Sweet and Salty: Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys with "Zarico Est Pas Salé"

I've never really thought of zydeco as being "sweet" music, but I've never really thought of it as being salty either. Zydeco is too rooted in different types of music, such as the blues and country and a rollicking dance beat, to be sweet. But it often touches on a lot of cultural norms so present in folk music so it doesn't really have a salty flavor either. When I think of zydeco music, I think of a bunch of people getting together in the rural Cajun areas of Louisiana and just having a good time with each other over beer and dancing. You don't need too much sweetness or saltiness, just a good delicate balance between the two. I guess you could call zydeco the kettle corn of music.

Zarico Est Pas Salé is a zydeco tune that our first three-peaters, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, perform with Sonny Landreth. A Cajun band from Southern Louisiana, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys were founded in 1988. The band takes its inspiration from Cajun traditional legends Dewey Balfa, Belton Richard and Walter Mouton. However, the music of Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys has grown into a style that is distinctly Cajun but also personal to them. They sing almost exclusively in Cajun French. They have been nominated twice for Grammys in the Best Traditional Folk Album category and have released 11 albums to date as well as one compilation album. Sonny Landreth is an American blues guitar player especially known for his slide guitar method and of whom Eric Clapton said that he is one of the most advanced and under-appreciated guitarists in the world. He is known as "The King of Slydeco." He has released twelve albums. Zarico Est Pas Salé can be found on The Best of Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys (2008).