpoint. The songs are mostly traditional, reaching back to the repertoire of Creole music pioneer Amédée Ardoin.

Mamou, Ugly Day

Mamou, led by guitarist Steve LaFleur, was originally a hard rock band with Cajun roots. For this album, LeFleur teamed up with violinist Jonno Frishberg for what might be described as Cajun music with a rock'n'roll attitude. The title refers to a local pre-Mardi Gras celebration that involves a pig, music and a lot of beer. Songs include a remake of the Rufus Jagneaux hit "Opelousas Sostan" and LeFleur original such as "Ugly Day Stomp," "Homme a Pitier (Man to Pity)" and "Dance on the Bayou."

Bois Sec Ardoin with Balfa, Toujours Allons danser

This album is a meeting of two of the first families of Creole and Cajun music. Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin was an accordion player and vocalist who was a direct link to the earliest days of Creole music in South Louisiana, reaching back to his uncle, Creole music pioneer Amédée Ardoin. Balfa Toujours carries on the sound of the influential Cajun fiddler Dewey Balfa, whose perseverance as a Cajun musician helped the culture survive when many looked down on traditional language and music. Together, they bring a vibrant touch to Ardoin's originals and traditional songs.

David Doucet, 1957 -- Solo Cajun Guitar

David Doucet is a founding member of the influential Cajun band BeauSoleil, in which his exceptional rhythm guitar playing and flat-picked solos have been a standout. On this recording, named for the Alex Broussard song that references the year of his birth, David plays and sings material from traditional Cajun repertoire and from writers such as Amédée Ardoin, Iry LeJeune, and Dennis McGee. David, who was influenced by players such as Doc Watson and Clarence White, has this corner of Cajun music all to himself, and it is a pure delight.

Magnolia Sisters, Aprés Faire le Boogie Woogie

The Magnolia Sisters--Ann Savoy, Jane Vidrine, Lisa Reed and Anya Schoenegge--are an all-woman ensemble who perform a wide-ranging repertoire of original and traditional Cajun songs, partially attributed to Savoy's extensive research into Cajun music (and her book, Cajun Music: A Reflection of a People). Included are Dewey Balfa's "Les Flammes d'Enfer (The Flames of Hell)," Ambrose Thibodeaux's "Point Noir Two Step," and Vidrine's original "La Femme d'Un Petrolier (The Wife of an Oil Worker)."