Port Royal street music kicks off with Louisiana band zydeco
Dwayne “Dopsie” Rubin, center, rocks Port Royal with guitarist Kipori Woods and the rest of Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers at a previous Street Music concert on Paris Avenue.
Sarah Welliver
Port Royal has announced its Street Music fall lineup and it starts with Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers, a Louisiana-based zydeco band that gets people moving fast.
“Port Royal, SC get ready,” the group said on Facebook, “we’re coming this Saturday.”
The show starts at 6 p.m. on Avenue de Paris between 9th and 10th streets. Free, but bring your dancing shoes and a chair. The Port Royal Historic Foundation provides food and drink, including beer.
Three additional artists will follow in August and September.
Rolling Stone magazine once called bandleader Dwayne Rubin, who goes by the name Dwayne Dopsie, the “Jimi Hendrix of the accordion.”
Louisiana-based band zydeco, which includes accordion and washboard in its instrumental mix, gets people dancing and has become a favorite in Port Royal.
Singer-songwriter and accordionist Dopsie is the youngest of eight children of legendary accordionist Alton Jay Rubin Sr., known as Rockin’ Dopsie.
Growing up in Lafayette, Louisiana, Dwayne Dopsie learned to play the accordion by watching videos of his father and Clifton Chenier, another well-known zydeco performer, who comes from Cajun and Creole music and has rhythmic and blues, jazz and blues influences.
Dopsie debuted with the band, which was nominated for a Grammy for Best Regional Roots Music Album for “Top of the Mountain” in 2018, when he was 19 and performed all over the world.
“The Town of Port Royal is thrilled to once again present the Fall Street Music Shows this year,” Port Royal Mayor Joe DeVito said, “and can’t wait to see everyone on the street sing. amuse.”
Next
August 20 – Katie Henry, songwriter, singer and multi-instrumentalist from New Jersey who performs blues, rock, country, funk, pop and soul.
September 3: Chicago blues legend Lurrie Bell.
September 17: Backline, a modern bluegrass band from Upsate South Carolina with enough traditional flair not to offend a traditional bluegrass fan.
