"It's a great book-informative, funny, thoroughly entertaining, but most important of all it is an absolutely ESSENTIAL reference work for anyone who's interested in one of America's last great overlooked ethnic musics." -Houston Post "From the author of the best book ever written on New Orleans R & B, Rhythm and Blues in New Orleans, we now have the only book ever to be devoted to the music of southern Louisiana, a book that will probably never be equaled, let alone bettered." -Picking the Blues South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous is the first comprehensive look at the history of this distinctive style of music. The result of extensive research, fieldwork, and personal interviews, South to Louisiana details the South Louisiana sound from early Cajun and Cajun-Country through Zydeco and Blues to the current Cajun revival. Quoting the words of the musicians themselves, Broven examines the contributions of such legends as Joseph Falcon, whose "Allons a Lafayette" in 1928 was the first Cajun recording, Amadie Ardoin, Iry LeJune, and Nathan Abshire. Today such artists as Doug Kershaw, Jimmy C. Newman, and the late Clifton "King" Chenier have taken Cajun music to the national scene, and the music of Louisiana is now heard around the world.