Stanley ‘Buckwheat Zydeco’ Dural Jr. dies
3rd October 2016 · 0 Comments
By Geraldine Wyckoff
Contributing Writer
Stanley “Buckwheat Zydeco” Dural Jr. always had a big smile on his face. A zydeco master and ambassador, Buckwheat, as he’d been called since childhood, was a joyful musician and man. The Grammy-winning accordionist, organist, vocalist and composer took the music and the culture that he loved and shared it with the world. Stanley Dural Jr., a native of Lafayette, Louisiana, died in his birthplace on Monday, September 24, 2016. He was 68.
“I love what I do,” Buckwheat declared in a 2014 interview prior to his performance at the Cajun-Zydeco Festival.
Dural’s career stretched back to the late 1950s when he played organ with such noted artists as vocalist Joe Tex and guitarist/vocalist/violinist Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown. Those experiences led him to form his own, 15-piece, organ-driven funk band, Buckwheat & the Hitchhikers.
Though his father, a push-button accordionist who performed Creole or La La music, encouraged Buckwheat to take up the accordion and get involved with zydeco, it wasn’t until 1976 when he began playing organ with the King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier that he became at all interested in the genre. Inspired by Chenier’s accordion wizardry, Buckwheat began to “shed” on the accordion himself and eventually put together his own band, Buckwheat Zydeco. With his beautiful, big, white, piano keyboard-style accordion strapped on, Buckwheat immediately impressed as a leader. A crafty composer, Buckwheat would also incorporate other musicians’ material and styles of music. He definitely favored the legends of New Orleans’ rhythm and blues heydays of the late 1950s and 1960s. As a child, Buckwheat, whose nickname came from a character in the “Our Gang/Little Rascals” film series, found inspiration from the likes of Fats Domino to “bang” on the piano keys in his pre-teen years. “I love Fats,” declared Buckwheat, who continued to play Domino’s hits like “Walking to New Orleans” throughout his career. He also paid homage to those roots by covering tunes like Lee Dorsey’s 1962 chart-topping hit, “Ya Ya.” Another go-to genre for Buckwheat was reggae, both doing material from the great Bob Marley or adding the laid-back, Jamaican beat to his own songs. He also recorded what is considered by some to be one of the best covers of Jimi Hendrix’s hit, “Hey Joe.” For that tune, Buckwheat often moved over to the big B-3 organ that stood ready for action on stage.
Dural got his first organ at age nine and graduated to the Hammond B-3 when he was 16. “I still have it,” Buckwheat revealed in 2014. Early on he delved into the legendary, jazz organ greats like Jimmy Smith, Jimmy McGriff and Jack McDuff. “That’s what I was listening to coming up,” explained Buckwheat who still considered the organ as his signature instrument.
Dural gained international fame and performed at both of President Clinton’s inaugurations, was the first zydeco artist to record on a major label laying down his 1989 Grammy-nominated album, the killer On a Night Like This on Island Records and in 2010 won a Grammy for his impressive Lay Your Burden Down. Despite such fame and acclaim Buckwheat still maintained his home base in Southwest Louisiana and remained a country guy at heart. He and his family lived on seven acres of land in Carencro, Louisiana, just four miles north of Lafayette where he was born, raised and passed away.
“I raise sheep, dogs and cats,” he once laughingly said. Finding shearing sheep to be too much work, he changed breeds just because he just enjoyed having sheep around. “I don’t have to get on my tractor like I used to do. They help me out with the grass and I take care of them.”
Because Buckwheat Zydeco toured so extensively, his appearances in New Orleans remained primarily limited to festival dates. “The road is my home away from home,” he once offered.
Dural’s notoriety, talent and stylistic versatility led to an invitation in 2014 to perform on the final show of “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon” where he sat in with the knock-out house band, The Roots.
“It was fantastic,” Buckwheat enthusiastically declared of the the experience. “You don’t get no better. They were very professional and professionalism and personality go together – you can’t have one without the other.” The amiable Buckwheat, of course, had both.
Apparently aware of Buckwheat’s health issues, his set at the 2014 New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival was dubbed “Buckwheat Zydeco Lifetime Tribute.” The fest’s small Fais Do-Do Stage was loaded with “squeezebox” players and others from the zydeco world. First up was the man of the hour, Buckwheat himself, who was obviously having some fun as he soulfully belted out his kicker, “Hard to Stop.” At first his son, Sir Reginald Master Dural, got down on the rubboard but then moved over to play the keyboard side of Buckwheat’s accordion at the same time as his father. When Buckwheat switched to organ, he took over the accordion with Rockin’ Dopsie on rubboard. Other guests included accordion master C.J. Chenier, the Grammy-winning Terrance Simien and vocalist Zachary Richard with guitarist Lil Buck Sinegal and horns beefing up the band. It was a very special, one love performance.
Buckwheat’s final Jazz Fest appearance was just this year performing to a large, adoring crowed on the big Acura Stage. It was the event’s first weekend, so gratefully the sun shined brightly on the colorful crowd that was, for the most part, unaware that they were there saying goodbye to a much-loved and loving legend.
“I just have fun,” Buckwheat once simply exclaimed. “When I see people out there with smiles on their faces, I’m rewarded. I’m just a people person. That’s what I’m there for: To make you happy.”
This article originally published in the October 3, 2016 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.
