American Roots.com

The Crawdaddies Keep Lookin' Up

Timing is everything. The Crawdaddies new CD Keep Lookin' Up jumped to the top of my to-review stack because it arrived on New Year's Eve as 12 inches of snow also arrived in Michigan. The warm, lively cajun & zydeco laden CD proved to me that the band had nothing to do with the snow and provided a nice escape from the cold, getting multiple spins in between snow shoveling shifts.

The bands sound is a great mix of Zydeco, Cajun, Funk, Soul, Reggae, and Roots Rock. If you like The Subdudes you can't miss with The Crawdaddies. The list of artists the members have played with and bands they have shared the stage with is way too long to list. Kraig Greff's accordion highlights the cd, but the mix of music and styles is wide ranging. The disc opens with a bouncy tune "Tout Le Nuit Danse (Dance All Night)" and is followed by the cajun sounding "Free Man." Guitar and a reggae feel follow on the title track. The sound even gets a bit bluesy on "Spice It Up," which features the guitar and Hammond B-3. We hear of a lover working under the red lights in the French Quarter in "Louise." The CD closes with the song "Find Yourself" about a guy who gives up the bottle and tries to follow his mother's advice to "find a woman with a lot of common sense..find yourself". The only problem is that this advice doesn't turn out as he'd like:

"Found the perfect woman with a lot of common sense..
but she beat me, cheat me, took my dog, now all my money's gone"

This is how we think the story ends as the song ends; but surprise, after about 5 seconds the song kicks into a reprise and we hear how the story really ends:

"I hunted down that woman, filled her full of lead
Shot her three times in the heart and three times in the head
I tied her to the bumper and drived her down the lane
I'll be out in three to five because I pled insane."

I guess the moral of the story is don't mess with a mans dog?! Really, other than one little murder the CD is pretty upbeat and lively and a great cure for a cold winter's day! The band's website is www.thecrawdaddies.com.