22 December 2025
By Michael Patrick Welch
Contributing Writer
The world has long celebrated Louisiana’s Chenier family, which includes accordion player, singer and Zydeco pioneer C.J. Chenier, who has played for massive audiences at festivals around the world, and has been nominated for a Grammy award in the Best Regional Roots Music Album category, among several other awards.
On December 12, C.J. helped the town of Sunset, Louisiana, honor his father, Clifton Chenier – widely considered the “King of Zydeco”– and his rubboard-playing uncle Cleveland Chenier, with the unveiling of a new, colorful, handprinted mural.
“The new mural, named “At Sunset”, pays tribute to the brothers Clifton and Cleveland Chenier’s enduring influence on Zydeco music, celebrates Sunset’s deep connection to the rubboard and honors Louisiana’s vibrant creative community,” said Louisiana’s Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungessor, who has dubbed 2025 “The Year of Chenier.” “Designed and painted by Louisiana artists Liz and Jed Cornett of Forest Hill, the mural was selected through a competitive application process. The work also commemorates the 100th anniversary of Clifton Chenier’s birth.”
“I was part of the mural’s decision making process; deciding which artists they used, and looking at all the different ideas they came up with,” CJ Chenier told The Louisiana Weekly. “I preferred the ones that were lifelike, featuring my daddy holding his accordion and my uncle holding his frottoir [aka rubboard] which he played with two bottle openers – some people used drum sticks, some people use spoons; he was the only person I ever heard of who used bottle openers.”
A rubboard (or frottoir) is effectively a washboard that has been designed and crafted for music in the Cajun and Zydeco music traditions. The corrugated metal instrument is worn as a vest which musicians scrape or tap with bottle openers, spoons, or thimbles to create rhythmic sounds. C.J. said that while his father Clifton didn’t invent the washboard, he did transform it from a household item into a distinctive musical instrument. The new mural in Sunset also pays tribute to the washboard itself.
Interestingly, Clifton Chenier never played washboard himself, but is credited with making it an iconic instrument in Zydeco music. “While my father worked at the oil refinery in Port Arthur, in 1946, he drew a picture of the rubboard in the dirt, and showed it to metalworker Willie Landry,” recalled C.J. Chenier. Landry helped Chenier create the wearable, all-metal frottoir vest, but it was Cleveland who later went on to be dubbed the “Washboard King,” playing the instrument in brother Clifton’s Red Hot Louisiana Band. “My dad never got credit for creating it,” lamented Chenier. “But there was no washboard as we know it today before Clifton Chenier.”
Herman Fuselier, executive director for the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission, told the news site St. Landry Now, “The centennial of the birth of the King of Zydeco has been celebrated from San Diego to Savannah, Georgia, and beyond. It’s gratifying to have another community in Chenier’s home, St. Landry Parish, that honors his legacy. It’s also appropriate, since Sunset is the Rubboard Capital of the World…Willie Landry’s son, Tee Don, continues to manufacture the iconic instrument to this day. The mural helps preserve that important history.”
In his time, C.J.’s father Clifton toured the world with his brother Cleveland, and even won a Grammy Lifetime Achievement award. He eventually recruited C.J., who started off playing saxophone before switching to accordion to play with his father’s famous Red Hot Louisiana Band. C.J. took over the band upon his father’s death. “At 20 years old, I had never been anywhere, then all of a sudden I was in a professional band touring Europe and Canada,” recalled C.J. “It was extremely overwhelming. But since I started playing music for a living, everything has always been exciting.”
The mural project was a collaborative partnership among the Louisiana Office of Cultural Development and its agencies and programs, including the Atchafalaya National Heritage Area, Louisiana Cultural Districts Program, Louisiana Division of the Arts and Louisiana Music Program, with additional support from the St. Landry Parish Tourist Commission and the Acadiana Center for the Arts.
“The Chenier family represents the very soul of Louisiana,” said Nungesser. “Through their music, they told the story of people: their struggles, their celebrations and our unique Louisiana spirit. Zydeco is more than just music; it’s a living part of our culture that brings people together, and the Chenier legacy continues to inspire new generations to keep that rhythm alive.”
The Red Hot Louisiana Band did not play music at the recent mural’s ribbon cutting ceremony. “Jeffery Broussard played accordion,” said C.J. “I’ve been knowing Jeffery for around 20 years. At the ribbon cutting, he stood against the side of the building playing my father’s songs.”
On February 6, 2026, Chenier’s hits, unreleased recordings and rare live sets will be released as “Clifton Chenier: King of Louisiana Blues & Zydeco,” a six vinyl LP box set, also available on four CDs. The 67 songs range from Chenier’s Arhoolie Records hits to unreleased performances from the PBS TV show, “Live from Austin City Limits.” Chenier appeared in the first season of the show in 1976. A 160-page book of photos, posters and essays complete the set.
For C.J. Chenier’s contributions preserving and promoting the state’s distinctive folk traditions, the Louisiana Folklore Society honored him in October 2025 as a Louisiana Tradition Bearer. In January, C.J. will make an appearance when Folklife Alliance International presents a Lifetime Achievement Award in Clifton Chenier’s honor during its 38th annual conference at the Louisiana Folklore Society (LFS) 2026 Annual Meeting, at University of Louisiana at Lafayette, before leaving for a national tour in February.
While C.J. is out of town, his family’s mural in Sunset, Louisiana, will help keep Zydeco in locals’ hearts and minds during this “Year of Chenier.”
This article originally published in the December 22, 2025 print edition of The Louisiana Weekly newspaper.