<\/p>\n
Johnette Downing clings to memories of her parents taking her to jazz and blues clubs in New Orleans. The family sometimes wandered into the country to two-step and waltz in the Cajun dancehalls around Pierre Part.<\/p>\n
Downing says Louisiana music, with children in mind, became her mission in life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI love sharing this culture we have in Louisiana,\u201d said Downing. \u201cI want to share that with children the way my parents shared it with me. It made me who I am today. I want that for our children now. I want them to have that same experience.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thirty-two children\u2019s books and numerous awards later, Downing is set to release album no. 13, \u201cMy Little Snap Bean: Zydeco For Children,\u201d with Nathan and the Zydeco Cha Chas. Zydeco legend and Grammy nominee Nathan Williams of Lafayette shares the accordion mastery and Creole vocals that have brought him to the Grand Ole Opry, the Kennedy Center and festivals across the United States and Europe.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
The album features a lively mix of 12 children\u2019s songs based on Louisiana legends and folklore. Titles include \u201cMy Parrain is the Loup Garou\u201d (My Godfather is a Werewolf), \u201cThe Fifolet\u201d (supernatural swamp gas) and \u201cGoing to the La La,\u201d reminiscent of the Creole house dances in the 1920s and \u201830s. Those move-the-furniture-aside, \u201cLa La\u201d parties in rural southwest Louisiana gave birth to zydeco music.<\/p>\n
The album\u2019s fun lyrics touch on themes of community, Creole traditions and children\u2019s games, like \u201cLoop de Loop\u201d and \u201cReady or Not.\u201d<\/p>\n
Several cuts feature Downing\u2019s harmonica-playing husband and Grammy-winning producer Scott Billington. Besides working with Irma Thomas, the Dirty Dozen Brass Band and other Louisiana music icons, Billington produced seven Zydeco Cha Chas albums. The discography includes the band\u2019s 1989 debut album, \u201cSteady Rock\u201d on Rounder Records.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
Downing, who has collaborated with jazz and Cajun musicians in previous projects, said the state\u2019s rich music roots and traditions fueled the record.<\/p>\n
\u201cI want children to hear the real thing. Collaborating with someone like Nathan or Irma Thomas, they get to hear that on a kid\u2019s album,” Downing said. \u201cWorking with Nathan was so much fun. The band brought so much joy to the session. They came to have fun and to work. They knew this is for the next generation. They knew the importance of it.\u201d<\/p>\n
Downing isn\u2019t slowing down. She has another children\u2019s book, \u201cNew England Animals A to Z,\u201d circulating in the Northeast.<\/p>\n
Downing and Billington have completed four years of work on \u201cIrma Thomas: Soul Queen of New Orleans.\u201d The biography is set for a fall release on the University Press of Mississippi.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n
\u201cThis is such a big year for me,” she said. “I don\u2019t see any reason to stop.\u201d<\/p>\n
Herman Fuselier is executive director of the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission. A longtime journalist covering Louisiana music and culture, he lives in Opelousas. His \u201cZydeco Stomp\u201d show airs at noon Saturdays on KRVS 88.7 FM.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n \u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.theadvocate.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Johnette Downing clings to memories of her parents taking her to jazz and blues clubs in New Orleans. The family sometimes wandered into the country to two-step and waltz in the Cajun dancehalls around Pierre Part. Downing says Louisiana music, with children in mind, became her mission in life. \u201cI love sharing this culture we […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2368564,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25172],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2368563","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-entertainment"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/Johnette-Downing-set-to-release-new-Zydeco-childrens-album.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368563","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2368563"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368563\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2368565,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2368563\/revisions\/2368565"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2368564"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2368563"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2368563"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2368563"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}