Edgar: [ Breathes deeply ] That's for Bobby.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Edgar: My name is Jacob Edgar.

I'm an explorer, but I don't search for lost cities or ancient ruins.

I'm on the quest for a different kind of treasure -- music.

[ Man singing in native language ] ♪♪ As an ethnomusicologist and world music record producer, I travel the globe hunting for the best songs the world has to offer, and I suffer through some of the worst so you don't have to.

♪♪ I've got a backstage pass to the world's music, and I won't stop until I've heard it all.

♪♪ [ Creole music plays ] ♪♪ It's February here near the city of Lafayette, the epicenter of Louisiana's Cajun and Creole culture.

But the unusually harsh chill in the air hasn't cooled off the excitement for Mardi Gras, which is just days away.

I'm starting my journey through one of America's most musical states here in the heart of French Louisiana, where the infectious rhythms of Zydeco and Cajun roots music echo proudly across the bayou.

Man: ♪ Soft winds blow ♪ ♪ Brushing my shoulder ♪ ♪ Morning sun warmin' my face ♪ Edgar: With its unique and multicultural traditions, Louisiana is practically a country within a country.

And while the city of New Orleans is known around the world as a music Mecca, there's also a wealth of great sounds outside the Big Easy.

Man: ♪ I loved you forever ♪ Edgar: Southwest Louisiana is home to large French-speaking Cajun and Creole communities.

The Cajuns arrived as exiles from the Acadia region of Canada over 200 years ago, and the Creoles are a multicultural mix with French, African-American, Caribbean, Native American, German, and even Spanish roots.

♪♪ Before I arrived, I called two local favorites -- Roddie Romero, a talented singer, guitarist, and accordion player, who draws on a wide range of South Louisiana influences, and Terrance Simien, a leading Zydeco star who's helped Creole music survive and thrive.

♪♪ Musicians start young around here, and Roddie Romero is no exception.

His grandfather gave him an accordion when he was just 9 years old.

He became a bit of a child prodigy, and by the time he graduated from high school, Roddie had already recorded three albums, toured the U.S. and Canada numerous times, and even made local news as the inspiration for the Roddie Romero Bill, which allowed underage performers to play in local bars if accompanied by a parent or guardian.

Hey, someone's got to buy the drinks, right?

♪ Where I'm from ♪ ♪ The river runs wide ♪ ♪ Mud is black ♪ ♪ And the cane grows high ♪ Edgar: Roddie has blended flavors of Cajun and Zydeco music with elements of swamp pop, a local take on early rock 'n' roll, to create a sound he calls South Louisiana Boogie.

He and members of his band, The Hub City All Stars, demonstrate their style for me at Dockside Studios, which serves as home base for me during my visit to the region.

♪ Where I'm from ♪ ♪ Should be no surprise ♪ ♪ A Gulf wind blows acrossed the big blue skies ♪ ♪ Sweet potato and black-eyed peas ♪ ♪ Downhome lovin', baby ♪ ♪ Just you and me ♪ Edgar: Dockside Studios is a magical estate in the small town of Maurice that's one of the most picturesque recording studios I've ever spent time in.

Actress and singer Scarlett Johansson recently recorded here, as have B.B.

King, Derek Trucks, Mark Knopfler, Keb' Mo', Levon Helm, not to mention lots of local legends ranging from Dr. John and Ivan Neville to Irma Thomas and Buckwheat Zydeco.

I mean, it's easy to see why musicians love this place.

There's really nothing quite like it.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Roddie and I leave the comforts of Dockside to check out downtown Lafayette, the hub city of Acadiana, and the site of one of my favorite music festivals.

I've been on the stage behind me many times because it is the main stage at the Festival International de Louisiane, and about 400,000 people come to the festival.

They've got six stages all over downtown Lafayette, and they have artists from Africa, the Caribbean, Brazil, you name it.

Almost 20 countries are represented every year.

