Thu 5/15 @ 9PM
Deep in the Louisiana countryside, in a huge old rural barn, a thousand people would gather on a weekend night in the late ’90s to drink beer and dance the two-step to the tireless zydeco music of Keith Frank and his Soileau Zydeco Band, which played for hours on end.
Frank, 41, is now known as one of the leading lights of the new zydeco generation, playing at festivals around the world with his band, which includes his sister Jennifer on bass and his brother Brad on drums.
The fact that the siblings play this traditional Louisiana Creole music is not accidental. There’s a long family history, which most directly comes from their 66-year old father Preston Frank, in whose band they got their start. Frank the father keeps his music closer to its roots than the rock/R&B-infused zydeco his kids play.
Preston Frank will bring that family tradition to Jilly’s Music room in Akron, a rare chance to see one of the elders of zydeco who doesn’t get out on the road music. Akron’s Jen Maurer Project, which tosses a little zydeco into its stew of American roots influences, opens.
Tickets are $10 and $15.