Zydeco princess Rosie Ledet is the saucy sassy Screamin’ Jay Hawkins of swamp dancing.

The rural Louisiana native played with her backing band The Zydeco Playboys at the Santa Fe Brewing Company’s Pub and Grill on Wednesday, a minute’s drive from the Rail Runner’s #599 first stop in Santa Fe. Santa Fe is an hour away by Rail Runner and there are all sorts of good shows up there from acts that didn’t think to stop by Albuquerque.

The place was packed like a fat man’s foot in a little kid’s tennis shoe.

“Eat my dust!” screamed a guy in the crowd during applause halfway through the show.
Ledet’s body from head to heel rocked the flow as she zoned in and out of accordion riffs.

“Somebody scream!” Ledet commanded the crowd, and they all went “Aaaaaaahhh!”

We definitely don’t get a lot of definitive Cajun/Creole music in these parts, so Rosie was special. The band was psyched about the Saints’ Super Bowl win and kept yelling out “Who dat?!” and the people answered back “Who dat?!”

The Zydeco Playboys were strapped with electric guitar, a washboard worn like body armor, bass and drums. It wasn’t the epitome of great zydeco, but it was still better than good enough and the whole crowd danced from the first until the last song, spinning and jumping and dipping and clapping and reeking of sweat. The sound guy, or someone, for some reason, seemed to think the incessant electric guitar should be given loudness priority over the princess of zydeco’s accordion (Ledet was fun to watch, awesome to hear). I asked the sound guy to turn her up, which he did for awhile. But man. Electric guitars can be like mosquitoes buzzing in your ear when all you want to do is hear something else for, like, four seconds.

And the fries were almost as good as the ones at Checker’s in the Atlanta airport.