If you are a voting member of the Recording Academy, please listen to and consider my latest album for children, “My Little Snap Bean, Zydeco for Children” with Grammy nominees Nathan Williams & the Zydeco Cha Chas and multi-Grammy winner Scott Billington.
A rockin’ boogie on the bayou! My Little Snap Bean is a joyous celebration of childhood with a down home zydeco beat. Children’s musician and author Johnette Downing and Grammy nominees Nathan Williams and the Zydeco Cha Chas are veterans of Louisiana roots music, made by and for their respective communities and shared with the world at large.
Their album My Little Snap Bean, Zydeco for Children embodies a true collaboration of authentic zydeco music made specifically for children. This multilingual album includes lyrics in English, Southwest Louisiana Creole (also known as “Kouri-Vini”), and Cajun French. The word "zydeco" means "snap bean."
The idea for the project grew from the 40-year friendship of Nathan and co-producer, multi-Grammy winner, Scott Billington. Scott produced Nathan’s 1989 debut album, Steady Rock, for Rounder Records, followed by six more albums that established Nathan as among the leading Louisiana zydeco artists. Scott has occasionally toured as a member of the band.
Johnette, Nathan, and Scott had collaborated once before, when Nathan was a guest artist on Johnette’s Jumpin’ Jitters, It’s Halloween album for children. The synergy was natural and so exciting that the inspiration for a zydeco album for children was born.
The songs on the album are almost all new originals, including three that are adaptations of Johnette’s books My Parrain is the Loup Garou, The Fifolet, and My Aunt Came Back from Louisiane, along with several that reach back to the earliest days of zydeco and the a cappella style known as juré. There is also the nod to Louisiana’s rich Creole traditions both in New Orleans and in Southwest Louisiana. The term Creole for this purpose is simplified to connote a mixture of cultures which gives Louisiana its unique and vibrant heritage. Visit johnettedowning.com for more information.
The album is on streaming services worldwide such as YouTube Spotify AppleMusic, etc.
Building community one song at a time!
