Legendary Zydeco musician Roy Carrier to be inducted into Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
OPELOUSAS, La. (KLFY) -- The life and career of a legendary Acadiana musician will be celebrated in Opelousas in April.
The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame has announced it will induct Roy Carrier. The induction will be celebrated on Saturday April 26, at the Yambilee Center Hall in Opelousas beginning at 1 p.m. as part of a Carrier Family Celebration Concert featuring four generations of Carrier musicians.
Carrier, who died in 2010, was an elder statesman of a long line of Carrier musicians. He was the father of Chubby and Dikki Du Carrier, who followed their father into Zydeco music, and the brother of Zydeco T. Carrier.
Legendary Creole fiddler Bebe Carriere’s oldest son, Andrew Carriere’ of Oakland, California, in his first-ever public performance in Louisiana will be joined by Jeffrey Broussard in tributes to the Carriere’ Brothers, (Bebe Carriere’ and Erastus Carriere’) and the Lawtell Playboys. Other featured performers will include Grammy winner and Louisiana Music Hall of Fame inductee Chubby Carrier, Troy “Dikki Du” Carrier, Dwight “Black Cat” Carrier, Laura “Zydeco T” Carrier (also a Louisiana Music Hall of Fame inductee), Deonte Carrier, and others.
The Lawtell native led the legendary Night Rockers band for over 45 years. His performances were once described as “a raucous and relentless invitation to dance.” Roy loved to mix blues with his Zydeco, but his signature style was plainly rooted in the La La tradition. Roy was inducted into the inaugural Zydeco Hall of Fame alongside his cousin Clifton Chenier and Boozoo Chavis.
In 1981, he opened the Offshore Lounge in Lawtell Louisiana where he schooled and supported younger, aspiring musicians. Thursday night jam sessions at the Offshore helped successive generations of Zydeco musicians hone their chops. Roy died in 2010, but his music lives on today wherever Zydeco is played.
Tickets can be purchased in advance for $12 and $15 at the door. All proceeds from ticket sales, merchandise sales and a silent auction will be used to support production of “Zydeco by Birth” a documentary film that tells the story of Creole music and culture through the eyes of the Carrier family – a dynasty of Zydeco musicians with over a century of oral and recorded traditions.