Zydeco great C.J. Chenier plays High Desert Music Hall in Redmond July 6.

C.J. Chenier has been traveling around the country for decades, playing Zydeco music for anyone who’ll listen.

Now in his 60s, he has no intention of slowing down anytime soon.

“I’m a road dog, man,” he said in an interview from his home in Houston. “I just love traveling. I love going places. It’s like second nature to me.”

It helps, of course, when the music can carry you through the hard times.

That’s the nature of Zydeco, a style of upbeat, ultra-rhythmic dance music originally from Louisiana that blends blues, rock ‘n’ roll, Cajun and Creole music, Afro-Caribbean influences and the sound of the accordion into something that’s highly enjoyable and often irresistible.

“I’ve played in every state in the country and every province in Canada, and I’d have to think real hard to think of somewhere that we’ve gone … that people didn’t have a good time,” Chenier said.

“Even people who don’t know about Zydeco music,” he continued, “by the time the night’s over, they’ve had a good time.”

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“Even if you don’t know Zydeco, when you hear it, your foot will just start tapping every time, man. You just can’t help it.”

Simply calling Chenier a Zydeco musician is probably underselling his career and his stature within the genre. He is, as his bio rightfully says, “Creole music royalty,” and his father, Clifton Chenier, pioneered and popularized the style across the United States in the mid-20th century. C.J.’s dad was the first Creole musician to receive a Grammy award, and he even designed the first vest frottoir — a wearable washboard that is integral to the Zydeco sound.

After growing up in Texas, C.J. joined his father’s Red Hot Louisiana Band when he turned 21, and he took over the group when Clifton died in 1987. He’s been recording and touring ever since, and has played with artists like Paul Simon, John Mayall and Jimmie Vaughan.

More than three decades since his father’s passing, Chenier clearly remembers picking up the ways of Zydeco not through lessons, but by playing alongside him.

“He gave me a few pointers here and there, but my dad was more like, ‘Watch and learn,’” Chenier said. “More than a whole bunch of talking, it was me standing next to him, watching him play, watching him move, paying attention to what he did and listening to his sound. I remember it like it was yesterday.”

These days, Chenier is the one playing while others watch and learn. The appeal of Zydeco music is unique in that people are generally drawn to it when they hear it, even if they weren’t familiar with the style previously, he said.

“The sound and the rhythm and the way it’s put together, it’s just infectious,” Chenier said. “Even if you don’t know Zydeco, when you hear it, your foot will just start tapping every time, man. You just can’t help it.”

What: C.J. Chenier & The Red Hot Louisiana Band, with Casey Hurt

When: 7:30 p.m. Thursday, July 6

Where: High Desert Music Hall, 818 SW Forest Ave., Redmond

Cost: $30

Contact: highdesertmusichall.com