One of my first employers (many moons ago) would bring in tapes of Doug Kershaw and Clifton Chenier to play when us employees tired of the regular FM radio mush (which was often). I was quickly hooked on Cajun. I didn't buy many cajun/zydeco records, they were pretty hard to find for awhile. But now I enjoy what's refered to as the "nouveau zydeco" movement, rounding up artists such as Keith Frank, Sean Ardoin and his brother Chris Ardoin.

These are a few of my favorite albums from this genre:

Chris Ardoin "Gon' Be Jus' Fine"
Chris Ardoin "Best Kept Secrets" (with a fantastic cover of Papa was A Rolling Stone)
Chris Ardoin "Lick It Up" (features my favorite zyedco tune, Good Times")
Sean Ardoin "Home Brew"
Sean Ardoin "Pullin'"
Keith Frank "Live at Slim's Y-Ki-Ki" (great party album!)
Keith Frank "Ready Or Not" (my all-time favorite zydeco album)
Zachary Richard "Women in the Room"
Chubby Carrier "Who Stole the Hot Sauce?"

Rhino records' "Alligator Stomp" series is a great starting place to explore this music. I believe there are 3 cd's of this series, hopefully still in print.

Any recommendations on great cajun/zydeco albums ya'll have heard is greatly welcome.

For any other cajun/zydeco fans, I want to recommend Rock a'Bayou by the Bluesbox Bayou Band. A self-released album this year, mostly covers (killer take on "Crawlfish") with a few originals (these are particuarly good). References to Katrina highlight the best songs ("Acadian Sky" and especially "This Dawg Is Cryin'"). A great mix of party and somber tunes on the disc. Hope to hear more from this outfit in the future.

Best new-to-me artist of the genre this year: Geno Delafose. His Le Cowboy Creole is a nice- if not odd- mix of traditional zydeco with rock, R&B and country covers. A few originals, and once again these are the best. Are zydeco artists lacking in confidence to present new songs or is it a matter of quantity? Anyway, this is a great party album though not the best place to start when checking out Delafose. I'd recommend his Rounder catalogue, beginning with 1996's That's What I'm Talkin' About! and the follow-up, La Chanson Perdue. Great stuff, keeps ya lively all the time and nice-n-warm from shufflin' and dancin' on these cold winter days.