Terrance Simien's voice carries sunshine - all the way from Louisiana.

One music critic called it "a voice from God."

Others compare it to Sam Cooke and Aaron Neville.

But you get to judge for yourself. Simien and the Zydeco Experience headline Mount Helena's Music Festival Friday and Saturday at 9 p.m. at Women's Park.

To hear Simien tell his story in his richly musical voice, his success has everything to do with luck and timing.

But critics and those who listen to his music would likely beg to differ.

Simien's love affair with zydeco started as a child, and it would lead four decades later to a Grammy Award in 2008.

"I grew up in music. It was all over the place," he said in a phone interview from his backyard in Lafayette, La.

"One of my first memories of hearing the music was at our church hall, where we have weddings and dinners and fundraisers. I grew up Catholic and we used to have dances once a month. Everyone would show up and dance, and the music was zydeco music.

"Zydeco is a style of music that draws from influences worldwide."

Simien's own family history in Louisiana dates back to the 1700s. His ancestors were French, African, Spanish, Native American and German.

"Most people in my area are Creole," he said. "They are that jambalaya culture. All the influences in cultures from all over the world come together here.

"The Germans brought the accordion here; the French, waltzes; rhythms, from Africa; Native American, melodies. It all came together here. That's why when we play all over the world, people connect with it. There just might be some little part they come in contact with that's a piece of their culture."

Simien used to go listen to zydeco with his dad at dance halls and roadhouses.

As a teenager in the '70s, zydeco music was definitely "not cool."

"I fell in love with accordion," he said. "I'd go jam with these old guys in the neighborhood.

"At that time there were very few teenagers playing this kind of music."

He'd tell his friends where he'd be playing, and they'd respond, "I'm not going to that -- that's for old people."

Well, no longer. And Simien had a lot to do with it.

"It's very popular with young people now."

Dance halls that used to attract 80 to 100 folks, now draw 800 to 1,000. Young musicians are mixing zydeco with other music, like hip hop, and Simien thinks it's great.

"It's all good to me," he said. "The music is alive and well.

"You had to be a music fanatic in the 1970s to find zydeco," he recalled.

It was primarily regional music tucked away in dance halls and church basements. Very few performers had taken it outside the borders of the Bayou State.

But in the mid-'80s, "it broke out of Louisiana."

And Simien and his band, originally incarnated as the Mallet Playboys, got some breaks -- a three-week showcase at the World's Fair in New Orleans in 1984. Later they appeared on screen and on the soundtrack of "The Big Easy" in 1986.

A fortuitous meeting and studio session with Paul Simon opened more doors for the young musicians.

"I feel like somebody who's been lucky enough to be at the right place and right time," he said.

"Once we got on the road, people were able to see what we have," said Simien.

And the road now stretches around the world, including a memorable concert tour in 1988 to five countries in North Africa.

"I can remember playing in Sudan and there was a woman in traditional veils. The rubboard player went out in the audience and put the rubboard on her and brought her on stage. She was smiling and playing. She probably got in trouble for that, but she didn't care."

In his efforts to keep Zydeco alive, Simien created the "Creole for Kidz" program. He and his band take their music into the schools across the country; they've also produced a CD and study guide about zydeco music and Creole culture.

"Creole history and culture have been in America for 300 years," he said, "but it's not in the history books."

Now there are zydeco groups in Australia, all over Europe and even in China and Japan.

"Zydeco was created to have people dance and forget their troubles and have a good time," he said.

In Helena, they'll play a mix of traditional and contemporary tunes, some new songs, reggae, some songs from Taj Mahal and The Band.

"We mix it up. We like plenty of traditional stuff, but we like to do things for the audience who like nontraditional stuff. We do original. We do a lot of fusion."

Central to all their music is the accordion and rubboard.

One of the things he's discovered in his 28-year world-wide music career is "Everyone wants the same thing n to have peace, to go to the concert and feel the connection with the people. Everybody wants to have fun."

Click here to download a sample of Terrance Simien in mp3 format.