Sir Reginal Dural

Reggie “Sir Reg” Dural, who played with his father for more than 20 years, now leads “Buckwheat Zydeco Tribute: Ils Sont Partis Band featuring Sir Reg”. The Ils Sont Partis Band, the name of Buckwheat’s original group, features longtime members of Buckwheat Zydeco — Lee Allen Zeno, Paul “Lil Buck” Sinegal, Curtis Watson Jr., Kevin Menard and Mike Melchione. C. J. Chenier, Jeffery Broussard, and Major Handy will perform as special guests. Buckwheat Zydeco fans will recognize Sir Reg as the rubboard player in his father’s band. But in recent years, when cancer began to take its toll on his father, Sir Reg stepped out as the band’s accordionist, organist and lead singer. “When my dad really fell sick the first time, 

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I was doing the shows in Hawaii with our band,” said Sir Reg. “My good friend, C. J. Chenier, would do different places in Hawaii too. When he fell sick on the road last year, I took over the band and started playing. I told him, 'Don’t worry about anything. It’s going to be okay.' We’d keep his legacy going, if anything happened. There was nothing to worry about. Out of the kids, I was the only one who took the music thing out on the road with him”. Thirty years later, Sir Reg feels no pressure following in his father’s footsteps. “I’m like my dad; I’m just down to earth and it doesn’t faze me. It’s really special what my dad’s been through and what he achieved. But when it comes to being on stage, I just love to play the music. It’s a blessing that we won a Grammy and an Emmy. But I really love the feeling of being on stage, playing and looking at the people dance and smile. To me, that weighs way over the Grammy and everything.”