Buckwheat Zydec

Biography

Stanley Joseph Dural Jr. — known worldwide as Buckwheat Zydeco — was born on November 14, 1947, in the Truman Addition neighborhood of Lafayette, Louisiana, the fourth of thirteen children in a large Black Creole family. His father, Stanley Dural Sr., was an accomplished traditional accordion player and close personal friend of zydeco legend Clifton Chenier, yet the young Dural actively rejected the genre as old-fashioned, instead gravitating toward rhythm and blues. A child prodigy on piano and organ, he was playing professionally by age nine alongside drummer Lynn August, and by his early teens he was backing touring R&B stars including Fats Domino, Little Richard, Ray Charles, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and Solomon Burke. In 1971 he formed Buckwheat and the Hitchhikers, a 15-piece funk outfit heavily influenced by Parliament-Funkadelic and Earth, Wind & Fire, scoring a regional hit with "It's Hard To Get."

The turning point came around 1975–76, when bandmate Paul "Little Buck" Senegal persuaded Dural to catch a Clifton Chenier show — an experience he later described as a zydeco epiphany. Chenier invited him to join his Red Hot Louisiana Band as organist in 1976, and over the next two and a half years Dural taught himself accordion in roughly eight months and built an entirely new musical identity. In 1979 he launched Buckwheat Zydeco and the Ils Sont Partis Band ("And they're off!" — a French horse-racing call), debuting on the Blues Unlimited label. After four Grammy nominations across the early 1980s, he made history in 1987 by signing with Island Records, becoming the first zydeco act ever signed to a major label. His Island debut On a Night Like This brought the genre to an international audience, and Eric Clapton personally invited the band to open his full North American tour and a 12-night residency at London's Royal Albert Hall. He performed at both of President Bill Clinton's inaugurations (1993 and 1997) and before an estimated three billion viewers at the closing ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics.

Buckwheat Zydeco's sound was a propulsive fusion of traditional Creole accordion playing, R&B showmanship, funk, soul, and Caribbean rhythms — the New York Times called his band "one of the best bands in America." He never abandoned the broader musical world he grew up in, recording zydeco treatments of Bruce Springsteen, Bob Dylan, Jimmy Cliff, and Memphis Minnie while critics praised his ability to widen the genre's reach without diluting its roots. After leaving Island he founded his own Tomorrow Recordings imprint, and capped his career with Lay Your Burden Down (2009, Alligator Records), which finally earned him the Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album in 2010 — 26 years after his first nomination. He passed away on September 24, 2016, in Lafayette from lung cancer at age 68. His son, Buckwheat Zydeco Jr., now leads the Ils Sont Partis Band with his father's custom accordion, while his grandson Kyle performs rubboard — three generations carrying a single musical mission.

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Fun Facts

• The nickname 'Buckwheat' was a childhood street name given by friends who noticed his braided hair resembled the Little Rascals character — it was never a calculated stage name he invented as an adult.
• Despite his father's best friend being Clifton Chenier (the King of Zydeco), Dural spent his entire youth actively avoiding the genre, calling it old-fashioned music — only converting after a live Chenier show in his late twenties.
• His band name is a bilingual pun: 'Ils Sont Partis' functions as the French racing announcer's cry 'And they're off!' while literally translating to 'They have left' — a double meaning Dural enjoyed.
• He performed before an estimated three billion viewers at the closing ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Summer Olympics, and at both of President Bill Clinton's inaugurations in 1993 and 1997.
• He won his Grammy Award for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album in 2010 for Lay Your Burden Down — 26 years after receiving his first Grammy nomination in 1984.

Musical Connections

Mentors/Influences

• Clifton Chenier - The King of Zydeco and the single most transformative influence on Dural's career. Chenier was also a close personal friend of Dural's father. Dural joined Chenier's Red Hot Louisiana Band as organist in 1976, spending roughly two and a half years learning directly from him and modeling his accordion approach on Chenier's style. [1976–1978]
• Fats Domino - Early R&B idol and touring employer whom Dural backed as a teenage pianist, shaping his foundational keyboard style and R&B sensibility. [1960s]
• Ray Charles - Major R&B influence and early touring employer; Dural cited Charles as one of the artists who shaped his understanding of soul and performance. [1960s]

Key Collaborators

• Eric Clapton - Clapton personally invited Buckwheat Zydeco to open his full North American tour and a 12-night residency at the Royal Albert Hall in 1988. The two also recorded together.
• Steve Berlin - Los Lobos saxophonist who produced Buckwheat Zydeco's final album, Lay Your Burden Down (Alligator Records, 2009), which won the Grammy for Best Zydeco or Cajun Music Album.
• Trombone Shorty - New Orleans brass artist and frequent collaborator at festivals and recordings, representing the next generation of Louisiana roots music. [2000s–2010s]
• Sonny Landreth - Louisiana slide guitarist and long-time collaborator on the festival and recording circuit. [1990s–2010s]
• Mavis Staples - Gospel and soul legend who shared the stage with Buckwheat Zydeco across multiple performances. [1990s–2000s]

Artists Influenced

• Buckwheat Zydeco Jr. - His son now leads the Ils Sont Partis Band, performing with his father's custom monogrammed accordion while grandson Kyle Anthony Dural plays rubboard — a three-generation family continuation of the musical legacy. [2016–present]

External Links

• Spotify
• Wikipedia