NEW ORLEANS—  Louisiana artist Sean Ardoin’s roots run deep in the Zydeco community., but he’s creating a new path for his music.  His “Kreole Rock and Soul” earned him two nominations at this year’s Grammys.

Ardoin said,  “Kreole Rock and Soul” is an expression of everything that I have ever come into contact with filtered through my creole filter through the zydeco idiom.
I’ve jumped out of the zydeco box. Zydeco music proper is more like what most people consider zydeco. It’s more of the shuffles and the blues. You know, stuff like that it’s real bluesy and R and B, old school R and B-based, four or five changes and stuff like that. New zydeco has some of those elements but it is mostly R&B, hip hop, pop, with some reggae thrown in there. I started singing that in 1988 when we kicked it off.”

Ardoin continued, “This was my first two nominations. I was ready. And 7:45 came. I was like, zip. Congratulations. Oh, I’m in, okay cool. Congratulations. Zip. Zip. Zip.I’m like stop texting me so I can find, I want to see it. And when I hit it. It said Kick Rocks. I got two? Cries. And I cried.”

“I’m a trailblazer. And I didn’t want to except the fact that I was a trailblazer. My mind doesn’t even work following somebody. So when I was at LSU, I was playing zydeco and I realized my peers didn’t know what it was. So I was like how can I get my peers to like it. Well, I’ll include music they know.  When you come to a Sean Ardoin show, it’s on 110 all night long,” said Ardoin.

You can see Sean Ardoin performing Saturday April 14th at the French Quarter Festival.