Bayou Ruler
Bayou Ruler is an album by the American band Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, released in 1998. A couple of its English-language songs were regional hits, although they proved controversial to some Cajun traditionalists. The band supported the album with a North American tour. "Let Me Know" was promoted to radio stations all over the United States, a rarity for a Cajun single.
Production
The album was produced by C.C. Adcock and Tarka Cordell. The band continued to incorporate into their sound rock and blues styles; in their spare time the band listened more to rock than Louisiana music. "Mama Told Papa" is a cover of the Clifton Chenier song. "My True Love " is a cover of the Dewey Balfa tune; "je suis pas un couillon" is a cover of the Belton Richard song. Jimmy Domengeaux played guitar on the album, his last with the band; he died in a motorcycle accident in January 1999.Critical reception
The Los Angeles Times called Bayou Ruler "a scattered-sounding, misdirected album that Riley describes as 'swamp pop'... Its layers of brass, electric guitar, pedal steel guitar, Hammond B3 organ and other pop-friendly devices are murky indeed." The Star Tribune opined that "'Tough Get Going' is a particularly anemic rocker, and the swamp pop stuff just needs to be greasier."The Washington Post praised the "convincing" Cajun-rock fusion, writing that "one has to go back to the swamp-pop glory days of Tommy McClain and Cleveland Crochet to find such a convincing hybrid." The Province determined that the title track possessed a "Foreigner-goes-Cajun sound." The Albuquerque Journal noted that the album "expands the group's horizons with a mixture of rock 'n' roll, R&B, and zydeco."
AllMusic wrote that the band, "purveyors of traditional Cajun music, range far out of the bayous to incorporate most all the musical styles of Southern Louisiana."