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CELEBRATES BUCKWHEAT ZYDECO’S 30TH ANNIVERSARY

Produced by Steve Berlin (Los Lobos)
Features guests Sonny Landreth, Warren Haynes,
Steve Berlin, JJ Grey, and Trombone Shorty

Features five originals and songs made famous by Led Zeppelin, Gov’t Mule, Bruce Springsteen, Captain Beefheart, JJ Grey & Mofro.

FROM THE ALLIGATOR NEWS RELEASE: Alligator Records has set a May 5, 2009 release date for Lay Your Burden Down, the stunning label debut from American musical legend, Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural Jr. and his band, Buckwheat Zydeco. The New York Times says, “Stanley ‘Buckwheat’ Dural leads one of the best bands in America. A down-home and high-powered celebration, meaty and muscular with a fine-tuned sense of dynamics…propulsive rhythms, incendiary performances.” The Louisiana accordion and organ master and vocalist recorded the new CD at Dockside Studios in Maurice, Louisiana with Steve Berlin (Los Lobos) producing (as well as leading the horn section). Buckwheat Zydeco celebrates its 30th anniversary with the new CD and a lengthy tour.

Lay Your Burden Down is a major release for Buckwheat, and a remarkably conceived album. The album features five original songs and complete reinventions of songs made famous by Led Zeppelin (When The Levee Breaks), Bruce Springsteen (Back In Your Arms), Gov’t Mule (Lay Your Burden Down), Captain Beefheart (Too Much Time), and JJ Grey & Mofro (The Wrong Side). Guests on the album include Sonny Landreth, Warren Haynes, Steve Berlin, JJ Grey, and Trombone Shorty. With Lay Your Burden Down, Buckwheat Zydeco’s large and loyal fan base will also welcome a massive influx of new converts.

According to Alligator Records president Bruce Iglauer, Buckwheat Zydeco’s recording for his label is huge. “Buckwheat is the iconic figure of Louisiana zydeco music worldwide. It’s a thrill to bring an artist of this stature to Alligator. More important, he tears it up at every show. His energy level and accordion chops are just amazing, and he’s a terrific, soulful singer. And he’s no slouch on Hammond organ, either. I’m also excited to reunite Buckwheat with Steve Berlin of Los Lobos as producer. Berlin produced Five Card Stud, one of Buckwheat’s finest albums, and we believe Buckwheat’s Alligator debut is even better. Also, Buckwheat has been booked for years by Concerted Efforts, a great agency for American roots music.”

During the 1990s and 2000s Buckwheat continued recording for his own Tomorrow Recordings label (which continues to present your favorite recordings from Buckwheat Zydeco as well as Sean Ardoin and Lil’ Brian and the Zydeco Travelers) and maintained an extensive touring schedule. With his new relationship with Alligator and Lay Your Burden Down his massive instrumental and vocal talents and boundless energy, Buckwheat remains and will continue to be not only the most popular zydeco artist in the world, but will find the largest and most enthusiastic audience of his long and storied career...

To contact Buckwheat Zydeco,
please sign up for our (very occasional) fan emails at:
http://www.buckwheatzydeco.com/bwzydecomail.html
or email us directly at zydecobuck@aol.com

Media contact for Lay Your Burden Down:
Marc Lipkin: publicity@allig.com

Lay Your Burden Down ends up being Dural's most accomplished and mature album yet, moving from start to finish like everything belongs together. Nothing misses its mark, and several tracks do so much more than that… He has given us something else again, an album that works both at the dance party and still rings clear the next day when maybe it's time to dig deeper and do a little thinking. It's the best kind of musical synthesis.

- Allmusic.com

You can't attack a levee with a guitar, but Buckwheat Zydeco and Sonny Landreth seem to try on "When the Levee Breaks…" It's a startling and potent opening to an album that goes on to subvert all expectations… There's almost too much life on this near-bursting release, proving that thirty years into the music game, Buckwheat Zydeco is still brimming with ideas

– Rhapsody.com

The results are stunning…The entire work is a vibrant testament to Buckwheat Zydeco’s spirit, reminding us that Louisiana’s musical heritage has taken all the hurricanes could give. This is an album that can introduce a new generation of music fans to the world of Zydeco music and serve as a wonderful reminder about what a great Zydeco band can do.

– Living Blues

Producer Steve Berlin captures Dural's natural bayou bounce but lets him wander into other territory while keeping one foot firmly in zydeco… But Dural's sound is as steeped in blues as in the joyous Louisiana soul at the heart of this outstanding, wonderfully diverse set.

– Blues Revue

On this sucker he nails it firm and deep…The opener "When The Levee Breaks," the Memphis Minnie/Kansas Joe McCoy classic known to rock fans from Led Zep's version, signals that something magical is happening here with its Louisiana-style Southern rock fury…With the able assistance of Steve Berlin as producer, the singer and accordionist creates a potent brand of Greater Gulf Music…By the time this delicious disc cools down on the closing grace note instrumental waltz of "Finding My Way Back Home," you know you're in the presence of bayou music greatness.

– Blurt.com

Ace accordionist Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural) celebrates his 30th anniversary in the business with the hands-down best album he’s ever waxed, moving away from straight zydeco and into a vital, ultra-soulful zone of his own… Is this the r & b-based zydeco with which Dural made his bones? No. It’s something deeper and better.

–The Boston Herald

Album of The Week: Buckwheat Zydeco, has been carrying the torch for his eponymous music for more than three decades… He is a fine accordionist, but there's always been more to his sound. He is a gutsy pianist and organist who earned his stripes in a funk/soul band, and he functions brilliantly outside the confines of Zydeco… Alligator Records evidently thought that regrouping Dural and his former producer might ignite some lively music, and Berlin was brought in to supervise Lay Your Burden Down, Buckwheat Zydeco's label debut. The notion has paid off with a vastly entertaining and appealingly diverse package…. Bandleader Dural remains an ever-engaging vocalist and a whiz on any keyboard he touches. So, for Buckwheat Zydeco fans, Lay Your Burden Down finds the maestro and his group near the top of their form. For listeners with less interest in the ol' accordion get-down, the collection supplies enough interesting wrinkles to get the good times rolling.

– Sonicboomers.com

Dural has put together a collection of thoughtful, wide-ranging songs that may not have been originally intended for the accordion, but still come up pulsating with the Buckwheat spirit… they create a work of intense emotion, passion and hearty good times… It's a fine album, mixing Dural's multi-talented approach, thoughtful songwriting, and elegant production.

– Pittsburg Post-Gazette

Buckwheat Zydeco (Stanley Dural Jr.), (is) in terrific form on Lay Your Burden Down… Buckwheat Zydeco shines on accordion and vocals, and his tight band is superbly captured by producer Steve Berlin of Los Lobos.

– Detroit Free Press

Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr. and his namesake band are not just about zydeco, although that infectiously propulsive dance music of the singer-accordionist's native southern Louisiana is at the heart of just about everything the group does… Its new album, Lay Your Burden Down…(is) a richly substantive collection that faces up to hard times while conveying a joyous sense of resilience.

– Philadelphia Inquirer

Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural celebrates his 30th year as a zydeco trailblazer with a soulful bayou-steeped set of originals and covers by artists as diverse as Jimmy Cliff, Bruce Springsteen and Captain Beefheart.

– USA Today