Boozoo Chavis

Biography

Wilson Anthony "Boozoo" Chavis (pronounced CHAY-viss) (October 23, 1930 – May 5, 2001) was an American accordion player, singer, songwriter and bandleader. He was one of the pioneers of zydeco, the fusion of Louisiana Creole and blues music developed in southwest Louisiana.

Early life

Chavis was born to parents Arthur and Marceline Chavis in a Creole settlement called Pied des Chiens (Dog Hill), in Lake Charles, Louisiana. He was the son of tenant farmers, and acquired the nickname "Boozoo" in his childhood, although the origin of the nickname is unknown. When asked by a reporter about his nickname, Chavis replied "Man, I hate that question".
Accounts vary as to when and how Chavis obtained his first accordion. A Living Blues magazine story says that at age 9, he traded a small riding horse for his first accordion, a little single-row model, and taught himself to play. An article in OffBeat Magazine claims that Chavis bought his first accordion with money earned from riding in a horse race when he was a teenager; similarly, Sing Out! claims that he bought the accordion at 13 with horse race bet winnings. He was exposed to music within his family; his father, some uncles and cousins all played accordion. His great uncle was Sidney Babineaux, a popular accordionist from Rayne who played in the "La La" style. Boozoo played washboard and harmonica prior to obtaining his first accordion, and his father taught him early accordion lessons. Chavis credits his mother as being especially enterprising, as she took on cleaning jobs and selling barbeque at informal horse races to raise extra money, with which she bought three acres of land. When he was 14, the Chavis family moved "across the highway".
Later, Chavis bought a button accordion and began performing regularly at a dance club that his mother opened, often sitting in on performances with Clifton Chenier, his father, Morris Chenier, and brother, Cleveland Chenier. Chavis also played music as a side job at house dances on weekends and evenings. As well as developing the playing style that came to be known as zydeco, Chavis worked as a farmer, jockey, and horse trainer.

First era: 1950s

Chavis made his first recording in 1955, "Paper in My Shoe×Paper In My Shoe1987 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Paper in My ShoeA2Motor Dude SpecialA3Blues All Around My BedA4Leona Had a PartyA5Dance All NightA6Deacon JonesB1Dog HillB2Oh Yes I Want My BabyB3Boogie Woogie All Night LongB4Worried Life BluesB5My Toot TootB6L.A. Women Love Uncle Bud", based on a song he heard performed by Creole accordionist Ambrose "Potato" Sam. Chavis's version was an uptempo tune with a dance beat about being too poor to afford new shoes or socks, so he placed a paper in his shoes to keep his feet warm when the holes in the sole got too large. The song, sung in both French and English, was originally released on the Folk-Star label, a subsidiary of Goldband, before being reissued by Imperial Records. This recording was among the first commercially released zydeco songs and a regional hit, and was subsequently acknowledged as a zydeco standard. The song was recorded at the instigation of local entrepreneur Eddie Shuler, who teamed Chavis up with a rhythm and blues band named Classie Ballou's Tempo Kings. The first recording session was not successful, so Shuler brought whiskey in for subsequent takes, and the band lost their inhibitions. An inebriated Chavis fell off of his chair at the end of the released version of "Paper in My Shoe", so the song fades out, which was one of the first records to use that technique. Chavis denied this widely shared anecdote.
Chavis was convinced that the recording was more successful than the record companies claimed, later saying: "I got gypped out of my record. I get frustrated, sometimes. I love to play, but, when I get to thinking about 1955... They stole my record. They said that it only sold 150,000 copies. But, my cousin, who used to live in Boston, checked it out. It sold over a million copies. I was supposed to have a gold record." As a result, Chavis lost trust in the music business, and over the next thirty years only released three more singles: "Forty-One Day's" (Folk-Star 1201, 1955), "Hamburger's & Popcorn" (Goldband 1161, 1965), and "Mama! Can I Come Home" (Crazy Cajun 813, 1974 [credited to the Dog Hill Playhouse Band]). He found difficulty booking gigs without steady record releases.
He performed rarely during the 1960s and 1970s, except for friends and family events, devoting most of his time to farming and raising racehorses on his property in Dog Hill, on the outskirts of Lake Charles, Louisiana. The area derived its name because it is where people traditionally went to dump unwanted pets. During those years, zydeco's popularity was limited mainly to Louisiana. By the early 1980s however, zydeco was gaining recognition outside of Louisiana in the United States, as well developing as a strong following in Europe, thanks largely to the popularity of artists such as Clifton Chenier, Buckwheat Zydeco, and Rockin' Dopsie. Those artists were performing as main attractions at music festivals, were included in magazine stories, and were getting the attention of major record labels.

