Swamp People

Recording information: Piety Street Studio (03/2013).
Aired on the History channel, Swamp People is a reality show that chronicles the lives of a bunch of Cajun alligator hunters in the Louisiana bayou. Fittingly, the soundtrack to the show -- released in 2013, after the fourth season was underway -- contains Jerry Reed's "Amos Moses," a song all about a Louisiana alligator hunter, and the rest of the 13-track collection offers a heavy dose of bayou mythology all delivered through the prism of swamp rock, New Orleans funk, Zydeco rave-ups, and Cajun stomps pretty heavily. It jumps through eras, reaching back to the '50s for Hank Williams' immortal "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)" and Bobby Charles' swinging "See You Later, Alligator," spending time in the '60s with Reed and Tony Joe White's "Polk Salad Annie," the Neville Brothers represented by their 1981 classic "Fire on the Bayou," and the rest comprised of relatively latter-day recordings of heavy hitters like Buckwheat Zydeco, Beausoleil, Chris Ardoin, Zachary Richard, and D.L. Menard. Apart from Steel Bill's credit anthem "Swamp People," which suits the show but doesn't quite stand apart from it, everything here is terrific and represents some aspect of the rich musical bounty in the Louisiana swamp, which makes this a better than average TV soundtrack. ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine