Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble return to Carson City as part of the Levitt AMP Concert Series.
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When Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble came to Carson City in 2023, the zydeco music filled the air for a party on the Brewery Arts Center campus. It was the last stop of their tour and the band’s first time in the capital city. Taylor said he didn’t know what to expect. He described watching the empty parking lot fill up with people and come alive as he took the stage with his band and trusty accordion.
“I loved it. It was a great way to end that tour,” he said. “By the time showtime comes around, the parking lot was totally packed. Everybody was rocking in the place. It was a great way to send me back home. I loved it.”
He’s back this year as part of the Levitt AMP Concert Series hosted by the Brewery Arts Center on Saturday. For this tour, he booked Carson City for the first stop. He said everybody better get there early, and they better tell all their friends.
“They don’t wanna miss this spot this time,” he said. “They have to get there early because it might be another two years before we pass back through the city again.”
Taylor will have the same band setup as last time, just with a few different faces. The instruments on stage will include guitar, bass, drums, a rub board and Taylor sings and plays the accordion.
ZYDECO MUSIC
Taylor hails from the “heart of Creole country” in Louisiana. He said he loves zydeco because it brings people together and it's music that always sounds happy.
“With zydeco, everybody is just dancing with everybody,” he said. “Everybody is feeling good. As soon as you hear it, something about it makes you want to have a good time and leave all those worries behind.”
Taylor puts a unique spin on zydeco. He said his background includes lots of blues and soul because that’s what he grew up on, and his father played zydeco. He really focuses on his writing and the lyrics.
“For me it’s about writing songs,” he said. “Just writing stories and giving people something they can relate to.”
He’s written songs like “Country Boy” and “Curley 2-step” that have become a staple of his performances, and songs that are timeless like, “Free your mind.”
“Some of those are always gonna be classics,” he said.
MUSIC
Taylor has six records out and he’s ready for his seventh. He hasn’t released one in a few years, and he’s been trying to finish off his next album. He says it’s all recorded, but it just needs the finishing touches. He’s had his hands full remodeling his house and working on his “honey-do list.”
“It’s recorded, we just need to drop a little seasoning on a few things to make sure the spice is just right,” he said.
This album will have a different sound than his usual zydeco style. His goal is to get the album out to a broader audience.
“I don’t know what it’s gonna be because it sounds like some folk music, some old-school ’70’s R&B music and it’s even got some country songs,” he said. “The thing is, I just wanted to record songs that I write. When I sit down and write songs, it’s just what comes out and that’s why I wanted to do this record that way.”
He gave an anecdote of a friend, country star Hunter Hayes, who came from the same area and was playing Cajun music. The big record labels didn’t want Hayes with the accordion because they only saw it as regional music.
“Once he dropped the accordion and moved to Nashville, it just took off on him,” Taylor said.
On the new record Taylor is not playing the accordion, but he sings on all the tracks with a backing band. He’s hoping this project will help his brand and push his music in a different direction into something more mainstream.
“That’s what we’re trying to do right now,” he said. “We’re going to get radio songs.”
IF YOU GO
WHAT: Curley Taylor & Zydeco Trouble with opening act Feral Heart at the Brewery Art Center’s Levitt AMP Concert Series
WHERE: 449 W. King St. at the Brewery Arts Center
WHEN: 7 p.m. Saturday, July 5
MORE INFO: curleytaylor.com; breweryarts.org