Zydeco music combines Cajun and Creole traditions for unique sound Lafayette Daily Advertiser As the National Museum of African American Music opens its doors, journalists from the USA TODAY Network explore the stories, places and people who helped make music what it is today in our expansive series, Hallowed Sound. The fan cooling off the zydeco band whirled right in front of Nathan Williams face. So close, he clipped his baseball cap on a blade. But nothing deterred Williams from seeing his zydeco idol, Clifton Chenier. "I've been around zydeco all my life. Matter of fact, when Clifton Chenier was playing — I was a little bitty boy in St. Martinville, I was like eight, nine, ten years old — he was playing at a club but I was too young so I couldn’t get in. So I had to stand on a washing machine to watch him through the window."