Floyd Soileau (pronounced swallow) has played an essential role in the evolution of Louisiana's music. As the owner of the Swallow, Jin, Maison de Soul, and Kom-a-day record labels, Soileau has been responsible for more than 300 singles and 200 albums by such artists as the Balfa Brothers, Clifton Chenier, Rockin' Sidney, Belton Richard, Lawrence Walker, Aldus Roger, Boozoo Chavis, and Tommy McLain. The Festival De Musique Acadienne was dedicated to Soileau and his contributions to Cajun music in 2000.

Descended from a long line of Cajun fiddlers, Soileau was born in Grand Prairie, a small village near Ville Platte in Evangeline Parish. His family spoke in the Cajun French dialect and he did not speak English until the age of six. Launching his career as a DJ for Ville Platte radio station KVPI in 1956, he opened a record store, Floyd's Record Shop, with money that he borrowed from his parents. Together with a Mamou jukebox and nightclub operator Ed Manuel, he started a record company, Big Mamou, in 1957. Although the label released only two songs, Manuel Bar Waltz and Midway Two Step, performed by Milton Monitor and Austin Pitre, the experience had a profound effect on Soileau, who soon founded his own label, Vee-Pee. Canceling the label in 1958, he launched two new labels, Swallow and Jin. He later added Maison de Soul, to release Zydeco recordings, and Kom-a-day, which specialized in Cajun humor. Soileau's efforts paid dividends almost from the start. He recorded several swamp pop hits including Rod Bernard's This Should Go On Forever in 1958, Jivin' Gene's Breaking Up Is Hard to Do in 1959, and Joe Barry's I'm a Fool to Care in 1961.

Shortly after releasing D.L. Menard's country-tinged Cajun hit, La Porte D'en Arriere (The Back Door) in 1962, Soileau was approached by the acoustic-based traditional Cajun group the Balfa Brothers. He remained apprehensive, however, about releasing an acoustic album. The Balfa Brothers asked Soileau to record them two more times before he relented. The resulting album, The Balfa Brothers Play Traditional Cajun Music, remains one of the genre's classic recordings.

Soileau reached his commercial apex when Rockin' Sidney recorded Don't Mess With My Toot-Toot in 1985. Initially featured on the album My Zydeco Shoes Got the Zydeco Blues, the song sold more than 40 thousand copies and was number 20 on Billboard's country music charts. One of Soileau's successful ventures outside of music came during the 1970s when he and his wife helped to popularize an electric rice cooker made by Japan's Hitachi Company. Soileau's recording empire were united through his music publishing, distribution, and retail business, Flat Town Music Company. He received a Best of the Beat Business Lifetime Achievement award from Offbeat, the journal of the Loyola University Music Business Program. ~ Craig Harris, Rovi