Editing Boozoo Chavis (section)

==Career==

=== First era: 1950s ===
Chavis made his first recording in 1955, "Paper in My Shoe", based on a song he heard performed by Creole accordionist Ambrose "Potato" Sam.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |last=Tomko |first=Gene |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=5ZKzDwAAQBAJ |title=Encyclopedia of Louisiana Musicians: Jazz, Blues, Cajun, Creole, Zydeco, Swamp Pop, and Gospel |publisher=Louisiana State University Press |year=2020 |isbn=9780807169322 |location=Baton Rouge |pages=69–70}}</ref> Chavis's version was an uptempo tune with a dance beat about being too poor to afford new shoes or socks, so he placed a paper in his shoes to keep his feet warm when the holes in the sole got too large.<ref name="Kevin">{{cite web |url=http://www.encyclopedia.com/education/news-wires-white-papers-and-books/chavis-boozoo |title=Boozoo Chavis, Singer, accordionist |last=O'Sullivan |first=Kevin |date=2004 |website=www.encyclopedia.com |publisher=Gale |access-date=15 October 2017}}</ref> The song, sung in both French and English,<ref name="latimes">{{cite news |last=Thurber |first=Jon |date=May 7, 2001 |title=Boozoo Chavis, Leader in Zydeco Music Scene |url=https://www.latimes.com/archives/la-xpm-2001-may-07-me-60429-story.html |work=[[Los Angeles Times]] |location=Los Angeles, California |access-date=15 October 2017}}</ref> was originally released on the Folk-Star label, a subsidiary of [[Goldband Records|Goldband]], before being reissued by [[Imperial Records]]. This recording was among the first commercially released zydeco songs and a regional hit, and was subsequently acknowledged as a zydeco standard.<ref name="nyt"/> The song was recorded at the instigation of local entrepreneur [[Eddie Shuler]], who teamed Chavis up with a rhythm and blues band named Classie Ballou's Tempo Kings. The first recording session was not successful, so Shuler brought whiskey in for subsequent takes, and the band lost their inhibitions. An inebriated Chavis fell off of his chair at the end of the released version of "Paper in My Shoe", so the song fades out, which was one of the first records to use that technique.<ref name="Leigh">{{cite news |last=Leigh |first=Spencer |date=May 8, 2001 |title=Obituary: Boozoo Chavis |work=The Independent |location=London, England |page=Obituaries section, 6}}</ref> Chavis denied this widely shared anecdote.<ref name=":3">{{Cite book |last1=Billington |first1=Scott |title=Making tracks: a record producer's Southern roots music journey |last2=Guralnick |first2=Peter |date=2022 |publisher=[[University Press of Mississippi]] |isbn=978-1-4968-3915-2 |series=American made music series |location=Jackson}}</ref>

Chavis was convinced that the recording was more successful than the record companies claimed, later saying: "I got gypped out of my record. I get frustrated, sometimes. I love to play, but, when I get to thinking about 1955... They stole my record. They said that it only sold 150,000 copies. But, my cousin, who used to live in Boston, checked it out. It sold over a million copies. I was supposed to have a gold record."<ref name="allmusic"/> As a result, Chavis lost trust in the music business,<ref name="nyt"/> and over the next thirty years only released three more singles: "Forty-One Day's" (Folk-Star 1201, 1955), "Hamburger's & Popcorn" (Goldband 1161, 1965), and "Mama! Can I Come Home" ([[Huey P. Meaux|Crazy Cajun]] 813, 1974 [credited to the Dog Hill Playhouse Band]).<ref name="wangdangdula">{{cite web |url=http://wdd.mbnet.fi/boozoochavis.htm |title=Boozoo Chavis |last=Hoppula |first=Pete |date=May 2, 2009 |website=www.wangdangula.com |access-date=25 November 2016}}</ref> He found difficulty booking gigs without steady record releases.<ref name=":1" />

He performed rarely during the 1960s and 1970s, except for friends and family events,<ref name=":2">{{Cite book |last=Snyder |first=Jared |title=The Accordion in the Americas: Klezmer, Polka, Tango, Zydeco, and More! |publisher=University of Illinois Press |year=2012 |isbn=978-0-252-07871-2 |editor-last=Simonett |editor-first=Helena |chapter='Garde ici et 'garde lá-bas: Creole Accordion in Louisiana}}</ref> devoting most of his time to farming and raising racehorses<ref name="allmusic"/> on his property in Dog Hill, on the outskirts of [[Lake Charles, Louisiana]]. The area derived its name because it is where people traditionally went to dump unwanted pets.<ref name="Tisserand"/><ref name=":3" /> During those years, zydeco's popularity was limited mainly to Louisiana. By the early 1980s however, zydeco was gaining recognition outside of Louisiana in the United States, as well developing as a strong following in Europe, thanks largely to the popularity of artists such as [[Clifton Chenier]], [[Buckwheat Zydeco]], and [[Rockin' Dopsie]]. Those artists were performing as main attractions at music festivals, were included in magazine stories, and were getting the attention of major record labels.<ref name="Silverman"/>

=== Second era: 1984–2001 ===
In the early 1980s, Chavis was making a meager living with his race horses, and earned only a small amount of money performing at occasional house parties or dances. Chavis's family, and in particular his wife Leona, encouraged him to resume his music career.<ref name="Silverman" /> Chavis returned to performing music regularly in 1984 after discovering that another musician was impersonating him. He and his wife were driving to a horse race and heard an advertisement on the radio for a dance featuring Boozoo Chavis, after which he realized that there was enough name recognition for him to return to performing.<ref name="nyt" /> 

