Flash back to 1985. The scene is the Cajun & Bluegrass Festival, a former Labor Day institution here in the Ocean State held annually throughout the 1980s and into the better part of the 1990s at the Stepping Stone Ranch in Escoheag. On stage all the way from Eunice, Louisiana is John Delafose & the Eunice Playboys delivering a spiced-up, highly syncopated Zydeco dance music with a most definite rural edge mixed with numbers with a deep, soulful, slow-burning bluesy timbre to them. Geno Delafose was only seven when he began his Eunice Playboys tenure. By 1985, he was just into his teens and had already spent half his life learning the Zydeco ropes from his mighty papa. Flash ahead to the early 1990s and yet another festival on the Escoheag grounds with John Delafose & the Eunice Playboys again scheduled as one of the headlining bands. ON this trip, however, the elder Delafose would make it not further than a Connecticut hospital after suffering an apparent heart attack. Adhering to the axiom that the show must go on, the Eunice Playboys, with Geno suddenly thrust into the front man role (and assuming his father’s accordion duties in the process),  would save the day and not miss the event. No doubt a difficult experience, let’s just say Geno did a lot of growing up that particular weekend. Whereas John Delafose would recover from that initial scare, he would succumb not long after leaving reigns to his son to carry the Zydeco torch. Now into his early thirties, Geno Delafose has done the job admirably criss-crossing the country spreading the bump and stomp Zydeco gospel for almost a decade now. After three albums for Rounder Records, Delafose and his French Rockin’ Boogie band over to a new suitor in New York City-based Times Square Records with his latest release called Everybody’s Dancin’. His first album in four years, consider Everybody’s Dancin’ Delafose’s most accomplished work to date. On it, he effectively balances the contemporary and the old school brands of Zydeco while throwing enough of his own touches into the blender to solidify the identity factor. Everybody’s Dancin’ bursts out of the gates with three groove-heavy, certified hot-steppers two of which are original compositions and all of which are guaranteed to open those sweat glands real good. What has set Delafose apart from many of his Zydeco contemporaries is his inventiveness in covers. For Everybody’s Dancin’, Sam Cooke’s “What A Wonderful World” and Tyrone Davis’s “Can I Change My Mind” each get the Zydeco treatment to fine proportions whereas Delafose lets his country flag fly on David Ball’s “What Do You Want With His Love.” And no doubt Papa John must be smiling widely up there in Zydeco heaven with the sounds on Everybody’s Dancin’ what with covers of Nathan Abshire’s “Belizaire Waltz,” Adam Hebert’s “(Tit Galop Pour) La Pointe Aux Pins,” Cajun staples like “Port Arthur Blues” and “Les Flammes D’Enfer,” and his late father’s own “Gotta Find My Woman.” Whereas there has never been any denying of Delafose’s chops when it came to playing the accordion, I’ve gotta admit that my biggest gripe about his three earlier albums was an occasional tunelessness on the singing side of things. Everybody’s Dancin’ breaks from those albums presenting a performer who is also clearly making strides as a vocalist. And as far as Zydeco recordings go, consider Everybody’s Dancin’ a near complete package. Recommended. (Times Square Records c/o SBMC, 555 8^th Avenue, Suite #1803, New York, NY 10018)

Geno Delafose & French Rockin’ Boogie perform at the Rhythm & Roots at Ninigret Festival on Sunday, August 31.