♪ Ridin' down the bayou ♪ ♪ On a potholed road ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Lookin' for a good ♪ ♪ Watering hole ♪ Lafayette's such a beautiful place to grow up and be brought up, and the music, the culture, the food -- you know, all of the above.

It's such a beautiful place.

Very much a melting pot, a gumbo pot, so to speak, of all these cultures -- the Creole culture, the Cajun, the Acadian culture, the Spanish.

And Lafayette is that place that has all of that and is why I'm the musician I am today because I didn't grow up in the prairie, I didn't grow up in the country or down the bayou.

I grow up in the hub city right here, and that's why I named my band The Hub City All Stars.

We've all put in our ingredients into this big pot.

Man, it's been stewing for a long time, and it's -- it's been good for a while.

♪♪ ♪ I'm getting all wet ♪ ♪ 'Cause it's starting to drizzle ♪ ♪♪ Sometimes you would think it would get a bit watered down, being that there's such a mix of cultures here, and you go out to the country, and it just concentrates a little bit more, which is an amazing thing.

It's a beautiful thing.

You know, go out -- go into Mamou or Eunice or, you know, the Prairie Cajuns and you'll find an accordion on every other block -- you know, accordion or fiddle player.

I've noticed that.

Yeah, it's beautiful.

♪ It ain't always pretty down here in Paradise ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Beauty is in the things that you like ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Fat drops falling from a hurricane ♪ ♪♪ ♪ We're just floating here ♪ ♪ On the Pontchartrain ♪ ♪♪ While I've been staying at Dockside Studios, every morning, I've been coming to this local gas station to get coffee and boudin for breakfast.

And I see you guys here every day.

Is this, like, your hangout?

Seven days a week.

Seven days a week you're here?

That's where our retirement is.

This is your retirement facility.

Right.

We solve all the world's problems right here.

Edgar: [ Laughs ] ♪♪ Edgar: You don't have to spend much time in this area to recognize how deeply embedded music is in the local culture.

Everybody's a musician, from the FedEx man to the, you know, guy that works at the post office.

Everybody's a musician.

Edgar: And that certainly turns out to be true in this case as a guy at the gas station named Black Foreman -- now that's a cool name -- pulls out his trusty accordion and demonstrates some traditional Cajun music riffs.

♪♪ ♪♪ All right, all right.

That was great.

♪♪ ♪♪ Edgar: A little while later, a couple of boats filled with musicians pull up to the banks at Dockside Studios.

This welcome surprise turns out to be The Lost Bayou Ramblers, a young Cajun roots music group that wants to demonstrate their sound.

[ Singing in French ] ♪♪ ♪♪ The founders of the group, brothers Louis and Andre Michot, grew up nearby, and they've been immersed in Cajun music since birth.

♪♪ The Michots have a family camp right nearby, just down the Vermilion River, so they invite me to take a ride over in their boat.

♪♪ The rustic camp has been a family getaway for years.

It's a beautiful sight to see the generations getting together to enjoy the traditional Cajun sounds made with violin, accordion, and triangle.

♪♪ ♪♪ It looks like they've got a future triangle virtuoso in the making.

Didn't I say musicians start young around here?

[ Singing in French ] ♪♪ Andre and I, of course, played rock 'n' roll and, you know, blues and had our guitars and everything.

And even though we were raised with Cajun music, it was kind of something you took for granted until you got to a certain age.

♪♪ ♪♪ But when you realize what you have and what it is, you know, it really inspires you to want to learn the language and want to learn the music.

♪♪ All right.

Simien: A one, a two, a one, two, three, four.

♪♪ ♪ From the Crescent City ♪ ♪ Across the bayou to the prairie ♪ ♪ This is Creole country ♪ ♪ You should know... ♪ Edgar: Terrance Simien, one of the leading names in the Zydeco music scene, meets me at Dockside.

Terrance uses Zydeco as a foundation for all kinds of flavors.

♪♪ The Zydeco music in Creole culture, it's a unique thing, and it's something that also connects with everybody -- French, African, Spanish, Native American, and German.

