(Alligator)

www.alligator.com

Etoi! As hearty a music as Zydeco may be, its translation to larger realms has usually been a dicey proposition. Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural has tried for decades to highly mixed results, but on this sucker he nails it firm and deep. With the able assistance of Steve Berlin as producer, the singer and accordionist creates a potent brand of "Greater Gulf Music" that ranges from the lower Caribbean to beyond the upper delta with wondrous results.

The opener "When The Levee Breaks," the Memphis Minnie/Kansas Joe McCoy classic known to rock fans from Led Zep's version, signals that something magical is happening here with its Louisiana-style Southern rock fury, whipped to nice froth by Sonny Landreth's slide guitar, which along with Buck's mellifluous squeeze box slathers the Tabasco atop J.J. Grey's Chicago-style shuffle blues on "Can't Let Go" that follows. Jimmy Cliff's "Let Your Yeah Be Yeah" hits the locus among reggae, ska and New Orleans R&B with an infectious delight while Bruce Springsteen's "Back In Your Arms" shines in a similar one-drop lilt, iced by Doral's loamy B 3 pads and slides. In a veritable Whitman's sampler of stylistic treats, the disc gets mighty soulful ("Don't Leave Me Here" and Captain Beefheart's "Too Much Time"), summons up some swampy voodoo to match Dr. John on the title song that swirls hypnotically from the pas de deux between Buck's Hammond organ and writer Warren Haynes' guitar, and travels to a Saturday night at Slim's Y-Ki-Ki in Opelousas on the snappy Zydeco of "Throw Me Something, Mister" and "Ninth Place."

By the time this delicious disc cools down on the closing grace note instrumental waltz of "Finding My Way Back Home," you know you're in the presence of the bayou music greatness that Buckwheat Zydeco has long aspired to achieve.

Standout Tracks: "When The Levee Breaks," "Let Your Yeah Be Yeah," "Back In Your Arms," "Lay Your Burden Down" ROB PATTERSON