“Somebody say yeah,” was the slogan for the Zydeco show Saturday night as audience members propelled from their seats in the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts to dance alongside Rockin’ Dopsie Jr. and the Zydeco Twisters.

Wearing his signature attire including a cowboy hat, black vest and apron, David Rubin, known as Dopsie Jr., sang original songs along with tributes to Louisiana natives like rock ‘n’ roll pianist Fats Domino and jazz trumpet player Louis Armstrong.

According to Dopsie Jr., he has the utmost respect for those early Louisiana musicians and has made great friends with all of them, including The Neville Brothers, Dr. John, Clarence “Gatemouth” Brown and Better than Ezra. His style is also influenced by Caribbean and African folk music that he and his band, consisting of two brothers and six other members, were exposed to during travel overseas. Their tours have taken them to France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, Sweden and to Italy where they play every summer at the Umbria Jazz Festival in Perugia.

“When we go there it is more of a rock ‘n’ roll crowd,” said Dopsie Jr. “I have to play honestly maybe 45 minutes of Zydeco and maybe an hour of rock ‘n’ roll standards and they love the Little Richard, Chuck Berry, the Big Joe Turner and Jimmy Hendrix.”

 Dopsie Jr. prefers to play zydeco music, which involves folk music with roots in Southwest Louisiana as Creole music. This music comes with a fast tempo and, as displayed by Dopsie Jr. and his band, enlists a washboard and an accordion. Dopsie Jr. is featured on the washboard, which he received at age 17 and his brother, Anthony Rubin, plays the accordion.

“It all started back in the day with my father, Rockin’ Dopsie Sr., and being an entertainer with him,” said Dopsie Jr. “I was influenced from the generation of James Brown to Jackie Wilson, Michael Jackson, Prince and it moved on to a different era.”

According to Dopsie Jr., he can do what young musicians are creating today, but chooses to still incorporate old traditions into his music and proved this by ending the night with “Who Dat Say They Gonna Beat Dem Saints” anthem, while parading through the audience with a black and gold fleur-de-lis decaled umbrella.

Since Zydeco and the washboard bring a fast tempo and high energy, Dopsie Jr. hopes the audience will help balance the show.

 “A lot of musicians get onstage performing to please themselves and jam with the band, I do the same thing,” said Dopsie Jr. “I perform, jam with the band, but I want the crowd to perform and have a good time with me.”

Dopsie Jr. also admitted the Columbia was a different setting for him, because most sit-down audiences don’t expect to have to stand during a performance. Although this is the usual ideology it did not stop audience member Linda Gloder and other viewers from leaving their seats and dancing for more than half the show.

“I just like the Zydeco music, period,” said Gloder. “I love all of it.”

Dopsie Jr. also featured two audience members he called “a true Cajun couple,” who have been married for 57 years, Pete and Helen Drago. The Dragos danced onstage as their nephew Joey Drago played the electric guitar behind them along with the Zydeco Twisters.

“We got into Zydeco about 43 years ago,” said Helen Drago. “I love the beat to it.”

Rubin has noted that although he helps get the audience involved with his show, he never brings a preliminary song list or theme, but investigates the psyche of the audience.

“I’m probably one of the few musicians that will get onstage and do a show without a song list,” said Dopsie Jr. “I just call songs out in my head. I read the crowd.”

Eddy Veatch, a New Orleans musician and friend of the keyboard player in The Zydeco Twisters enjoyed the tributes.

“I liked all of the tributes, the tributes to James Brown, the tributes to Fats Domino, nothing in particular,” said Veatch. “I never heard them live and I’ve always wanted to hear the band and was real impressed.”

As the show drew near the end, Dopsie Jr. soon left the stage as his band played “Who Dat Say Dey Gonna Beat Dem Saints” and danced with audience members at both ends of the aisle and finally bowed with his band, hand in hand.