I mean, that's just about -- just about it.

Not everybody, but just about everybody in the world.

♪ But when our people have been here ♪ ♪ For over 300 years ♪ ♪ French, African ♪ ♪ Spanish and Native American ♪ ♪ All colors in one ♪ ♪ That's where you are from ♪ ♪ From the Crescent City ♪ ♪ Across the bayou to the prairie ♪ ♪ This is Creole country ♪ Edgar: When Terrance was growing up on a farm near here, the traditional Creole music had fallen out of favor among the young generation who felt it was really "old person's music."

Simien: I'd tell my friends at school, you know, a freshman in high school, I said, "Man, you've got to come with me, man.

Come check out this -- this -- this Zydeco stuff, man."

And it was like, "Nah, man, I'm not goin' there, man.

That's for them old folks."

And now the same guys that were saying that back then, man, every trail ride, every dance, you see them out there dancin'.

Now they're into it.

They've seen the light.

Now they're into it.

♪♪ All right.

I'm on Lexi, and we're getting ready to do a little something here.

We're gon' take us a little ride.

Edgar: Terrance invites me to experience a local tradition, the trail ride.

I neglected to tell him that I have no idea how to ride a horse.

But I guess I'm about to learn.

What we normally do, we'll get together.

we'll maybe go 8 to 10 miles or whatever, get to a halfway point, rest, eat, drink some beer, listen to Zydeco, maybe even start dancing.

So, now I've heard you can't keep these horses too close together.

Well, he's a stallion, and she's a mare.

She's a filly.

So, you know, you don't want to keep them too close together.

Sometime they'll start to get -- you know, get a little active.

All right, good.

Yeah.

I try to stay away from studs.

Now, do I have anything to be nervous about?

Nothing at all.

Nothing at all.

I mean, you can't die or anything.

No, no, I promise you that.

Just paralyzed from the neck down, but... ♪♪ ♪ That's the hand that you chose ♪ ♪ When you were dealing lies ♪ ♪♪ ♪ You ain't got no ace in the hole ♪ When you say Zydeco trail ride, it's really trail riding, then the Zydeco come into it.

But it is really a Zydeco trail ride because a trail ride and Zydeco just go hand in hand.

♪♪ Edgar: After the ride, the food and instruments come out.

Terrance is joined by 12-year-old accordion player Guyland Leday and his brother J.J., who, at just 7 years old, is already jamming on the rubboard.

♪♪ Simien: The future is in his hands and in kids like his age, and there's no telling where they're going to take it.

I think the future is going to bring some amazing things to the music, you know?

♪♪ One of my first memories hearing live music, I was probably 3 years old.

They do a fundraiser, a dance at our church hall, and there was this guitar sitting on an amplifier.

And I just went over to it and touched it, you know?

And they had -- You know, the old hall was wired all weird, so the electricity was -- was pretty bad.

And I remember touching the guitar and getting shocked.

-No.

-Yeah.

That was your first experience touching -- First experience touching a electric instrument, man, and it shocked me.

♪♪ ♪♪ Edgar: Back in the day, Terrance was one of the few to recognize the importance of maintaining Creole traditions, and his efforts were part of a revival of interest in Zydeco music in the '90s that continues to this day.

♪♪ I get one more taste of Creole culture by stopping at the farm of Geno Delafose, one of the area's best-known Zydeco musicians.

♪♪ Geno is an authentic Creole cowboy.

And while many of his peers have left the farming life behind, Geno prefers to stay connected to his roots by raising horses and cattle.

Geno inherited this farm from his father, John Delafose, who was himself a popular Zydeco musician.

He passed away in 1994, and then I kind of picked up with the band and just kept on going with it.

I've, um -- I actually started out playing rubboard in my dad's band at the age of 7, and then, at 10, I started playing drums, and then, at 13, I learned to play the accordion, and I've just been at it ever since.