Second era: 1984–2001

In the early 1980s, Chavis was making a meager living with his race horses, and earned only a small amount of money performing at occasional house parties or dances. Chavis's family, and in particular his wife Leona, encouraged him to resume his music career. Chavis returned to performing music regularly in 1984 after discovering that another musician was impersonating him. He and his wife were driving to a horse race and heard an advertisement on the radio for a dance featuring Boozoo Chavis, after which he realized that there was enough name recognition for him to return to performing.
He signed a five-year contract with the Maison de Soul label, and released a locally successful single, "Dog Hill" (on the ZBC label) and four albums: Louisiana Zydeco Music (1986), Boozoo Zydeco! (1987), Zydeco Homebrew (1989), and Zydeco Trail Ride (1990). Louisiana Zydeco Music included a re-recording of "Paper In My Shoe×Paper In My Shoe1987 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 12 tracksA1Paper in My ShoeA2Motor Dude SpecialA3Blues All Around My BedA4Leona Had a PartyA5Dance All NightA6Deacon JonesB1Dog HillB2Oh Yes I Want My BabyB3Boogie Woogie All Night LongB4Worried Life BluesB5My Toot TootB6L.A. Women Love Uncle Bud" that was included on many jukeboxes in Louisiana and became a regional hit for a second time. These four albums were frequently played on local zydeco radio shows. In addition, Rounder Records released a live album Zydeco Live! in 1989, and a compilation of his 1950s recordings, The Lake Charles Atomic Bomb×The Lake Charles Atomic Bomb1990 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Paper In My Shoe2:462Forty One Days2:493Hamburgers and Popcorn1:594Oh Yae Yae2:145My Love Just For You2:336Pallet On the Floor2:067Oh Ho She's Gone2:168Bye Bye Catin2:309Brand New Mojo2:0510Telephone Won't Ring2:1911Tee Black2:2712Bottle Up and Go2:1113Comma Lemma Chapo Sha2:2914Lost the Paper In My Shoe2:09, in 1990. He also recorded two albums for Sonet Records in the early 1990s. During this time period, many of his songs also appeared on compilation albums issued by labels in both the US and Europe that featured many of the most well-known zydeco performers.
Chavis earned the nickname "The Creole Cowboy" because of his background raising horses, as well as his habit of wearing a white Stetson hat during performances. In addition, the subject matter of some of his songs was explicitly rural, such as "Zydeco Hee Haw×Zydeco Hee Haw1991 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Zydeco Hee Haw3:242Deacon Jones2:273Johnnie Billy Goat3:124Boozoo's Baby2:355Pray for Me3:076Zydeco Lady (Disco Lady)7Last Dance Waltz2:428Madeleine3:089I'm Driftin'4:3810Keep Your Dress Tail Down2:3811You Act Sick When Your Man Is Home2:5412Dancin' Sassy One Step13Sugar Bee2:5314Bye Bye Jolie2:5615Harlem Shuffle4:2816Black Gal4:30", "Johnnie Billy Goat×Johnnie Billy Goat2000 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 22 tracks1Dance All Night2Dog Hill3Going to La Maison4Oh Yeah5Motor Dude Special6Lula Lula Don't You Go to Bingo7I'm Going to the Country to Get Me a Mojo Hand8Lucille9I Want to Go Home10Tee Back11Big Leg Woman12Who Stole My Monkey?13Boozoo, That's Who!14I Went to the Dance15Paper in My Shoe1641 Days17Oh Black Gal18Grand Mary's