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GARDEN DISTRICT G O O D W O O D • TA R A S PA N I S H T O W N C A P I TA L H E I G H T S LSU LAKES MELROSE PLACE BEAUREGARD TOWN
T H E A D V O C AT E.C O M
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W e d n e s d ay, M a r c h 4, 2026
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Now’s the time to celebrate Acadiana’s Lee Allen Zeno In his raucous “Soul Alive!” album, singer, bishop, mortician, limousine driver, drugstore owner, backstage barbecue vendor and father of 21 Solomon Burke testified, “The answer in life is love and understanding.” The soul-singing minister conHerman tinued, “I don’t Fuselier want nobody to give me flowers when I’m dead and gone. Give me my flowers while I’m living. So I can feel ’em, smell ’em, see ’em.” I thought about Burke’s words after hearing fateful news of Lee Allen Zeno of Lafayette. Zeno is a sideman, a musician who makes the stars sound great but rarely gets the spotlight. Zeno and his remarkable bass guitar skills helped Buckwheat Zydeco become a Grammy winner and the only zydeco band to win an Emmy. Zeno is all over “New Beginnings,” the debut album and Grammy winner for Buckwheat Zydeco Jr.
PROVIDED PHOTOS/ STAFF ILLUSTRATION
PROVIDED PHOTO
Lee Allen Zeno performs at the 2024 Clifton Chenier Centennial & Slim’s Y-Ki-Ki Fundraiser in Opelousas.
Since 1980, Zeno has song credits on at least 73 albums, singles, EPs and videos. They include works by Burke, Charlie Rich, Marcia Ball, Irma Thomas, Tracy Nelson, Kenny Neal, Bobby Rush, Boozoo Chavis and the Neville Brothers. Zeno’s bass fuels “A Tribute to the King of Zydeco,” which won the Best Regional Roots Album Grammy earlier this month. Just a few weeks after that joyous Grammy news came Zeno’s troubling announcement. After fighting cancer throughout his music career, Zeno decided he’s had enough. He’s ending chemotherapy. According to longtime friend and supporter John Williams, Zeno’s cancer count after his latest round of chemo showed his leukemia is getting worse. Williams said on social media that Zeno will now “focus on staying healthy and receiving blood transfusions as needed, in order to have more vibrant time with his family and playing his music.” Williams has been on a mission to help unsung music heroes and forgotten legends.
Checking in with some of Louisiana’s past ‘The Voice’ success stories as NBC raises curtain on new season ä To see a more
complete list of the other Louisianans who have competed on “The Voice,” their hometowns and how they placed, GO TO TINYURL. COM/2PVMAYCV.
BY JUDY BERGERON
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Staff writer
Twenty-eight seasons in, “The Voice” has yet to crown a Louisiana winner. But the state keeps sending singers deep into the competition — and turning national exposure into momentum long after the cameras stop rolling. The 29th season of “The Voice” premieres 8 p.m. Monday on NBC with judges John Legend, Kelly Clarkson and Adam Levine. The show streams on Peacock the day after airing. Meghan Linsey came oh-so-close to winning “The Voice” in 2015, finishing as runner-up. It was a banner Season 8 for four other fellow Louisianans who also fared well in the competition, among them New Orleans’ Tonya Boyd-Cannon. ä See ‘THE VOICE’, page 2G
ä See ZENO, page 2G
Building bridges Duvall
Hayes
Robert Duvall forged a bond with Hunter Hayes at La. eatery, but which one?
BY ROBIN MILLER Staff writer
In interviews, Hunter Hayes often tells the story of how he first met actor Robert Duvall while performing in a downtown Breaux Bridge restaurant. The year was 1996, and the Grammy-nominated Louisiana singer was only days from his
fifth birthday. He was performing with a local band on the night he met the legendary actor. Duvall was in town filming “The Apostle,” in which he not only acted and directed but also wrote. The actor was so impressed by Hayes’ performance that he invited the young musician to appear in a scene in the film and later presented Hayes with a guitar — his first.
The meeting turned into a friendship that was pivotal for Hayes as a musician. But in light of the Oscarwinning actor’s Feb. 15 death at age 95, reader Cynthia Jardon wanted to know the name of the restaurant where the two met.
Which restaurant? “I’ve heard Hunter Hayes tell the story in interviews, but the
restaurant is never named,” the Alexandria resident said. “It was really a historical moment for them, so now I’m curious about the restaurant. Where did this moment happen? “ That question is easily answered by Hayes’ parents, Leo and Lynette Hayes — the restaurant was Mulate’s. Lynette Hayes remembers see-
ing Duvall and his wife, Luciana, dancing while local band, the Lee Benoit Band, played. Though Hunter Hayes was only 4, the band often invited him to bring his accordion on stage to join in a couple of tunes. The Hayes family lived in Breaux Bridge at the time. Hayes’
ä See CURIOUS, page 2G