Rare Clifton Chenier film coming to Vermilionville

A rare film featuring Clifton Chenier, the Grammy-winning King of Zydeco, will be screened at 6:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m. March 16 at Vermilionville. The 1978 footage captures Chenier and his Red Hot Louisiana Band at Jay's Lounge and Cockpit in Cankton and the Kingfish in Baton Rouge.

Writer and cultural activist Todd Mouton uncovered this film while researching his forthcoming book, "Way Down in Louisiana: Clifton Chenier, Cajun, Zydeco and Swamp Pop Music." The book is scheduled to be released this fall on the University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press.

Mouton describes the 15-song, live set by Chenier and his full seven-piece band as "the holy grail." Chenier's brother, Cleveland, is featured on rubboard, along with Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural on Hammond B-3 organ and vocals, Paul "Lil Buck" Sinegal on guitar and John Hart on saxophone.

"Clifton was a monumental figure in musical history, but he only consented to a few interviews, and surprisingly, there are only a few live songs by his band currently available, so this multi-camera production of an incredible live set is truly the holy grail for fans of roots music and zydeco in particular," Mouton said in a press release. "And there's not better place to premier this film than ground zero for the Creole and Cajun cultures, Vermilionville in Lafayette."

The Lafayette screening will also launch a crowdfunding campaign to support the books' production budget.

"We want to make this book — which also profiles dozens of local artists including Buckwheat Zydeco, Sonny Landreth, BeauSoleil avec Michael Doucet, Lil' Band O' Gold, Zachary Richard, Roddie Romero and the Hub City All-Stars and Bonsoir, Catin — all it can be visually as well as the kind of document these great artists and their amazing work deserve," Mouton added. "We plan to include lots of rare photographs and other historical materials, and we're raising the budget for those production expenses by selling advance copies of the book as well as copies of the Clifton Chenier DVD, along with some unique south Louisiana music memorabilia."

Admission to the screening is free. But general admission tickets can be reserved at WayDownInLouisiana.com or Facebook.com/waydowninlouisiana.