Waitin' for My Ya Ya

AMG Review of Waitin' for My Ya Ya

Ron Wynn
All Music Guide

Buckwheat Zydeco came closest on this 1985 session to balancing his R&B and pop tendencies with a zydeco authenticity missing from his releases on other labels. The Ils Sont Partis Band, especially guitarist Jimmy Reed, rubboard man Elijah Cudges, and trumpeter Calvin Landry, put some spark and drive behind the arrangements on the covers of Fats Domino's "Walking to New Orleans" and Percy Sledge's "Warm and Tender Love," while Zydeco's singing on these and other numbers, like "Lache Pas la Patate" and "Tee-Nah-Nah," was more focused, less gimmicky, and more on target than at any time before or since. Although he never was as talented as some of his supporters claimed, Buckwheat Zydeco was closer to a serious zydeco performer than merely another copyist here.