He signed a five-year contract<ref name="Silverman" /> with the [[Maison de Soul]] label,<ref name="allmusic" /> and released a locally successful single, "Dog Hill"<ref name="nyt" /> (on the ZBC label) and four albums: ''Louisiana Zydeco Music'' (1986), ''Boozoo Zydeco!'' (1987), ''Zydeco Homebrew'' (1989), and ''Zydeco Trail Ride'' (1990). ''Louisiana Zydeco Music'' included a re-recording of "Paper In My Shoe" that was included on many [[jukeboxes]] in Louisiana and became a regional hit for a second time.<ref name="Kevin" /> These four albums were frequently played on local zydeco radio shows.<ref name=":3" /> In addition, [[Rounder Records]] released a live album ''Zydeco Live!'' in 1989, and a compilation of his 1950s recordings, ''The Lake Charles Atomic Bomb'', in 1990.  He also recorded two albums for [[Sonet Records]] in the early 1990s.<ref name="wangdangdula" /> During this time period, many of his songs also appeared on compilation albums issued by labels in both the US and Europe that featured many of the most well-known zydeco performers.

Chavis earned the nickname "The Creole Cowboy" because of his background raising horses, as well as his habit of wearing a white Stetson hat during performances.<ref name="wapost" /><ref name="Kevin" /> In addition, the subject matter of some of his songs was explicitly rural, such as "Zydeco Hee Haw", "Johnnie Billy Goat", and "Motor Dude Special" named for his prized thoroughbred horse.<ref name="Hoekstra" /> Chavis also routinely wore an apron while on stage, to keep his sweat from damaging his accordion.<ref name="Silverman" /> Stylistically, Chavis provided a rural contrast, with fewer instruments and more repetitive (yet unpredictable and energetic) compositions, with [[La la (music)|la la]] roots, compared to the urban zydeco developed and popularized by Clifton Chenier, which featured a broad instrumental lineup, standardized compositions, and electric influences from [[Soul music|soul]] and [[Rock music|rock]].<ref name=":2" />

Chavis was a prolific writer of zydeco songs, some including references to his friends and acquaintances and others too raunchy to be sold openly.<ref name="nyt"/> The release of X-rated versions of his songs "Uncle Bud" and "Deacon Jones" on his 1999 album ''[[Who Stole My Monkey?]]'' resulted in a [[Parental Advisory|parental advisory sticker]], the first for a zydeco recording.<ref name="Leigh"/><ref name="Gettelman">{{cite news |last=Gettelman |first=Parry |date=April 2, 1999 |title=Same Old Boozoo, And That's Great |work=The Orlando Sentinel |location=Orlando, Florida |edition=Metro |page=Calendar section, 10}}</ref><ref name="Koda">{{cite web |url=https://www.allmusic.com/album/who-stole-my-monkey-mw0000602510 |title=Who Stole My Monkey?: AllMusic Review |last=Koda |first=Cub |website=www.allmusic.com |access-date=6 November 2017}}</ref> Many of his songs have become standards of the zydeco repertoire, in spite of, or perhaps because of, their generally idiosyncratic and quirky construction and subject matter.  "If it's wrong, do it wrong, with me," he would tell his band. "If I'm wrong, you wrong, too!"<ref name="latimes"/>

Until 1990, Chavis was notoriously afraid of flying. He told record producer [[Floyd Soileau]] that if Soileau wanted him to fly to performances, he'd have to get him drunk to get on an airplane. Over a prior five-year period, Chavis made just one trip to California, and he drove there from Louisiana. But after Chavis's mother died in May 1990, he decided he had to overcome his flying phobia in order to advance his music career. His first flight was to New York City to perform at a club called Tramps, and he claimed to have enjoyed the experience.<ref name="Silverman"/>

During the 1990s, having overcome his fear of flying,<ref name=":3" /> Chavis performed widely with his band, the Magic Sounds (also credited as the Majic Sounds), and was crowned "The King of Zydeco" in New Orleans in 1993, after Clifton Chenier's death.<ref name="nyt"/> His style, using a button rather than [[piano accordion]], was more traditional than that of Chenier. He switched between single-, double-, and triple-row accordions and played in "cross position" and in [[Relative minor key|relative minor keys]] to make a bluesy sound on the diatonic instruments.<ref name=":2" /> Around this time, he would stage battles with [[Beau Jocque]], who was a young rival, but the two were in fact friends.<ref name=":3" />

According to ''[[The New York Times]]'', "with his rough-hewn voice and hefty accordion riffs, his band's one-chord grooves had a mesmerizing intensity that kept dance floors packed".<ref name="nyt" /> He appeared at the New York Jazzfest for ten consecutive years<ref name="Kevin" /> as well as appearances at the [[Newport Folk Festival]] and the [[New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival]], and in 2000 he was a featured act at the [[San Francisco Jazz Festival]].<ref name="Kevin" /> Chavis was featured in a 1994 documentary film titled ''The Kingdom of Zydeco''.

=== Death ===
Chavis died on May 5, 2001, from complications resulting from a heart attack after a performance a week earlier in [[Austin, Texas]].<ref name="nyt" /><ref name="Kevin" /> He was funeralized at Our Lady Queen of Heaven Catholic Church and interred at Highland Memorial Gardens, both in [[Lake Charles, Louisiana]].<ref name="bare" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=New Orleans Music News & Louisiana Music News Archive (#12) |url=https://www.satchmo.com/nolavl/old12.html |access-date=2022-07-11 |website=www.satchmo.com}}</ref>