“Calinda” captures Clifton Chenier and his Red Hot Louisiana Band in 1976, performing for the long-running PBS series’ first season. The recording, unreleased until now, appears on King of Louisiana Blues & Zydeco, the new four-CD and six-LP retrospective from Smithsonian Folkways and Arhoolie Records, out on 14 November.

The band features Cleveland Chenier on rubboard, John Hart on saxophone, Stanley “Buckwheat” Dural Jr. on organ, Paul “Lil’ Buck” Sinegal on guitar, Joe Morris on bass, and Robert St. Julien on drums. Chenier leads with accordion and vocals, driving a compact ensemble sound where rhythm and melody stay inseparable. The performance runs on syncopated accordion phrasing, the sharp metallic scrape of rubboard, and the organ’s call-and-response stabs, all marked by Chenier’s confident voice, sung in Louisiana Creole French and English interchangeably.

“Calinda” traces zydeco’s lineage to la la music, the Creole house-dance tradition that Chenier learned as a child in Opelousas. His transformation of those local rhythms through blues and R&B phrasing made zydeco a self-standing form. This live version recorded at Austin City Limits demonstrates how far that sound had travelled by the mid-1970s, when the accordion, once rural, had become the centrepiece of a fully electric stage band.

King of Louisiana Blues & Zydeco celebrates Chenier’s centenary with 67 recordings spanning 1954–1983, including nineteen never released before. The box set includes essays by Adam Machado, Nick Spitzer, Herman Fuselier, and a reflection by C. J. Chenier, alongside photographs and posters from the Strachwitz archive. It stands as the first major Arhoolie release under Smithsonian Folkways and the most complete record of Chenier’s legacy.

Arhoolie Records, founded in California in 1960 by German-born collector Chris Strachwitz, laid the groundwork for this archive. His label documented regional American music ignored by the mainstream, recording blues, Cajun, Tejano, gospel, and zydeco artists directly in the field. His partnership with Chenier gave zydeco its first sustained recording platform and helped carry Louisiana’s Creole sound to audiences worldwide. Now part of Smithsonian Folkways, Arhoolie remains a cornerstone in the preservation of American vernacular music.

You can stream, listen to and pre-order the box set HERE