MUSIC : Queen of Zydeco Is ‘Caught in the Act’ : Ida Guillory and her band, as well as other performers, will be at Solvang’s California Countryfest on Saturday.

How’s this for a job promotion to boggle the mind? Ida Guillory went from being a bus driver to being the queen, bypassing about six million jobs in between. Queen Ida & Her Zydeco Band will be making people dance funny all over the California Countryfest in Solvang on Saturday.

“Actually, I was caught in the act,” Ida said, discussing her rise to royalty during a recent phone conversation. “There was this benefit for a parochial school, and my friends coerced me to play a few songs, and I did. There happened to be a free-lance writer in the crowd writing about all this strange music and he called me ‘The Queen of Zydeco.’ Well, the story came out in the paper on Sunday, and the name was all over.”

Next, Queen Ida started playing small clubs in the Bay Area even though she didn’t have an official band. She’d sit in with other zydeco musicians, all the while making new fans.

And since being a queen has its privileges, Ida played the San Francisco Blues Festival in 1975 and the Monterey Jazz Festival the following year.

Soon after, Queen Ida signed a recording deal with GNP Crescendo Records--her ninth album is due out in a month or two. By the early ‘80s, Queen Ida’s career began rolling and, in 1982, she won a Grammy.

“Winning a Grammy didn’t change me, but it opened up a lot of doors for me,” the queen said. “At that time, there weren’t that many gigs, but winning the highest award in music basically inspired me to continue.”

And continue she has. Like a bus with no brakes, now she won’t stop.

Queen Ida has toured Europe 15 times to date, and also has played Africa and Australia. In 1988, Queen Ida was the first zydeco artist to play Japan. The Japanese didn’t catch on right away. It took two sets.

“I was in shock when I first came on stage because everyone was just sitting there,” Ida said. “They were all very, very polite, and they’d applaud after every song, but they’d just sit there. Then near the end of the first set, some American servicemen started dancing.

“When I came back out for the second set, all the tables and chairs were gone and everyone was crowded around the stage dancing.”

It seems nobody just lurks and looks at a zydeco show; it’s definitely move-your-feet music. Zydeco could make Kharis the Mummy dance like a Deadhead.

“It’s very danceable and it’s lively,” the queen said. “Ya gotta move something, your head, your hands or your feet. Zydeco music will make you forget your problems as long as the band is on stage.”

So, maybe if the U. S. government took the super collider money and instead bought a bunch of speakers and played zydeco music from sea to shining sea, would the country, in fact, be a kinder, gentler place? One thing is certain; there seems to be more and more zydeco bands on the road these days.

“I think zydeco music is getting bigger and is readily accepted everywhere now,” quoth the queen. “What has helped a lot is the younger artists in their 20s or 30s that have added some rock ‘n’ roll and some blues to zydeco music. Also, the movie ‘The Big Easy’ helped a lot, and I was in the Francis Ford Coppola movie ‘Rumble Fish.’ Actually, any advertising helps to spread the good word.”

With Queen Ida on the bill, it’s obvious that this gig isn’t something to interest just the pointy-shoe crowd. Also on the bill will be Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer David Crosby, Grammy Award-winning bluegrass performer Alison Krauss & Union Station, and singer/songwriter Michael Martin Murphey. This gig is billed as a celebration of Western arts, crafts and music. There will be plenty of food too.

But bring your dancing shoes.

Bill Locey, who writes regularly on rock ‘n’ roll, has survived the mosh pit and the local music scene for many years.

Details

* WHAT: Queen Ida & Her Zydeco Band, David Crosby, Alison Krauss & Union Station, Michael Martin Murphey

* WHEN: 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Saturday.

* WHERE: California Countryfest. Gardner Ranch on California 246 half a mile east of U. S. 101 in Solvang.

* COST: $16 adults, $10 senior citizens and children (5-12).

* FYI: 1 (800) 468-6765.