Jeffery Broussard & The Creole Cowboys
2011
PM
MEL LEHAN HALL AT ST. JAMES i
3214 West 10th Ave, Kitsilano
Accessible 
All ages
This event has already taken place.
Jeffery Broussard has long been respected as one of the greatest
accordion players to ever grace our beautiful Creole culture and for
that matter the world.
— Don Cravins, Sr., Mayor of Opelousas, LA, Zydeco Capital of the World
One of the most influential accordionists and vocalists in modern Zydeco music, Jeffery Broussard continues to be one of the genre's most dynamic performers. He was born in Lafayette, and is the youngest of 11 children, having 5 brothers and 5 sisters. The family lived in Frilot Cove, a rural community northwest of Opelousas, on a farm where his father was a sharecropper. Jeffery grew up fishing in the bayous, riding horses across the fields with his friends, and most of all working hard.
Jeffery's music career started very early in life, similar to many other famous Zydeco musicians. At the age of 8 he started playing drums in his father's band, the renowned Delton Broussard & The Lawtell Playboys. After seventh grade, Jeffery left school in order to farm full time to help his parents make ends meet. He spent long days digging and sorting potatoes. Whenever he could, he would sneak in to the house and get his daddy's accordion down from the closet where it was stored and would teach himself how to play. When Jeffery was thirteen, his father left sharecropping to work for an oil company and two years later tragedy struck the family when Jeffery's mother died of cancer. It's quite possible that without the struggle and hard times that Jeffery has experienced in life, he could not sing and play with the emotion, the soul, he expresses. He has range seldom seen in Zydeco - from traditional songs from the old masters to originals, single-row and triple-row accordion to fiddle.
Whether he is playing a festival stage in front of thousands of dancers, a small theatre of seated patrons, giving an interview, teaching a lesson or playing at a trailride, his warmth, love of the music, and talent shine. Jeffery Broussard is the real deal. Dedicated to preserving and promoting the Creole culture and traditional Zydeco music, Jeffery plays with passion and commitment to carry on his daddy's legacy.