C.J. Chenier brings his Zydeco mastery to Johnny D’s on Tuesday, Feb. 11.

Somerville music fans have a rare treat in store for them as famed Zydeco star C.J. Chenier and The Red Hot Louisiana Band rolls into Johnny D’s next week, Feb. 11.

Clayton Joseph Chenier was born September 28, 1957 – the son of the great King of Zydeco, Clifton Chenier. C.J.’s father was the first Creole musician to win a Grammy Award. C.J. spent his childhood in the tough tenement housing projects of Port Arthur, Texas. His earliest musical influences were an eclectic mix of funk, soul, jazz and Motown, and his first musical instruments were piano, tenor saxophone and flute. It wasn’t until his 21st birthday, after winning a scholarship and studying music at Texas Southern University, that C.J. first performed with his famous father and the legendary Red Hot Louisiana band.

On the road his father showed him how to front a world class touring band, teaching C.J. how to run the family business and how to develop his lifelong passion for music into a career. When Clifton died in 1987 his son adopted the Red Hot Louisiana Band and recorded his debut album for the great American independent label Arhoolie Records. As he told a journalist at the time, he does not try to imitate his father’s playing: “I play it the way I play it. All my father really told me was to do the best I could do with my own style.” In the following years C.J. would record albums for Slash Records and the legendary Chicago label Alligator Records.

A C.J. Chenier recording, like a traditional New Orlean’s funeral, would not be complete without a tremor of hope for the future and a few great dance tunes. C.J. composed several such songs for his latest album, Can’t Sit Down, including the plaintive I’ve Been Good To You Baby and the swinging mea culpa Who’s Cheatin’ Who? The Fender Rhodes driven Living To Learn is a particular classic. Sans accordion and rubboard, Living To Learn highlights C.J.’s sixties soul and Motown influences. “As a teenager I played the Fender Rhodes in a top 40 cover band, practicing soul, Ray Charles, and Motown songs for 10 hours a day” recalls C.J.

C.J. leads the entire band through the Clifton Chenier tune Bogalusa Boogie as a tribute to the late great Clarence Gatemouth Brown. Gatemouth had died just days after Hurricane Katrina decimated his home in southwest Louisiana. And Van Morrison’s Comfort You, his great waltz-poem of healing and forgiveness, feels like a fitting end to a stormy night.

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C.J. Chenier and The Red Hot Louisiana Band, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 7:30 p.m. at Johnny D’s, 17 Holland St, Somerville, MA.