Paul Alton "Lil' Buck" Sinegal (January 14, 1944 – June 10, 2019) was an American

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

and

zydeco Zydeco ( ; ) is a music genre that was created in rural Southwest Louisiana by French speaking, Afro-Americans of Creole heritage. It blends African and Caribbean rhythms, blues and rhythm and blues with music indigenous to the Louisiana ...

guitarist and singer.

Early years

Paul Alton Senegal was born in

Lafayette, Louisiana Lafayette ( , ) is the most populous city in and parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, Lafayette Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located along the Vermilion River (Louisiana), Vermilion River. It is Louisiana's List of municipaliti ...

. According to researchers Bob Eagle and Eric LeBlanc, the spelling "Sinegal" rather than "Senegal" was the result of a passport error, which he never corrected. Senegal was nicknamed "Little Buck" (for

buckwheat Buckwheat (''Fagopyrum esculentum'') or common buckwheat is a flowering plant in the knotweed family Polygonaceae cultivated for its grain-like seeds and as a cover crop. Buckwheat originated around the 6th millennium BCE in the region of what ...

) or "Lil' Buck" because of his short stature. Senegal's mother, Odette Broussard, played guitar. In the late 1950s, Senegal began performing with other musicians, such as

Carol Fran Carol Fran (born Carol Augustus Anthony; October 23, 1933 – September 1, 2021) was an American soul blues singer, pianist, and songwriter, best known for her string of single releases in the 1950s and 1960s, and her later musical association ...

James "Thunderbird" Davis James Louis Huston, better known as James "Thunderbird" Davis (November 10, 1938 – January 24, 1992), was an American Texas blues and electric blues guitarist, singer and songwriter. He recorded several singles for Duke Records in the early 19 ...

Lee Dorsey Irving Lee Dorsey (December 24, 1924 – December 1, 1986) was an American pop and R&B singer during the 1960s. His biggest hits were " Ya Ya" (1961) and " Working in the Coal Mine" (1966). Much of his work was produced by Allen Toussaint, wit ...

, and

Joe Tex Yusuf Hazziez (born Joseph Arrington Jr.; August 8, 1935 – August 13, 1982), known professionally as Joe Tex, was an American singer and musician who gained success in the 1960s and 1970s with his brand of Southern soul, which mixed the style ...

Career

Senegal entered the music industry as a

session musician A session musician (also known as studio musician or backing musician) is a musician hired to perform in a recording session or a live performance. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a reco ...

Excello Records Excello Records was an American blues independent record label, started by Ernie Young in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in 1953 as a subsidiary of Nashboro, a gospel label. History It recorded such artists as Louis Brooks, Lightnin' Slim, ...

, working with musicians such as

Slim Harpo Slim Harpo (born Isiah Moore or James Isaac Moore; February 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970)Martin Hawkins, "Slim Harpo at 100", ''Blues & Rhythm'', No.384, June 2024, p.23 was an American blues musician, a leading exponent of the swamp blues styl ...

Lazy Lester Leslie Johnson (June 20, 1933 – August 22, 2018), known as Lazy Lester, was an American blues musician who sang and played the harmonica and guitar. In a career spanning the 1950s to 2018, he pioneered swamp blues, and also played harmonic ...

. Senegal recorded with

Rockin' Dopsie Alton Jay Rubin (February 10, 1932 – August 26, 1993), who performed as Rockin' Dopsie (sometimes Rockin' Dupsee), was an American zydeco singer and accordion player who had success first in Europe and later in the United States. He played acco ...

, as well as

Katie Webster Katie Webster (January 11, 1936 – September 5, 1999), born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American boogie-woogie pianist. Career Webster was initially best known as a session musician behind Louisiana musicians on the Excello and Goldband re ...

and Lil' Bob. Biography by Richie Unterberger
''AllMusic''. Retrieved 28 November 2016 In the late 1960s Senegal recorded his own instrumentals, including "Cat Scream" and "Monkey in a Sack", for the La Louisiane record label."Lil Buck Sinegal"
''The Ponderosa Stomp''. Retrieved 27 November 2016 Senegal joined

Clifton Chenier Clifton Chenier (June 25, 1925 – December 12, 1987), was an American musician known as a pioneer of zydeco, a style of music that arose from Creole music, with R&B, blues, and Cajun influences. He sang and played the accordion. Chenier won ...

's band in 1969, and toured regularly with him in Europe and elsewhere over the next decade. Later, in the 1980s and 1990s, Senegal also toured internationally with

Buckwheat Zydeco Stanley Dural Jr. (November 14, 1947 – September 24, 2016), better known by his stage name Buckwheat Zydeco, was an American accordionist and zydeco musician. He was one of the few zydeco artists to achieve mainstream success. His music gro ...

and Rockin' Dopsie. Senegal founded the Cowboy Stew Blues Revue with C. C. Adcock. In 1999, Senegal released the album ''The Buck Starts Here'', featuring songs predominantly written and produced by

Allen Toussaint Allen Richard Toussaint (; January 14, 1938 – November 10, 2015) was an American musician, songwriter, arranger, and record producer. He was an influential figure in New Orleans rhythm and blues from the 1950s to the end of the century, descr ...

. Critic

Richie Unterberger Richie Unterberger (born 1962) is an American author and journalist whose focus is popular music and travel writing. Life and writing Unterberger attended the University of Pennsylvania, where he wrote for the university newspaper '' The Daily P ...

described the record as "a fairly straight blues album with faint or nonexistent traces of zydeco", Sinegal commented: "I am probably more known as a zydeco guitarist... utI've always been a bluesman...Zydeco is the blues. It's basically blues played with accordion. Clifton Chenier's music was blues throughout." Paul_Senegal_dec14-1977_2

Senegal appeared in the 2015 documentary film '' I Am the Blues''.

Death

Senegal died at 75 in 2019 and his funeral was at the Immaculate Heart of Mary Church in Lafayette.

Awards

Sinegal was inducted into the Louisiana Blues Hall of Fame in 1999. He was inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame on his birthday, on January 14, 2013, at the Blue Moon Cafe, Lafayette.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sinegal, Paul Lil Buck 1944 births 2019 deaths Blues musicians from Louisiana American blues guitarists Zydeco musicians Louisiana Creole people People from Lafayette, Louisiana Musicians from Lafayette, Louisiana Guitarists from Louisiana 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians 21st-century American guitarists 21st-century American male musicians African-American Catholics