Cajun and Zydeco music, the sounds of southwest Louisiana, are experiencing a remarkable revival

This is an updated version of a story first published on May 18, 2025. The original video can be viewed here .

The idea that this country has become one big, bland, conformist culture, the United States of generica? Well, if you're in search of a counterpoint, hang out, as we did, in the marshy interior of southern Louisiana. You need no passport to enter Cajun country, but it's an exotic land like nowhere else, home to a cuisine, a language, a landscape, even a pacing all its own. And then, there's the singular sound. Cajun music — and its cousin from across the way, Zydeco, resists easy description. But it is intoxicatingly catchy, often sung in French, and, as we first reported earlier this year, enjoying a most unlikely renaissance.

The sun is out and living is easy on the bayous