Two Step19Valse de dernière fois20Oh bye mon neg21Johnnie Billy Goat22I'm Going Away to Stay", and "Motor Dude Special" named for his prized thoroughbred horse. Chavis also routinely wore an apron while on stage, to keep his sweat from damaging his accordion. Stylistically, Chavis provided a rural contrast, with fewer instruments and more repetitive (yet unpredictable and energetic) compositions, with la la roots, compared to the urban zydeco developed and popularized by Clifton Chenier, which featured a broad instrumental lineup, standardized compositions, and electric influences from soul and rock.
Chavis was a prolific writer of zydeco songs, some including references to his friends and acquaintances and others too raunchy to be sold openly. The release of X-rated versions of his songs "Uncle Bud" and "Deacon Jones" on his 1999 album Who Stole My Monkey?×Who Stole My Monkey?2 March 1999 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 16 tracks1Dance All Night3:142Who Stole My Monkey?2:293Marksville Slide2:204I'm Going Away to Stay3:265I Went to the Dance2:436Oh Yeah2:387I Want to Go Home2:268Lucille3:049Ay, Cayenne2:3010Baby Please Don't Go2:0911Valse de dernière fois3:0412Sock It to Me3:3613Bottle Up and Go3:0414Allons à Lafayette2:3815Uncle Bud2:4716Deacon Jones2:20 resulted in a parental advisory sticker, the first for a zydeco recording. Many of his songs have become standards of the zydeco repertoire, in spite of, or perhaps because of, their generally idiosyncratic and quirky construction and subject matter. "If it's wrong, do it wrong, with me," he would tell his band. "If I'm wrong, you wrong, too!"
Until 1990, Chavis was notoriously afraid of flying. He told record producer Floyd Soileau that if Soileau wanted him to fly to performances, he'd have to get him drunk to get on an airplane. Over a prior five-year period, Chavis made just one trip to California, and he drove there from Louisiana. But after Chavis's mother died in May 1990, he decided he had to overcome his flying phobia in order to advance his music career. His first flight was to New York City to perform at a club called Tramps, and he claimed to have enjoyed the experience.
During the 1990s, having overcome his fear of flying, Chavis performed widely with his band, the Magic Sounds (also credited as the Majic Sounds), and was crowned "The King of Zydeco" in New Orleans in 1993, after Clifton Chenier's death. His style, using a button rather than piano accordion, was more traditional than that of Chenier. He switched between single-, double-, and triple-row accordions and played in "cross position" and in relative minor keys to make a bluesy sound on the diatonic instruments. Around this time, he would stage battles with Beau Jocque, who was a young rival, but the two were in fact friends.
According to The New York Times, "with his rough-hewn voice and hefty accordion riffs, his band's one-chord grooves had a mesmerizing intensity that kept dance floors packed". He appeared at the New York Jazzfest for ten consecutive years as well as appearances at the Newport Folk Festival and the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, and in 2000 he was a featured act at the San Francisco Jazz Festival. Chavis was featured in a 1994 documentary film titled The Kingdom of Zydeco.

