Johnette Downing, with Nathan Williams & The Zydeco Cha Chas, to Release “My Little Snap Bean: Zydeco for Children”
It’s a rockin’ boogie on the bayou! Multi-award-winning New Orleans children’s musician and author Johnette Downing joins forces with Grammy® nominees Nathan Williams & The Zydeco Cha Chas on one of the most exuberant children’s albums of the year, My Little Snap Bean: Zydeco for Children. The album will be released on April 10, 2026.
A rousing celebration of childhood with an authentic, down-home Louisiana zydeco beat, My Little Snap Bean includes three adaptations from Johnette Downing’s “singable books” (My Parrain is the Loup Garou, The Fifolet, and My Aunt Came Back from Louisiane), an adaptation of an ancient juré song remembered from Nathan Williams’ childhood, the anthemic “Going to the La La” (an old-fashioned term for a zydeco dance), and nods to Louisiana’s rich Creole traditions both in New Orleans and Southwest Louisiana. Several songs feature lyrics in Cajun French and Southwest Louisiana Creole (also known as Kouri-vini).
The overarching themes of My Little Snap Bean are culture, community, and how the shared stories and rituals of our communities inform our identities. Johnette’s original stories, “My Parrain is the Loup Garou” and “The Fifolet” tell of mythical swamp creatures familiar to Louisiana children. “Hitch Up My Pony” and “Going to the La La” are songs about two Southwestern Louisiana Creole traditions (the trail ride and an old-fashioned zydeco dance), while “Loop de Loop” and “Ready or Not” are regional children’s game songs. “Juré” and “My Little Snap Bean” bring child-friendly lyrics and expanded musical arrangements to two ancient Creole motifs. Taken as a whole, the album is about who we are and the joy to be found in ongoing traditions, wherever we might live.
Produced by Johnette Downing and multi-Grammy-winner Scott Billington, My Little Snap Bean is an outgrowth of Scott Billington’s and Nathan Williams’ 40-year friendship. Scott produced Nathan’s 1989 debut album, Steady Rock, for Rounder Records, followed by six more albums that established Nathan as a leading Louisiana zydeco artist. When Nathan performed as a guest artist on Johnette’s 2023 album, Jumpin’ Jitters, It’s Halloween, the synergy among the three was so exciting that the idea for a zydeco album for children arose naturally.
“Musician Ellis Marsalis once said, ‘In other places, culture comes down from on high. In New Orleans, it bubbles up from the streets,’” explains Johnette Downing. “This holds true not only in my hometown of New Orleans, but across the state where music is made by and for the community. I have dedicated my career to sharing Louisiana roots music with children around the world. For this album, I collaborated with Nathan Williams & The Zydeco Cha Chas to combine zydeco with children’s music as a way of introducing the genre to youngsters and helping our musical heritage thrive for generations to come. Zydeco music is for dancing. It brings multi-generational people from all walks of life together in a joyful celebration of community.”
“It’s really for the culture and for the future of the culture,” adds Nathan Williams. “Zydeco music is fun, it’s happy music, it’s good music, and we hope we can share it with kids and grandkids around the world.”
ABOUT JOHNETTE DOWNING:
The winner of numerous awards for her thirty-two books and twelve previous recordings for children, Johnette Downing is a musician, singer, composer, author, illustrator, and haiku poet.
Johnette developed a love of music at an early age. In childhood, her tuba and violin-playing father and her saxophone and piano-playing mother took Johnette and her siblings to the French Quarter in New Orleans on weekends, where they would stand in the doorways of clubs listening to jazz and ragtime. Her passion for roots music and for sharing music with children the way her parents shared it with her led Johnette to become what the media termed “the Musical Ambassador to Children” and the “Pied Piper of Louisiana Music Traditions.” She has performed her Louisiana roots music for children in the Middle East, Africa, Asia, Europe, Central America, North America, and the Caribbean.
Previous albums by Johnette Downing include Jumpin’ Jitters, It’s Halloween (2023), Swamp Romp, A Louisiana Dance Party (2019), Reading Rocks! (2012), Boogie Woogie Bugs (2010), Dixieland Jazz for Children (2008), Fins & Grins (2007), The Second Line (2003), Silly Sing Along (2001), Wild & Woolly Wiggle Songs (2000), From the Gumbo Pot (1998), Music Time (1992), and New Moon: Tunes for Little Folks (1990).
ABOUT NATHAN WILLIAMS:
Honored with a Grammy® nomination for his recording Lucky Man, Nathan Williams is a zydeco legend who has over three and a half decades under his hat as one of southwest Louisiana’s most beloved Creole musicians and cultural ambassadors. Whether he is performing at Lincoln Center, the Kennedy Center, Carnegie Hall’s CityWide Concert Series, the Grand Ole Opry, Europe’s top blues festivals, or down home at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival or Lafayette’s Festivals Acadiens, Nathan and his top-shelf Nathan & The Zydeco Cha Chas band never fail to get audiences up and shakin’ a leg to their unrivaled stomp-down zydeco party!
Album Details: My Little Snap Bean: Zydeco for Children
Release Date: April 10, 2026
Label: Wiggle Worm Records, ASCAP, administered by Concord Music Group
Available on all major platforms and at JohnetteDowning.com
SRP: $10
For Pre-K through third grade
Running time: 39 minutes
TRACK LIST:
- My Parrain is the Loup Garou
- Going to the La La
- Juré
- My Aunt Came Back from Louisiane
- The Fifolet
- Hitch Up My Pony
- Ready or Not
- Pass It On
- Eh La Bas
- Loop de Loop
- Give Me That Zydeco
- My Little Snap Bean
Produced by Johnette Downing and Scott Billington.
Johnette Downing – lead and harmony vocals, ukulele
Nathan Williams – accordion, lead vocal, ensemble vocals
Dennis Paul Williams – electric guitar, ensemble vocals
Allen Williams – electric bass, ensemble vocals
D’Juan Francis – rubboard, ensemble vocals, body percussion
Keith Sonnier – drums, ensemble vocals, body percussion
Scott Billington – harmonica, chromatic harmonica, harmony vocals, and ensemble vocals
To schedule an interview or to request a download link or CD for review, please contact Elizabeth Waldman at Waldmania PR: 415-203-0220 or elizabeth@waldmaniapr.com.
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