Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience

When it comes to Creole culture and Zydeco music, Terrance Simien and his bandmates represent hard. They also represent the past, present, and future of American roots music. Two-time Grammy award-winning, 8th generation Louisiana Creole, Simien has been redefining his roots music since beginning his career in 1981, as one of only two teen-aged zydeco bands in the world. This six-piece inter-generational and multicultural group have become one of the most respected, and in-demand roots music bands touring today. They’re highly skilled, formally trained and very experienced performers. Their hypnotic blend of zydeco-roots-reggae-folk-soul-gospel-New Orleans brass and funk will lift your spirits higher while forcing your body onto the dance floor to move and groove! 

The Zydeco Experience is Terrance (vocals, accordion, frottoir), Danny Williams (keyboards, vocals), Stan Chambers (bass guitar, vocals), Ian Molinaro-Thompson (drums), Michael Christie (trumpet) and Noah Boshra (saxophone). This performance features Terrance’s daughter, Marcella Simien, (vocals, accordion, rubboard).

True to himself and his deep Creole roots, Simien personifies authenticity as he pushes the boundaries of his genre to reach a broader audience. Now enjoying the legendary (OG!) status of an accomplished 40+ year career, Simien with his loyal bandmates and creative collaborators, have toured to more than 40 countries and performed nearly 9000 concerts. The only one of its kind, their Creole for Kidz and the History of Zydeco educational program and performance developed 25 years ago for K-12 and college students, has helped raise the cultural IQ of more than 250,000 students, parents and teachers around the globe.

Their music has been placed in multiple TV shows and theatre-released films with the band also making on-screen appearances. One of their proudest moments was having zydeco featured for the first time in a classic Disney animated film, The Princess and the Frog. A film that made history by featuring Disney’s first ever Black princess. Terrance collaborated with the great Randy Newman on the zydeco song, but even more significant was having the word zydeco spoken in the film! In 2024 the band also contributed music to the new Disney park ride based on the film, “Tiana’s Bayou Adventure.” They’ve recorded with Paul Simon, Art Neville, Dennis Quaid, the Meters, Marcia Ball and Dr. John, to name a few. They’ve toured with Los Lobos, the late Robert Palmer, Dave Matthews Band and even shared the stage with Stevie Wonder, who joined them on a zydeco song during one of their sets. 

Zydeco is the roots music of Black and multiracial, French-speaking Creoles of Louisiana. The main instruments are accordion and frottoir (rubboard) which are driven by African and Caribbean rhythms and anchored by outstanding lead vocals and harmonies.