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Accordionist 'Buckwheat' Dural, who took his main squeeze mainstream, dies at 68

Musician Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr. rose from a cotton-picking family in southwest Louisiana to introduce zydeco music to the world.

NEW ORLEANS -- Musician Stanley "Buckwheat" Dural Jr., who rose from a cotton-picking family in southwest Louisiana to introduce zydeco music to the world through his namesake band, has died. He was 68.

His longtime manager Ted Fox said Dural died early Saturday morning at Our Lady of Lourdes Regional Medical Center in Lafayette. He had suffered from lung cancer.

"This is one of the world's true genius musicians. A completely natural musician who could just fit in in any scenario," Fox said.

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Across southwest Louisiana, people would often drive for miles to small dancehalls where zydeco bands featuring an accordion and a washboard would rock the crowds for hours.

But Dural took zydeco music mainstream, launching a major-label album -- the Grammy-nominated On a Night Like This -- with Island Records in 1987. He went on to jam with Eric Clapton, play at former President Bill Clinton's inaugurations and perform at the 1996 Olympics' closing ceremony in Atlanta.

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He jammed with Jimmy Fallon on the final episode of Late Night with Jimmy Fallon. Fallon played the guitar backed up by the Roots while Buckwheat Zydeco rocked the accordion.

Born Nov. 14, 1947 in Lafayette, Dural was one of 13 children. His father played the accordion, but the younger Dural preferred listening to and playing rhythm and blues and learned to play the organ, his obituary said.

Dural earned his nickname because he had braided hair when he was younger that resembled Buckwheat from The Little Rascals short film series.

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By the late 1950s he was backing up musicians and eventually formed his own band. It wasn't until 1978 that he took up the accordion so closely associated with zydeco music and later formed his own band called Buckwheat Zydeco, his obituary said.

It was the 1987 Island Records five-record deal that eventually brought Dural to a wider audience, and he went on to tour with Clapton and record with artists such as Ry Cooder, Paul Simon, Dwight Yoakam and Willie Nelson.

Fox called him an "old-fashioned showbiz professional" who was focused on giving the audience -- regardless of whether they were eight- or 80,000-strong -- a good time.

"He had this incredible charisma both onstage and personally," he said. "He was a real genuine person. To the end of his days with all the stuff that he'd done, all the awards, he was still the same Stanley Dural Jr. who was picking cotton when he was 5 years old."

Dural is survived by his wife, Bernite Dural, and his five children.

From The Associated Press

Posted by Breaking News editor Matt Peterson

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