Steve Dargin's Bio

Steve Dargin never met a woman tougher than his great grandmother, Estella Lavergne. Dargin spent summers with her in rural St. Landry Parish, La., watching her hang snakes, that dared to enter her backyard garden, on a barbed wire fence.

   Those timeless moments grew fewer as Dargin entered the world of refinery work and other adult concerns. Estella faded into a world of dementia before Dargin’s work opened the door to an unexpected visit.

    “I was working in Baton Rouge and was determined to go see her in Lawtell,” said Dargin, who is now 30 and living in Missouri City, TX. “My grandmother was on the phone with me. She said ‘Don’t be hurt if she doesn’t recognize who you are. Her dementia was really taking over.’

   When I walked in that room, she said, ‘Look at my grandbaby.’ My grandmother was on the phone and she started crying. So I had to put her on that album.”

   “Because of You,” a tribute to his great grandmother, is a waltz on “Buckle Up,” the debut album from Dargin and his zydeco band, Texas Kreole. The collection of 13, all-original songs reflects Dargin’s love for family, Creole culture and more.

   Dargin, who grew up playing music in church, was a drummer with Brian Jack and the Zydeco Gamblers for more than a decade. But an undying hunger to play the accordion and growing respect for his family’s Creole roots in southwest Louisiana drove him into the spotlight.

    Dargin’s music contains flavors of Boozoo Chavis. Beau Jocque, Chris Ardoin and other legendary names. But his debut album is all about Dargin.

 “Growing up trail riding and riding horses, I was always into zydeco, “said Dargin, a relative of zydeco forerunner Wilfred Thibodeaux. “But I’m coming into this not just to play a trail ride. I want to get back  into the festivals, the bazaars, get back to where I can have the old and the new.

    “I wanted this album to be about me and what I’m doing. It’s all about showing my originality in this first album.”

   When he’s not playing music, Dargin works on new construction projects at refineries across Louisiana and Texas. A father of three boys, he’s retained his love of horses and trail rides.

   Dargin counts Lil Nathan Williams and family, along with rising stars Rusty Metoyer and Kaleb Leday as guiding forces in his new solo career. He’s ready to make his great grandmother and other family proud.

   “I love the trail rides, but I want to reach further heights. I want the world to understand Creole culture. I feel like the Creole culture isn’t broad enough and when it is, it’s not original.

   “I want to a Creole legacy where the Dargin name means something.”

  Herman Fuselier is a writer, broadcaster and tourism director living in Opelousas, La. His “Zydeco Stomp” radio shows airs from noon to 4 p.m. Central time on KRVS 88.7 FM and online at KRVS public media.