Dwayne Rubin, better known by his stage name Dwayne Dopsie, is an American

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 ...

musician. He is the accordionist and vocalist for his

New Orleans New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...

-based band, Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers.

Biography

Dwayne Dopsie was born March 3, 1979, 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 ...

. He is the youngest of accordionist Rockin' Dopsie's eight children, and picked up music in the household from an early age. He began playing washboard at age six and accordion at seven, and performed with his father on stage at

Mardi Gras Mardi Gras (, ; also known as Shrove Tuesday) is the final day of Carnival (also known as Shrovetide or Fastelavn); it thus falls on the day before the beginning of Lent on Ash Wednesday. is French for "Fat Tuesday", referring to it being ...

and on television for a

Super Bowl The Super Bowl is the annual History of the NFL championship, league championship game of the National Football League (NFL) of the United States. It has served as the final game of every NFL season since 1966 NFL season, 1966 (with the excep ...

halftime during his childhood.BOB Profile: Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers
'' Houma Times'', August 30, 2013. After Rockin' Dopsie died in 1993, Dwayne Dopsie dropped out of high school to pursue zydeco music full-time. He founded his own band, the Zydeco Hellraisers, in 1999 when he was nineteen years old, and that same year was named "America's Hottest Accordionist" in a competition run by the American Accordion Association.Dopsie salutes father's zydeco legacy
'' The Advertiser'', October 12, 2016. In 2013, Dopsie collaborated with Corey Ledet, Anthony Dopsie and Andre Thierry on the album ''Nothin' But the Best'', which was nominated for a

Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album The Grammy Award for Best Regional Roots Music Album is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 as the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for releasing albums in the regionally based traditional Ameri ...

. Dopsie received another nomination in the same category for his 2017 album ''Top of the Mountain''. Dopsie plays regularly at New Orleans events such as Mardi Gras and Jazz & Heritage Festival, has done numerous tours of the United States, and has toured internationally several times, including performances in Canada,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, and China. In 2018, Dopsie signed wit
Louisiana Red Hot Records
who released ''Bon Ton'' in the June, 2019. Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers

Music

Dopsie's style is grounded in Zydeco but incorporates musical elements from

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...

rhythm and blues Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...

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

reggae Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...

.Dwayne Dopsie and the Zydeco Hellraisers, Calling Your Name (Sound of New Orleans)
'' OffBeat'', August 26, 2015.

Zydeco Hellraisers members

;Current *Dwayne Dopsie - accordion, vocal *Juju Child - guitar *Brandon David - guitar, vocals *Percy Walker - drums *Dion Pierre - bass *Paul Lafleur - washboard *Tim McFatter - saxophone ;Former *Alex MacDonald - washboard, vocals *Calvin Sam - drums *Carl Landry - saxophone *Shelton Sonnier - guitar, vocals *Vincent Doucet - washboard *Kipori Woods - guitar *Dee Fleming - drums *Kevin Minor - drums *Reggie Smith Jr. - saxophone

Awards and honors

''OffBeat'''s Best of The Beat Awards

Discography

;Studio albums *''Now It Begins'' (1999) *''Dopsie Strikes'' (2001) *''Travelin' Man'' (2006) *''Up In Flames'' (2009) *''Been Good To You'' (2011) *''Calling Your Name'' (2015) *''Top Of The Mountain'' (2017, Grammy Nominated) *''Bon Ton'' (2019) * Set me free ( 2021) ;Live albums *''Get Down!'' (2011) *''Dopsie's Got It'' (2014) * LIVE AT THE 2023 NEW ORLEANS JAZZ & HERITAGE FESTIVAL ( 2023, Grammy nominated)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Dopsie, Dwayne Year of birth missing (living people) Living people American male singers Zydeco musicians Musicians from Louisiana 21st-century American accordionists 21st-century American male musicians