Zydeco Music in Frenchtown

The plaque gives the sound; the name was settled in Houston. It comes from a Creole lyric, "les haricots sont pas salés," the snap beans are not salted, and "les haricots" ran together into one word. Lightnin' Hopkins used a version on a Gold Star record around 1947. Folklorist Mack McCormick fixed the spelling z-y-d-e-c-o on a 1959 field-recording album, meaning the Frenchtown blend of Texas blues and la-la. Clifton Chenier cut "Zydeco Sont Pas Salé" at Gold Star Studio in 1964, and in 2007 the Grammys gave the music its own category.

What the plaque says

Zydeco Music in Frenchtown In the 1920s, Creole families from Louisiana, known as "Creoles of Color," migrated to Houston, establishing the neighborhood known as Frenchtown. In addition to their culture and language, they also brought their music to Houston. Zydeco, a fusion of traditional creole music and other styles, became an important form of expression for the families that settled in Frenchtown. Traditional Creole music featured an accordian backed by washboard percussion and sometimes a fiddle. This music was an integral part of social gatherings, called La-las, which served the purpose of raising funds for the community. By the 1940s, musicians blended the music, also known as La-la, with jazz and blues to form the distinctive sound known as Zydeco. As the musical form grew in popularity, several frenchtown ven-ues, including the silver slipper, began to showcase Zydeco musi-cians. Another popular club was Johnson's, established by Charley Johnson; Lonnie Mitchell, manager of the club after Johnson's death, also performed there. Johnson's granddaughter, Doris McClendon, later ran the club, changing its name to the Continental Lounge and Zydeco Ballroom. A regular performer was Clifton Chenier, known as the "King of Zydeco." An innovator, he modernized the style by adding electric guitars, a bass, drums, a saxophone and a trumpet to the more customary musical instruments. Through the years, the population of Frenchtown has become increasingly diverse. However, renewed interest in Zydeco in the late 20th century helped ensure this dynamic neighborhood will continue to preserve its rich musical and cultural heritage. (2007)

Where it stands

Worth the stop nearby

• Sam Houston Park and the Heritage Society — 3.0 mi
  Ten historic buildings gathered in a downtown park below the skyscrapers, among them the 1870 house of the Reverend Jack Yates, built five years after emancipation.
• Emancipation Park — 4.3 mi
  The Third Ward park that freedpeople bought for Juneteenth in 1872, rebuilt in 2017 on Emancipation Avenue and still the center of the city's June 19 celebration.
• Buffalo Soldiers National Museum — 4.6 mi
  A museum in Houston's 1925 Light Guard Armory that tells the service of Black soldiers from the Revolutionary War onward, built from one veteran's thirty years of collecting.
• Rothko Chapel — 5.2 mi
  An octagonal chapel open to all faiths, built by the de Menils around fourteen dark canvases by Mark Rothko, with Barnett Newman's Broken Obelisk standing in the pool outside.

More markers nearby

• The Frenchtown Community — 0.6 mi
• Payne Chapel A.M.E. Church — 0.9 mi
• Mount Vernon United Methodist Church — 1.3 mi
• Peacock Records — 1.4 mi