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*** Steve Riley & the Mamou Playboys

HAPPYTOWN

(Rounder)

Louisiana accordionist Steve Riley’s view of Cajun as a continually evolving music has typically induced his Mamou Playboys to give a swamp-rock bounce to the tradition’s rhythmic locomotion. This approach has yielded 1998’s Bayou Ruler, a wonderful balance of electric aggression and rural grace, but also a few too many “crowd-pleasing” bar-band boogies at some concerts. On Happytown, which C.C. Adcock produced, the band take a step back from rock and aim to do for bayou backwaters what the Latin Playboys did for their Mexican heritage, taking chances with a wild mix of sonics. Samples of 1930s black “jure” singing, neo-field recordings made on the banks of the Atchafalaya, Creole poetry, warbling-effects vocals, grungy waltzes, French-Acadian lyrics, and lots of red-line recording levels combine with inspired accordion, fiddle, and guitar work. The simmering “Les Vigilantes” uses the most delicate of tones and a plaintive melody to tell a tale of hiding slaves. Some of the CD’s sound tricks are just that — tricks. And arrangements featuring horn sections continue to turn Riley’s Playboys into bar-band boogiers. But there are a lot of new ideas to like on Happytown. And it’s hard to beat the elation of “Creole Stomp,” one of their great surging, swinging Cajun two-steps.

— Tristram Lozaw