John Leopold - Executive Producer of "A Tribute to the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier"_2025-08-22_interviewed on KZSC's Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club by "Dangerous Dan" Orange & "DJ Spark Plug" (Dylan Estevez)

This year celebrates 100 years of Clifton Chenier, "The King of Zydeco"! Clifton Chenier's start in the 1950s as part of Rhythm & Blues Road Shows, with early albums on Elko, Celebrity & Chess Records; in the 1960s, with no recording congract, Clifton was playing dive bars; Chris Stracgwutz (of Arhoolie Records) was in Houston with LIghtning Hopkins when Lightning said, "Let's go see my cousin", and took Chris to a seriously dive bar where Clifton was playing as a duo, and Chris was struck by his blues; they agreed that night to record, with a single the next day (?) and an album the following week (?) at God Star Studios; Arhoolie relieased 13 albums of Clifton; in 2022 John realized that, had he lived, Clifton's 100th birthday was approaching; a zydeco DJ at KRVS suggested a tribute album, and John Leopold (former Santa Cruz County Supervisor & Former Managing Director, Arhoolie Foundation) reached out to Folkways, and Arhoolie, but no one bit; at a New Year's Eve (2022-2023) show in Santa Cruz, John was talking about the project backstage wtih Los Lobos, and Steve Berlin, the sax and keyboard player in the band, said "We love Clifton! We're IN!!!"; John reached out to Joel ('Joe-El") Savoy at Valcour Recrods and the project was on! John is Executive Producer, lining up money and helping pick tunes; Clifton invented the modern washboard (over-the-shoulders single piece of metal) instrument after drawing it in the sand for a machnest - Clifton's brother, Cleveland, would play it with church key bottle openers; Valcour has released a record on vinyl & CD, wtth all proceeds going to the University of Louisiana at Lafayette's Roots Music program, specifically Zydeco accordion. An interview on "The Bushwhacker's Breakfast Club" with "Dangerous Dan" & "DJ Spark Plug", airing Friday mornings on KZSC Santa Cruz, California.