Wayne Toups has been praised for his high-energy performances. Courtesy photo

Grammy-winning Louisiana musician Wayne Toups has been referred to as a global ambassador for Cajun culture.

Known for blending traditional accordion-driven Cajun music with rock, zydeco and soul influences, he created the unique “zydecajun” style. Toups will perform at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua, on June 5.

Offbeat Magazine has praised his high-energy shows, saying, “No one works harder than Toups, who always gives a sweat-soaked 110% and often blasts his accordion into warp overdrive with amazingly quick fingering.”

“We’ve been putting together some tunes for the last 40 years, and we’ve been riding high,” said Toups. “All in all, it’s been a great ride, and we still operate at a high level, so it’s still a lot of fun.”

In the past, he has been compared to Bruce Springsteen.

“We were doing three-hour shows back then — very high energy,” he said. “When we started with Mercury, the producer told the Washington Post that I was like a Cajun Bruce Springsteen because of the energy and the level of time that we played.”

He first fused zydeco and Cajun music in 1987 on the album “ZydeCajun.”

“I was influenced by the Allman Brothers and Stevie Ray Vaughan, and it came to me one day that I could blend a fusion of those genres and make my own sound,” he explained. “I grew up singing those old Cajun songs with a R&B type voice. I was able to cross those genres together and still keep a Cajun attitude with an R&B voice.”

Born into a family of rice farmers in Acadia Parish in the town of Crowley, Louisiana, Toups first picked up an accordion when he was 13.

“I think the accordion picked me,” he said. “It was a wonderful gift from God. I play a bit different from everybody else. The way I play, I get very physical with it and make sounds that you don’t hear from a normal accordion player. It has granted me a breath of fresh air of being innovative and kind of cutting-edge.”

A Grammy winner in 2013 for “The Band Courtbouillon,” Toups grew up influenced by soul stars Otis Redding and Aretha Franklin, as well as rockers like the Allman Brothers and Lynyrd Skynyrd. “The Southern rock guys showed excitement, and I’m so glad it influenced me, and you hear some licks here and there from their songs,” he said.

He has released albums including “Johnnie Can’t Dance,” “Blast from the Bayou,” and “Little Wooden Box,” and his music was in the movie “Steel Magnolias” and the “Broken Badges” TV show.

Toups has been featured playing the accordion with some of the leading country stars. He played on Mark Chesnutt’s hit “It Sure Is Monday,” on Clay Walker’s “Live Laugh Love” and on Alan Jackson’s “Little Bitty.”

“During that period of the early ’90s country songs, they were using embellishment of accordion texture in a lot of the songs,” he said. “I got a few calls to put my own stuff on it.”

Toups is also proud to help perpetuate Cajun culture.

“I do love it. It’s a fusion of great people, great food and a wonderful musical genre,” he said. “It’s just helping being a part of something that’s special.”

Toups will perform at 6 p.m. June 5 in the Alaloa Lounge at The Ritz-Carlton Maui, Kapalua. Admission is $10 and free for guests. For the show, he will bring guitarist friend Freddy Pate, who Toups has been performing with for the last 37 years.

“We play really well together. He’s an exceptional rhythm guitar player as well,” Toups said. “We’re going to bring some excitement. We’ll talk a bit about the style of music that we play and where we’re from and play some Cajun songs, and every now and then throw in one of my rock songs. It’s going to be a lot of fun, and we can’t wait.”