Chubby Carrier can sum up what it’s like to be a working musician these days in very few words: “No gigs means no money.” Carrier and his band have been a mainstay
of the zydeco music scene for more than two decades. But even the big dogs on the scene were humbled in the face of the COVID-19 shutdown that swept the country last year.
Before the pandemic, Carrier was in such high demand that he had to pump the brakes every once in a while. “I was turning gigs down,” he said. “I was playing too much.” Then COVID arrived. And everything changed.
“I never seen it like this. Never.”
Even in Louisiana, where music seems to weather any storm, the pandemic is still having a major impact on events and venues. In New Orleans, Mardi Gras 2020 turned out to be a
super-spreader event. This year, the parades were canceled altogether. Likewise, the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival has been held every spring — rain or shine — since 1970.
I definitely want to go out and entertain my fans – entertain people and make people happy. My music is happy music. That’s what I want to do: go back out and make people happy.
But this musical mainstay was cancelled in 2020. This year, planners aimed for October but ultimately cancelled again. The event is back on the books for April 2022.
“I’ve been playing Jazz Fest for the last 20 years. Even in all the rain and mud, we still played. I really miss it,” said Carrier. “Here in Louisiana, we’ve been hit hard.”
Carrier has had to adapt, even re-negotiating the terms of his home mortgage. “I was down to a little bit of the wire at the end of (last) year. I called my finance company. They worked with me, and we made a plan, worked out payments over three or four months to keep my loan going.”
Studio recordings are also on hold for now. About this, he is equally succinct: “Nobody got no cash.”
“You have to pay to record, then once you put that out, you’ve got to recoup your costs,” he explained. In better days, Chubby Carrier and the Bayou Swamp Band ruled a burgeoning zydeco scene. A decade ago, the band took home a Grammy for its Zydeco Junkie album, which scored the band international exposure.
Not that they really needed the exposure. Carrier comes from a long line of musicians. His father, Roy Carrier, his grandfather, Warren Carrier, and his cousins, Bebe and Calvin Carrier, are considered zydeco legends. For decades, Chubby and the Bayou Swamp Band have toured relentlessly around the world, playing venues such as the Chicago Blues Festival, Cajun and Zydeco Festival in Fort Lauderdale, Fla., and Montreaux Jazz Fest in Switzerland.
In 2011, he was selected for inclusion in the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame. But the largest part of survival, especially in the music industry, is adaptability.
So in the wake of a COVID-driven slump, he scaled down the full band. These days, he has adapted to a playing in a three-piece for smaller gigs, with Darryl Fontenot on keyboard and Dee Fleming on drums.
The trio is doing quite a bit of traveling, playing small clubs and restaurant patios up and down I-10, along the old gumbo and chitlins circuit.
“I’m running the coast, going into Florida, going into Texas. Doing Lafayette, doing New Orleans. I’m doing a lot compared to last year — it was like zero. Now, I’ve got two or three gigs a week. I’m doing OK,” said Carrier.
There are still a few larger gigs in the mix, especially in areas with lower levels of pandemic infections. The end goal, though, is to get the music to the people. And if that means doing it one four-top at a time, then Carrier’s game for it.
“I definitely want to go out and entertain my fans – entertain people and make people happy. My music is happy music. That’s what I want to do: go back out and make people happy.”