Buckwheat Zydeco

Buckwheat Zydeco — born Stanley Joseph Dural Jr. — Louisiana accordionist and bandleader who carried Creole zydeco from roadside dance halls onto national stages and television, died in Lafayette, Louisiana, on September 24, 2016. He was sixty-eight. Born November 14, 1947, in Lafayette, he earned the childhood nickname Buckwheat, apprenticed on organ in local R&B bands, then took up accordion after watching Clifton Chenier and decided the old Creole dance music deserved a bigger amplifier. His Ils Sont Partis Band mixed rubboard rasp, blues shout, and accordion bounce into festival favorites; covers and originals alike got crowds moving from New Orleans to late-night talk shows. He sang in English and French, kept Lafayette as home base, and treated zydeco not as museum folklore but as living Saturday-night physics. Grammy recognition and film soundtrack work followed without sanding off the porch-board grit. Lafayette was birthplace and last address — a full circle through Acadiana rather than a coastal exile. He died after a struggle with lung cancer, leaving dance floors that still answer when the accordion hits the one. He died in Lafayette on September 24, 2016. Festival soundchecks in south Louisiana still tune to his bounce. Buckwheat's gift was joyful export — taking Creole dance music nationwide without leaving the neighborhood behind. Notice Nearby keeps the death date so September 24 remembers the Lafayette accordionist who made zydeco feel like a national invitation.