Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys

Jeffery Broussard & the Creole Cowboys are standouts in the zydeco scene, delivering pack-the-floor renditions of Creole classics as well as their own rollicking brand of traditional zydeco. The band is led by accordionist and vocalist Jeffery Broussard, one of the most influential musicians working in zydeco today.

A driving, accordion-led music with signature frottoir (rubboard) percussion, zydeco is an energetic, highly danceable music that springs from the rich cultural mix of Southwest Louisiana and East Texas. The style emerged during the musically fertile post-World War II period but has roots in an earlier era: French-speaking African American musicians mixed older Cajun and French Creole dance music, known as “la la,” with blues, R&B, and rock and roll to create a pulsing sound that packed the dance halls. Zydeco, which is said to take its name from the idiomatic title of a popular song, “Les Haricots [zydeco] Sont Pas Salé,” continues to evolve, often incorporating blues, and R&B elements. Jeffery’s father’s band, Delton Broussard and the Lawtell Playboys, was one of the pioneering zydeco ensembles, featuring Delton’s driving accordion and the Creole fiddle of the great Calvin Carriere.

The youngest of 11 children, Jeffery Broussard was raised on a farm in the rural community of Frilot Cove, Louisiana. At age eight he started playing drums in his father’s band. After seventh grade, Jeffery left school to farm, helping his parents make ends meet by digging and sorting potatoes. Whenever he could, Jeffery would sneak his daddy’s accordion out of the closet; over time he taught himself how to play all the instruments in the band, but accordion became his favorite. During his teen years, Jeffery was the drummer in his oldest brother Clinton’s band, The Zydeco Machines, and while in this band made his public debut on the accordion. At the time he was too shy even to speak on stage, let alone sing. Broussard went on to front the influential group Zydeco Force, both as lead singer and accordionist, before forming The Creole Cowboys in 2004.

Jeffery Broussard plays both the one-row and three-row button accordions as well as the piano accordion. In 2007, he received the Zydeco Music & Creole Heritage Award for "Accordionist of the Year,” and in 2009 he received a Folklife Fellowship from the Louisiana Division of the Arts in recognition of his contributions to the state’s heritage. 2015 saw two other major awards: induction into the Zydeco Hall of Fame and the Zydeco Blues Trailride Centurion Award. In 2022, Broussard released his most recent album, Boots and Boujee. Broussard makes a point of passing on his musical knowledge to the next generation, counting his own children among the many young musicians he’s taught over the years. As he says, “By playing traditional music, that is my way of giving back to my community, to my culture, and to get others interested in the music, in other parts of the country, and to fulfill my Daddy’s dream.”