The Best of Louisiana Music: Over 60 Minutes of the Best Mardi Gras Party Music!

This 1993 release comes from Rounder Records, the brainchild of university students Marian Leighton-Levy, Ken Irwin and Bill Nowlin who, in 1970, decided to launch a label operating out of Cambridge, Massachusetts (currently based in Burlington), with special attention paid to "roots" music. Once established, they created the specialty subsidiaries Zoe, Heartbeat, Bullseye Blues, Flying Fish and Philo, each dealing with specific genres like Folk. Eventually, Rounder became one of the largest independent record labels in the U.S. and, for a while, also served as the major distributor/central sales coordinator for upwards of 400 other indie labels, before cutting back in the mid-1990s.

Here, they pull together 19 happy Louisiana tunes by some of the best-known New Orleans artists this side of Fats Domino, with Beausoleil kicking it off with Bon Temps Rouler [Let The Good Times Roll]. Brothers Michael (fiddle and vocals) and David Doucet (guitar and vocals), percussionists...Read more

What a terrific CD...R&B, zydeco, Cajun. Just a great hour of enjoyment. Mostly fast, toe-tapping music, but a few slower ones, too.

I wish you have included a list of the songs of the CD and have some samples to listen before deciding whether to purchase it or not. I have just bought 3 Zydeco's CDs for my dad's 85th birthday in March next year. And I am ordering the Mardi Gras in New Orleans 2 as well as the Mardi Gras Essentials after listen to some of the samples. I like the songs - they will surely entertain the guests as well as my dad. I am preparing a Mardi Gras theme for my dad's birthday party.