Roy "Mel" Melton knows what it's like to cook onstage and off. Nicknamed "The Zydeco Chef" by his former bandmate and friend, C.J. Chenier, Melton has been enjoying the success of two careers for over twenty years, one as a singer, songwriter and harmonica player, and the other as a professional gourmet chef and food consultant. According to Melton, "The food and music of Acadiana have always been inseparable for me." A North Carolina native from Gastonia, Mel went to Lafayette, Louisiana in the summer of 1969 to visit a college friend and play a little music before going back to UNC. His plans changed when he became totally immersed in the rich culture and physical beauty of southwest Louisiana. He moved permanently to Lafayette at the end of the summer and began playing in a band he co-founded with Sonny Landreth, the Louisiana slide guitar playing superstar. He recorded on Sonny's first recording, "Blues Attack" in 1973, a record that also featured the playing of C.J. Chenier on saxophone, and Buckwheat Zydeco on the Hammond organ. To help support his new musical career, Mel took a series of jobs in the best Cajun restaurants in the city and discovered a new talent and another part of Cajun lifestyle: Louisiana cooking. Over the next few years he honed his musical and cooking skills, eventually becoming a well known Cajun chef. At the same time, he was becoming known as a singer and harmonica player specializing in a zydeco style of harp playing that is his trademark. In addition to playing with Sonny, he was frequently on stage with zydeco king, Clifton Chenier, and spent a year touring with the internationally known "Cajun Rocker," Zachary Richard. In the early 80's Sonny and Mel formed the band "Bayou Rhythm," and quickly added C.J. Chenier to the lineup. The band recorded Way Down in Louisiana in 1985, an album that features five original songs by Melton. (This record has been re-released under Sonny Landreth's name as Down in Louisiana.) A song on that album, "Congo Square" was co-written by Sonny and Mel and has been recorded by the Neville Brothers, John Mayall, R & B artists Chris Daniels and the Kings, and guitarist Tom Principato. Bayou Rhythm began a heavy tour schedule and headlined shows nationally. They also opened shows for a number of legendary musicians including: Ray Charles, B.B. King, Dr. John, The Neville Brothers, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Dave Edmonds, and The Fabulous Thunderbirds. One of the special attractions of a Bayou Rhythm concert, Mel's peerless Cajun cooking, came about when Mel was challenged to a gumbo cookoff by Rockin' Dopsie at the 1986 American Music Festival in Chicago. The event was so well received that Melton decided to always cook for the band's gigs. Anyone lucky enough to have been at one of the shows can recall the pleasure of smelling and eating great Cajun cooking while listening to the sounds of the spicy-as-Tabasco Bayou Rhythm. In 1986, Melton left Bayou Rhythm and moved to Chicago to pursue a full time chef career. In his first month there he won the prestigious Grand Prize at the Rolls Royce-Krug Champagne Invitational Chef Competition. During his time in Chicago, Melton opened two new restaurants, one of which was named as one of the top ten new restaurants in Chicago. He frequently did cooking demonstrations and prepared food for a variety of events, including The Chicago Jazz Festival, The American Cancer Society Ball, Mardi Gras at The Limelight Club, and many others. He also appeared on the local television program "Two on Two," and several radio programs. The year 1990 found Melton back in North Carolina, where he continues to spread his interpretation of the food and music he grew to love down in the bayou counrty. He has prepared his brand of Cajun cooking for many shows that involved Louisiana musicians, including his old friend C.J.Chenier, Beausoliel, Buckwheat Zydeco, Terence Simien, Queen Ida, Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, and the Dirty Dozen Brass Band. He's also back in the spotlight, cooking on stage with his band, The Wicked Mojos. In 1997 he released Swamp Slinger on the New Moon Music label to universally favorable reviews. In 1999 Mel completed Mojo Dream for Nightfly Music. That album features guest appearances by C.J.Chenier and former Allman Brother Johnny Neel. In an attempt to describe the band's sound and his original songs, Mel recited all the influences that came to him from his long stay in the Bayou State. "There's zydeco of course, and Cajun and blues, and New Orleans jazz and funk. But as far as what we're playing, I like to call it 'Mojo Music." It's a lot like the food. Down there everyone cooks, but they all have their own little way of stirring it up." And as for the cooking, Mel plans to keep on doing it at as many of his concerts as possible. "When people leave one of our shows I want them to feel like they've been down in the swamp at a big party and they've had a great time. That's what it's all about."