Dwayne Rubin, a k a Dwayne Dopsie, has some big shoes to fill.

He comes from a family steeped in the Creole culture and the zydeco music it spawned. His three brothers are musicians, and his late father, "Rockin' Dopsie," was one of the pioneers of zydeco, the pastoral music rooted in the southern Louisiana French-speaking region.

But Dwayne is up to the challenge -- even if he carries the weight of his father's legacy on his broad shoulders.

He has taken the best of his father -- in style and showmanship -- and is carving his own musical territory.

"My father was my biggest and only influence," Dwayne said from his home in Baton Rouge, La., where he has lived since fleeing the New Orleans area after Hurricane Katrina. "Before my dad died, he gave me a lot of lessons. We would sit down and go over some things. We talked a great deal about music."

Dwayne took the lessons to heart.

His latest recording, "Traveling Man," isn't an homage to his father, but stylistically, it doesn't veer too far from his father's approach to the music.

"My style is the original style," Dwayne said. "It's more bluesy. A lot of people don't realize that zydeco music was influenced by the blues, jazz and early rock 'n' roll. Back in the 1950s, when Clifton Chenier and my father were starting, they were more influenced by the blues. I try to keep it as close to that as I can because I want the younger generation to know where it came from. Zydeco music has deep roots. It started back when people were still picking beans and cotton in the fields."

Outside of Louisiana, zydeco and Cajun music are often interchangeable. But there are differences, both culturally and musically.

The word Cajun came from Acadia, a French settlement in Nova Scotia that was dispersed by the British in the mid-1700s. Cajun music is a blend of French folk music, American Indian, German, Anglo-American and African.

Zydeco, the younger of the two styles, grew out of the Creole tradition called "La, La," a home entertainment enjoyed by black sharecroppers and farmers.

Creole are descendants of slaves who were torn from their homes in West Africa to clear land for Louisiana planters. The Creoles, like the Cajuns, are a French culture and primarily Catholic.

Dwayne incorporates a heavy dose of Creole culture into his songs, including singing some of the lyrics in French.

"I learned French listening to my parents," he said. "They used to speak French when they didn't want us to know what they were talking about. But I learned it, and it's a huge part of my performance. A lot of that generation is dying off and I want to continue that tradition."

Growing up in Lafayette, La., Dwayne, 28, learned to play the washboard at 6 while performing in his father's band.

But his heart wasn't into the scrub-board or frottoir, so he switched to the accordion.

At 9, he performed on the "Dolly Parton Show" with his father and a year later performed during a Super Bowl halftime show in New Orleans.

By the time he reached high school, he was working in little bands around the area.

"My first real job was playing for kids at a school," he recalled. "Those kids had such a great time that I thought I was on my way."

He continued to perform in the area, at Catholic church halls and dance clubs. He eventually started playing the zydeco circuit, which is ostensibly an area that spans from southern Louisiana to Austin, Texas.

In 1998, he decided it was time to branch out on his own. He formed Dwayne Dopsie & the Zydeco Hellraisers, a six-piece band that features accordion, washboard, drum, guitar, bass and saxophone.

A year later, he was named the "Hottest Accordionist" by the American Accordionists' Association. The award landed him an appearance on "Good Morning America."

"Things have been going really well," said Dwayne, who recently returned from a tour in Italy. "I am really grateful to all of the people that come out and support us. I've been blessed because people want to continue to hear this music."