Many have stood in the shadow of Clifton Chenier, all vying to wear his crown.

There were the late Rockin' Dopsie and Beau Jacque, John Delafose and the resolute preservationist Wilson "Boozoo" Chavis.

		If you go Johnstown Folk Festival schedule

But no one has been able to capture the spirit of Chenier like Terrance Simien, who performs with his band, the Zydeco Experience, this weekend at the Johnstown Folk Festival.

Simien has taken the best of Chenier, Buckwheat Zydeco and Delafose and has created his own musical vocabulary. He blends pop, soul, R&B and blues into a seamless blend of nouveau zydeco.

His latest recording, "Across the Parish Line," finds the singer/accordionist collaborating with Paul Simon on "You Used to Call Me" and Los Lobos' David Hidalgo on "Como Vivire, Mi Cholita?" Simien also collaborates with Marcia Ball and performs Bob Dylan's "Mississippi" and Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927."

"It's basically a celebration of more than 25 years in the business," said Simien, speaking from his home in Lafayette, La. "I got a few friends to help me take it home. I've had the opportunity to do some wonderful things over the past 25 years that I never dreamed I would do."

One of those highlights was the day he met Simon. Another watershed moment occurred when he met Ball.

"Marcia is a great musician and one of the nicest ladies in the world. We always talked about doing a song together.

"David Hidalgo is like my big brother. I first met the band back in 1985. We opened some shows for them. It was around the time when 'La Bamba' was at the top of the charts. They really liked us."

"Across the Parish Line" also features "International Remix," a song about the Creole culture of southwest Louisiana.

"I wanted people to know that we have been here for more than 300 years," he said. "Creoles were here before they were anywhere else in the country. There's a lot of Creole people that don't know their history and culture. The song was mainly written for the locals that don't know that history."

One of the more poignant songs on the recording is the remake of Newman's "Louisiana 1927." Simien was inspired to record the song after hurricanes Katrina and Rita struck Louisiana. When Katrina struck, he was performing at a festival in Brazil with other bands from Louisiana.

"That song became the anthem for Louisiana," he said. "They were playing Aaron Neville's version of it, and I just remembered looking at the photos and listening to Aaron and it was powerful. People tried to make sense of what was happening and when you heard the song all you could do was cry. When I first heard Aaron, it was like hearing the voice of God."

Simien grew up in Mallet, a small town in St. Landry Parish. Like many kids in Southwest Louisiana, he hunted frogs, trapped crawfish and dreamed of life in other places.

As a youngster, he didn't have much use for zydeco music.

"The music was common, but not many kids listened to it," he recalls. "The only time kids would listen to the music was the first Friday of the month when the Catholic church would have a dance to raise money."

Simien eventually fell in love with the music, or maybe it was the pretty young girl that first invited him to the dance floor.

"The first time I danced with a girl it was to zydeco music," he said with a chuckle. "After that I was hooked on the music."

In 1981, while still in high school, he formed his first band, performing mostly in the area.

"When I would tell my friends I was playing at a church hall, they would say, 'Man you must be crazy, we're not going around that kind of stuff. That's for old people'."

For years, many Louisiana natives sneered at the French-sung tunes as archaic "chank-a-chank" music.

"I dealt with that kind of stuff," he said. "Starting out, there weren't many people my age supporting me, except the pretty girls. The old folks would come check me out just to tell me what I was doing wrong. After a couple of years, I became kind of established and people started liking what I was doing but they didn't look at me like they did the older musicians."

Ironically, people outside of Louisiana were into what he was playing, and he began to tour the so-called "crawfish circuit," performing in obscure nightclubs, Catholic church halls, American Legion halls and for trail rides.

Simien's biggest break came during a performance at the World's Fair in New Orleans in 1984.

"That was the first time we went from a dance setting to a concert setting and the applause was wonderful," said Simien, who has since played before more than 100,000 people at a jazz festival in Sidney, Australia.

Shortly after the World's Fair performance, Simien met Simon.

"When I met Paul I was a just a kid and he was down here researching music for his 'Graceland' record. He was just so nice. We did the song and he performed some background vocals on it and gave it to us. He said he wanted to help us with our career. He didn't have to do that."

Later, Simien got to perform with Stevie Wonder during former President Bill Clinton's inaugural celebration.

"We got to meet the president and the first lady and that was cool, but Stevie came up and played harmonica with us. It was unbelievable."

After touring with the Dave Matthews Band, Simien toured Cuba during a U.S. State Department-sponsored visit.

"That was one of the highlights of my career," said Simien. "The music there is incredible. In every restaurant and store there's music. And most of the time you hear music without amplification. The singers are so strong."

Simien said he also got to exchange stories with many Cuban locals.

"The people there are living really hard, but when you see them on the streets you wouldn't know it. Everybody was very well dressed and well mannered."

Now, Simien gets to exchange stories and impart some of his music to fans in Johnstown.

"Music has power," he said. "It's one of the few things God created that can make people forget about their problems. When people hear zydeco, they smile and begin to dance. That's the power of music."