Edgar: An important Creole tradition is hospitality, and Geno invites me to his mother's house nearby for some of her homemade gumbo.

♪♪ So, what's the secret to a good gumbo?

Well, you start off with the roux.

The roux.

Make the roux with cooking oil and flour.

And then I add my roux and my onions and all my ingredients and let it boil.

Put the water over your meat.

♪♪ All right, well, let's -- let's see what it tastes like.

See if it's seasoned enough.

Mmm.

All right.

[ Laughs ] ♪♪ [ Singing in French ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Edgar: Geno now leads his own band, French Rockin' Boogie, and he's toured the world as an ambassador for Zydeco music and Creole culture.

♪♪ ♪♪ All right.

♪♪ Edgar: My last night at Dockside, singer Marc Broussard shows up to do some recording.

Marc has built a large following with a style that some have called Bayou Soul.

But even though he knows the ins and outs of the local music styles, Marc's sound owes more to contemporary soul and R&B than Cajun and Creole music, although he can't help but give it a little Cajun spice.

♪ Friendly people ♪ ♪ But I can't make out all the words ♪ ♪♪ ♪ Melodies so sweet ♪ ♪ Through all the trees from different birds ♪ In the studio that night is songwriter and pianist David Egan, a native of Shreveport, a city to the north, and they treat me to a moving rendition of David's song "French Café."

♪ Swearin I'll be back again ♪ ♪ One more week ♪ ♪ But I think it might do me in ♪ ♪♪ ♪ And I stop to catch my breath ♪ ♪ On the slippery steps of Angouleme ♪ ♪ And with my little finger ♪ ♪ Across the town I write your name ♪ ♪ Now I can't stop drinking the wine ♪ ♪ Can't stop counting the days ♪ ♪ A world apart, an ocean away ♪ ♪ Just loving you, baby ♪ ♪ Sittin' here, lovin' you ♪ ♪ From this little French café ♪ ♪♪ This music, this Cajun and Zydeco music, is truly oriented here in South Louisiana, and it's thrived for, you know, a couple hundred years.

It's put food on the table for a lot of guys around here that have been able to make a living doing what they love, playing music in dance halls up and down I-10.

♪ We may know some scrapes ♪ ♪ Some things we won't ever lack ♪ ♪♪ ♪ All the fields of Beaujolais ♪ ♪ Couldn't buy you anyway ♪ ♪ It couldn't buy you, babe ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ And I stop to catch my breath ♪ ♪ On those mighty steps of Angouleme ♪ ♪♪ ♪ And with my little finger ♪ ♪ Across the town I write your name ♪ ♪ No, I can't stop drinking the wine ♪ ♪ Lord, can't stop counting them days, no ♪ ♪ A world apart, an ocean away ♪ ♪ Just lovin' you, baby ♪ ♪ Sittin' here lovin' you ♪ ♪ From this little French ♪ ♪ All the oysters in Marennes ♪ ♪ Whole French army and Charles de Gaulle ♪ ♪ And a million Francs wouldn't phase me at all ♪ ♪ From lovin' you, baby ♪ ♪ Sittin' here, lovin' you ♪ ♪ From this little French ♪ ♪ Oooooh, oooh-ooh hoo ♪ ♪ Sittin' here, lovin' you ♪ ♪ From this little Fr-e-e-e-ench ♪ ♪ Café ♪ ♪ Oh, oh-oh-oh-oh ♪ ♪ Mm-mmmmm ♪ ♪♪ [ Chuckles ] ♪♪ Edgar: It's really hard to leave Acadiana behind.

The people are so welcoming, the food so enticing, and the music -- well, the music speaks for itself.

♪♪ But there's a lot more for me to explore in the state of Louisiana, so I hit the road and head north to Shreveport.

I'll be meeting up with guitarist Kenny Wayne Shepherd for a tour of his hometown's musical sites, including a jam session on the same stage where Elvis Presley first made his mark.

My Louisiana hayride still has a long way to go.

[ Singing in French ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