Corey Ledet was born in Houston, Texas, but his musical roots run deep into Louisiana's St. Martin Parish. His great-grandfather, Gabriel Ledet, played professionally as an upright bassist alongside early jazz legend Bunk Johnson, and his grandfather, Buchanan Ledet, was zydeco's first drummer, playing behind Clifton Chenier and Rockin' Dopsie and inventing the twice-pumped "double clutching" bass drum pattern that shaped the genre's rhythm. Corey took up drums himself at age 10, playing for the Houston-based band Wilbert Thibodeaux and the Zydeco Rascals, before slowly learning the accordion — the instrument he'd become known for — studying originators like Chenier, John Delafose, and Boozoo Chavis along the way.
Ledet eventually moved to Louisiana to keep one foot in tradition while exploring the surrounding influences of Cajun music and beyond. He has released 16 albums over his career, earning Grammy nominations in 2013 for Nothin' But the Best (a collaboration with Anthony Dopsie, Dwayne Dopsie, and André Thierry) and again for his 2021 self-titled album Corey Ledet Zydeco, recorded at Dockside Studio in Maurice, Louisiana and produced with Louis Michot of the Lost Bayou Ramblers. That album paid tribute to his family's musical heritage directly, including the track "Buchanan Ledet Special," and featured several songs sung in Kouri-Vini, the Louisiana Creole dialect Ledet learned from his elder relatives as a child.
Ledet's touring has taken him across Hawaii, Canada, Europe, and Russia, where fans nicknamed his custom accordion "Black Magic" after being enthralled by the instrument's sound — a name that's stuck with the band ever since. In 2025, inspired by how Clifton Chenier recorded some of his best live material far from home, Ledet captured his debut live album, Live in Alaska, during a performance at the Anchorage Folk Festival, drawing from fifteen previous releases plus a new onstage jam, "Alaska Funk." Now a two-time Grammy nominee, Ledet remains one of zydeco's most active ambassadors, carrying his family's three generations of musical history forward with every show.
