Chris Ardoin, the next generation of many Ardoin musicians, has his own unique sound that has dancers and music lovers craving him, packing Southwest Louisiana and Southeast Texas clubs, churches, dance halls, trailrides, and festivals. He blends the traditional Creole music with r&b, rock, jazz, blues, country, and gospel. Chris was born and raised in Lake Charles, Louisiana where he still resides today. He started playing the accordion at the young age of four and by the age of nine he had already played Carnegie Hall in New York. And by fourteen he had performed for over 500,000 people at the Monument in Washington D.C. Chris Ardoin and NuStep has traveled and entertained millions of people over the years not just in the crawfish circuit but also in far away places such as London, Sweden, Amsterdam, Jamaica, Mexico and even Japan.
After making special guest appearances for a few years with Lawrence Ardoin, his father, Chris and brother Sean formed their own band, Chris Ardoin and Double Clutchin’, with Lawrence’s help. The band quickly gained a huge fan base with their infectious, energetic music.
In 1999, a long overdue talk on plans for what direction the band would be going in between Chris, Sean, and father Lawrence led to a breakup. Chris, at the time a senior at Washington-Marion Magnet High School, had his own vision on what he wanted to do. Music was not the only thing Chris ever wanted to do. Sports was a big part of his life. Juggling between music and sports was the easiest thing and deciding which one will to continue after high school. Sean went on to start Sean Ardoin ‘n ZydeKool and Chris kept on trucking with Double Clutchin’.
In 2004, Chris wanted to start over so to speak. Start from scratch and really set his self apart from the Double Clutchin’ name and do what he wanted the way he wanted to do it, Chris then headed to his studio to start the recording of “Sweat” and changed the name of the band to Chris Ardoin and NuStep. Since changing the name and creating a brand new sound, the band is at the top of its game. Chris says, “Music has given me more than one can imagine from awards, movies, traveling the world, and most of all giving audiences everywhere the joy of Zydeco music.
In 2014, with the release of BACK HOME, Chris has the world paying attention. The week of it’s release, the album was No. 1 on the iTunes Best-Selling World music chart and No. 1 on Amazon’s Best-Selling Blues chart. It was also No. 20 on Google Play’s Top Albums chart, which includes all genres of music. That ranking put Ardoin in the company of Bruno Mars, Jason Aldean and other mainstream stars.
