Maison de Soul is a Louisiana-based zydeco and blues record label. It was founded in 1974 in Ville Platte, Louisiana by Floyd Soileau and remains under his ownership. It is one of four record labels under Soileau's Flat Town Music Company umbrella, and combined the Flat Town labels make up "the largest body of Cajun, zydeco, and swamp music in the world". Living Blues magazine has called Maison de Soul "the country's foremost zydeco label".

Founding

By 1974, Floyd Soileau had already established two other record labels, Jin Records and Swallow Records. Maison de Soul was founded in 1974 after a conversation between Soileau and zydeco star Clifton Chenier. Chenier had just finished recording a 1950s style album, when he shook his finger at Soileau and said "You know, Floyd Soileau, zydeco is where it's at. It's coming on strong, and you better get with it." Some of the early 45 RPM single releases featured New Orleans rhythm and blues artists such as Professor Longhair, Dr. John, and Johnny Adams, but after the label began producing LPs and CDs, the artist roster was comprised almost exclusively of zydeco musicians.

As a small, independent record label, Maison de Soul shares some of the same problems as other similar labels: getting the product to distributors and on the shelves of record stores, as well as getting their acts known. As a form of ethnic music, many potential buyers of zydeco aren't always familiar with the artists or their musical styles, so Maison de Soul has had success with issuing compilation albums by various artists, the best-selling one titled Zydeco Festival (1988).

"My Toot Toot"

Maison de Soul had its biggest hit with the Rockin' Sidney song "My Toot Toot", released on Sidney's 1984 album My Zydeco Shoes Got the Zydeco Blues. The song was subsequently released as a single in January 1985 in Louisiana and Texas, and became a regional hit. The original recording was later leased to Epic Records, who released it nationally, and made it to the Country Top 40 charts, where it remained for 18 weeks. It was the first zydeco song to receive major airplay on pop, rock and country radio stations. The song has been covered by artists as varied as Fats Domino, Rosie Ledet, Jean Knight, Terrance Simien, Doug Kershaw, Denise LaSalle, Jimmy C. Newman and John Fogerty. A Spanish version titled "Mi Cu-Cu" by La Sonora Dinamita sold over a million copies in Mexico, Central America, and South America

|-

|Rockin' Dopsie

|Saturday Night Zydeco (album)

|1988

|LP-1025; MdS-CD-104 (CD re-release in 1989)

|31st Annual Grammy Awards Best Traditional Blues Album

|

|

|}

See also

  • List of record labels

References

  • Flat Town Music Company website, Our history section