It’s as if the beloved fiddler Waylon Thibodeaux tried to put as much of Louisiana as one possibly could into these ten songs on Here We Go Again. He experimented, he interpreted, he originated, and it certainly sounds like he had plenty of fun along his way. Thibodeaux offers this, “It’s a mixture – it’s Cajun, but not too traditional, it’s zydeco with a pinch of New Orleans’ sound, a small pinch of South Louisiana “Swamp Pop,” a taste of country and a little Rock n’ Roll that’s sure to get you on your feet and dancing.” Yet, the predominant element here is blues, or in the label owner’s words (and direction), “blues with a Cajun accent.” That label owner, John Autin, is also the keyboard player throughout along with Louisiana harmonica great Johnny Sansone and five different bassists, including Benny Turner and Mark Dufrene.
Thibodeaux began as a drummer playing old-time country music but has delved into different styles across his career. He calls this “his blues album” but most would term it wide-ranging, in radio parlance, rock, stomp, and swamp. Thibodeaux is not one to be corralled into a certain sound, genre, or even style of fiddle playing. His instrument sounds like a guitar or a keyboard as often as it does a fiddle. He’s a strong tenor vocalist with a penchant for experimentation instrumentally. There are a couple of vivid examples of this, first in “The River Boat Song,” written by J.J. Cale. Here’s Waylon’s take, “I’ve seen the steamboats pass by the Riverwalk in New Orleans, and that whistle always intrigued me. It’s a very loud, obnoxious sound, but it gets the job done to warn people of the passing of the steamboat…and now that I’m using these effects pedals on my fiddle, I make the sound of the riverboat steam whistle at the beginning of the song.” Another is his original, “Don’t You Make Me Put My Fiddle Down” where he challenged himself to use the effects to makes as many sounds as he could.
Other tunes include the opening, rather tongue-in-cheek title track, which depicts the never-ending argumentation between a couple. “Fail, Fail, Fail,” is from the late David Egan, a great songwriter from Lafayette while “I’m Stuck With the Blues Again” features bassist Benny Turner, brother of Freddie King. There’s another with “blues” in the title – ‘Our Life’s Another Old Blues Song,” which, upon closer examination is more in the vein of Swamp Pop which would have been in the title had Thibodeaux’s friend, the writer, recorded it first.
”Way Down South” is from Edgar Winter and was inspired by Thibodeaux’s affection for the movie Cousin Vinny, where the song appeared, recorded by The Fabulous Thunderbirds. An insight into Thibodeaux’s penchant for humorous tales is his description of “Smoke Signals” – “…Starts off with some lonely guy looking for a date, he heads into a bar to try to pick up women, and at the last minute, when things looked like they were going to happen, he realizes he was set up in a sting operation with the police. Poor fella!! All he wanted was a good time.” The crowning touch and perhaps the biggest takeaway is his cover of Willie Nelson’s “Funny How Time Slips Away,” which he manages to make more bluesy than the original.
This is one of those carefree listens unless you want to indulge in a few cold ones and get your ‘rowdy” on. Nonetheless, beverage or not, it will have you tapping or maybe even stomping your foot. That’s what Thibodeaux was after. He just wants the listeners to have as much fun as he did making the record.
