A new home for an old friend

Dear friends,

Over the last few weeks, I’ve been building a new virtual home for a beloved old project.

Back in 2011, three of us traveled to Northern California in search of the Louisiana Creole dance music called zydeco.

California? For Louisiana roots music?

It’s true. After World War II, Louisianans of mixed African-French ancestry began moving west in search of shipyard jobs and freedom from segregation. In the Bay Area, they rebuilt their culture, with its accordion dance parties and communal pots of jambalaya. Others discovered the music, too, and began showing up at these gatherings.

This is a complicated story about racism, migration, cultural identity, cooking, music, and community. Audio producer Richard Ziglar, photographer John Noltner, and I set out to tell it. We interviewed three generations of Californians and heard both searing and heartwarming stories. We listened to a lot of live zydeco—at bars, a fraternal hall, a woodshop, and a Black cowboy ranch—and tried to dance with mixed results. We ate the best food. We recorded it all.

The result was the 2012 radio documentary Zydeco Nation, broadcast on more than 300 stations. It’s one of my proudest accomplishments. We had a web site, but it needed a makeover, so I migrated it here:

http://barryyeoman.com/zydeco

Now you can listen to (and download) the music-rich documentary, which is 53 minutes long and was originally distributed by AARP Prime Time Radio. Click through the links, and you’ll meet 19 musicians and dancers. You’ll see their faces and hear snippets of their stories. Plus, you can view more of John’s beautiful documentary photographs.

I’m excited to give this old project a new life, and I feel grateful to California Humanities and the individual donors who made it possible.

Plus, articles I’ve been reading:

•  Clint Smith in Rwanda, exploring the role of forgiveness after a genocide;

•  Oliver Whang, revisiting the history of Black Appalachia;

• Joe Killian on how pro-wrestling fandom shaped North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson;

• my student Hope Zhu on a father-son musical duo from the Menominee Nation;

• Brianna Sacks and four other Washington Post journalists on how conspiracy theorists took over a hurricane-relief effort in a North Carolina mountain town;

•  John Hendrickson on what happens if Donald Trump loses; and

• Elise Hannum on Snoopy as a Generation Z hero.

A podcast I’ve started listening to: “Finding Fred,” the 2019 series in which Carvell Wallace explores the relevance of Mister Rogers at a time when parents have to explain to their kids “why there are Nazis marching in the exact place where you took them to the farmers’ market and waited in line for pupusas.”

And some new favorite music: Durham’s own Larry & Joe, whose music is a fusion of Appalachian and Venezuelan. “Como Llora Una Estrella” (“How a Star Cries”) is a century-old Venezuelan waltz, and this version was filmed on the top floor of the city’s tallest building.

Catch y’all soon.

All best,
Barry Yeoman