Terrance Simien & The Zydeco Experience

Est. 1981. Now a two time GRAMMY award winning artist, Terrance started his 1st zydeco band in high school. The Mallet Playboys. At that time his band was one of only two teenage zydeco bands in the world. Fact.1st instrument - trumpet. Middle school band. 1st paid gig 1981- National Guard, Oakdale, LA, Christmas party. Cut some 45’s. One with Paul Simon singing background vocals on Clifton's "You Used to Call Me". 1985 signed to a national booking agency, Concerted Efforts - thanks to Paul Kahn for giving a baby zydeco band a chance. In 1987 the band went to Switzerland to perform w/Fats Domino & Sarah Vaughn. Simien was 21. In 1987 was another life altering experience when they went on an extended month long tour w/ Los Lobos when “La Bamba” was a radio hit. Honestly, Simien was present when the the band got the news that the song had gone to No.1. Game changer for a young artist to witness that. That same year the band was ft. on screen/soundtrack of “The Big Easy” movie. He met Art Neville and spent time with him & Art didn't know it at the time, but he was peer mentoring a young SImien who to this day credits some of the advice/inspiration he got from Art. Co- wrote a song for the film w/Dennis Quaid. In 1988 spent 5 weeks on tour w/ US State Dept. USIA Tour of North Africa, Egypt and Morocco. Met Elliott Hoffman, famed entertainment attorney. 1990 released debut CD, "Zydeco on the Bayou" on Restless Records. Signed by A&R rep Ron Goudie who signed Poison. Terrance met keyboardist/singer, Danny Williams in 1990. He joined the band and never left. 1991 was a national tour w/ Robert Palmer for 6 weeks. Wow! Palmer was a genius & he loved all music - including zydeco. He knew more about the music than most did back then. We miss Palmer, a lot. He died too young in 2003@ age 54. Recorded more music. " Met Ben. Met Jerry. Of Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream. Sometime in the 1990's Terrance and the boys also met Jake Burton & Donna Carpenter. Burton Snowboards - yep, wow again. Performed for both several times, including Ben's 2016 wedding to the beautiful Tatiana. For several decades the group clocked 300 dates a year. They were on the Miller Band Network for 5 of those. Fast forward. 1998 performed @ Clinton-Gore 2nd Presidential Inauguration ball w/REO Speedwagon. Stevie Wonder jams on stage with them. It was supernatural. Met Rick Danko at Bearsville Theatre with Sally Grossman. Wow. Recorded with Rick. Met Peter Noble. Went to Australia. Did a few records w/him. In 1998 Terrance created "Creole for Kidz & The History of Zydeco" CD, inspired by his good friend Taj Mahal. In 2000 the band toured with Dave Matthews Band. Wow! Dave sang a song with Terrance each night during his (Terrance's) set. "The Maker". Dave's manager Coran Capshaw booked Terrance and the band in VA in 1980's and he was the one who made this memorable tour happen. In 2005 the group went to Cuba with US State Dept. In 2006 Terrance + Cynthia Simien worked with HBO on a doc "The Music in Me: Children's recitals from Classical to Latin, Jazz to Zydeco. Recorded more music. In 2008 they were honored with Grammy No. 1. Wow! 2009 had music in Disney’s "Princess & The Frog". Met John Lasseter. Thank you Tom McDougal. Wow! Terrance collaborated in the studio with Randy Newman on "Gonna Take You There". Went to film premiere and walked the red carpet. In 2012 they group was on screen in “The Lucky One” movie. Had 2 songs in that movie. Met Director Scott Hicks. 2013 got a second GRAMMY nomination & a 2nd GRAMMY award for "Dockside Sessions", produced by Bob Dylan's drummer - LA native, long time friend George Receli. More US State Dept. tours. Dominican Republic, Seychelles, Mali, Mauritius, Rodrigues, Paraguay, Russia, Ukraine & Georgia. Met Amb. James Cason, Victoria DeLong, Christopher Lambert, Michael Byrne and James Land -all unsung heroes who are dedicated career US State Dept personnel representing US democracy around the globe. Proud to be part of US cultural diplomacy around the world. And in between all of this there was more touring, more films, more recordings, and there were collaborations. W/Marcia. W/Dave. W/Dr. John. W/Paul Simon. W/the meters. W/Kenny Wayne Shepherd. W/Los Lobos David Hidalgo. In between lines there was radio. There was TV. There was Rolling Stone. There was much joy & music being shared. There was culture being perpetuated & there were1000’s of kidz being taught for the first time about zydeco and LA Creole culture! There were Blues Cruises, there were epic festival performances and there were lots of center stage performing art center concerts. There were dozens of performances/tours in Canada, Germany, Australia, Brazil, Switzerland, Russia, Ukraine, Belgium, Africa and literally 100’s of school, youth and family performances of Creole for Kidz! with dozens of residencies throughout the country. Met Ted Eccles in November 2016 and filmed a TV pilot. It got picked up by TEGNA & SingLikeAStarTV was born. Terrance is a judge on the first season with Marc Broussard and Kristin Diable with the fabulous Arthel Neville as host. Wow- Arthel Neville! Released Ancestral Grooves during the 2020 pandemic - a kickass all star project Krewe De Monifique with James Andrews, Satchmo of the Ghetto ( and Shorty's older bro!) and Keith Frank, the Boss of Zydeco. Helped get a zydeco exhibit installed into National Museum of African American Music in Nashville. In 2021 Terrance was the recipient of the inaugural Louisiana World Makers Grant for BIPOC culture bearers from the Foundation for Louisiana. We got a hunch there will be more music, more joy and more people all over the globe who will become Zydeco Experienced!