Death

Chavis died on May 5, 2001, from complications resulting from a heart attack after a performance a week earlier in Austin, Texas. He was funeralized at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church and interred at Highland Memorial Gardens, both in Lake Charles, Louisiana.

Awards and honors

Chavis was inducted into the Zydeco Hall of Fame in 1998. In 2001, he was awarded a National Heritage Fellowship by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the highest honor in the folk and traditional arts in the United States.

Personal life

Chavis married Leona Predium who often accompanied Chavis on tour, and on breaks between sets would sell records, T-shirts, and panties with his photo printed on them. Leona died in 2009.
Boozoo and Leona had six children, Wilson Jr. ("Poncho"), Margaret ("Do-Right"), Louann, Charles, Licia, and Rellis Chavis, as well as 21 grandchildren, and many great-grandchildren. Two of his sons (Charles on washboard and Rellis on drums) were full-time band members, and a grandson occasionally performed with the Magic Sounds.
In 1995, Chavis had the tips of two fingers on his left hand amputated after an accident involving a barbeque pit. With his hand wrapped up in bandage tape, he played a gig the following night.

Legacy

Chavis had completed the recording of what would be his final album only a few weeks before his death. Tentatively titled I'm Still Blinkin' the album was released on Rounder Records later in 2001 under the title Down Home On Dog Hill×Down Home on Dog Hill9 October 2001 · Studio albumSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 13 tracks1Tell Me What You Want3:432Keep Your Dress Tail Down4:413Negre est pas là3:104I'm Still Blinkin'2:355Sugar Bee3:436Rock Me Mama4:377Crying Blues5:268'Tite Fille4:019Johnnie Billy Goat3:0210The Twist4:0911La poule pend p'us3:3312Broke and Hungry5:0413Henry Martin Two Step2:44. AllMusic wrote of the album: "Chavis may have been at the peak of his musical form when this album was recorded….[It] is a worthy legacy for a sorely missed star of Louisiana music."
After his father's death, his son Charles took on the role of bandleader for the Magic Sounds. However, Charles died of a heart attack at age 45, only eight months after his father's death. Charles is buried in the same Lake Charles cemetery as his father.
Following Charles' death, Poncho Chavis kept the Magic Sounds band going, including a tribute performance to his father at the 2002 New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival, just four months after his brother's death and less than a year after his father's death. Photos of both Boozoo and Charles graced the stage at the Jazz Fest show. Poncho Chavis and the Magic Sounds continued to perform at festivals until at least 2008.
In 2005, five of Boozoo Chavis' grandsons started a band named The Dog Hill Stompers, partly to keep their grandfather's legacy alive. They released their debut album Keeping the Tradition in 2007, and also performed for the first time at Boozoo's Labor Day Festival in 2007. As of 2017, the Dog Hill Stompers continue to play clubs and festivals in Louisiana as well as around the United States.
Chavis founded the "Labor Day Dog Hill Festival" in 1989 as a fan appreciation party, but also to showcase zydeco musicians and to keep the zydeco tradition alive. Originally held in a field near the Chavis family home, the popularity and growth of the festival required a move to larger venues, with the festival location varying between the Knights of Columbus Hall in Iowa, Louisiana and the Lake Charles Civic Center. The event was always a family-friendly affair, with Leona cooking Creole dishes for the crowds, ranging from red beans and rice to crawfish étouffée.
After Boozoo's death, the festival was renamed as Boozoo's Labor Day Festival to celebrate his legacy and love of zydeco music. His widow Leona managed the festival until her death in 2009, after which their children have been determined to continue the tradition in honor of their father, with daughter Margaret acting as festival promoter. In 2015 the Southeast Tourism Society, which has 12 states as members, named Boozoo's Labor Day Festival a "Top 20 Event". The festival celebrated its thirty-second anniversary in 2016.
Other musicians have acknowledged Chavis's influence and legacy by writing songs about him. Rock band NRBQ included a tribute song titled "Boozoo, That's Who" on their 1989 album Wild Weekend, on which both Boozoo and Charles Chavis also performed. In the song, Chavis is described as "the king of zydeco". Younger zydeco musician Jo Jo Reed released a song he wrote titled "Got It From Boo" on his 1995 album Funky Zydeco.
Several zydeco, Cajun, and musicians from other genres appeared on a tribute album titled Boozoo Hoodoo!: The Songs of Boozoo Chavis×Boozoo Hoodoo!: The Songs of Boozoo Chavis2003 · Album · CompilationSpotify (search)YouTube Music (search)Tracklist · 14 tracks1Bye Bye Jole2Dog Hill3Dance All Night4Uncle Bud5I'm Going Away6Boogie Woogie All Night7Keep Your Dresstail Down8Leona Had a Party9Boozoo's Breakdown10Make It to Me11Allons a Lafayette12Motor Dude Special13Marksville Slide14Crying in the Street released in 2003 on the Fuel 2000 record label.