Chantons Dans Le French

Featuring Edith Butler . Le Coeur Des Cajuns . Cajun Fiddle . Nathan Abshire . Jolie Blond . Accordion . Sautez ‘Tit Filles . Johnson Boys . Robert Jardell . Dewey Balfa . Lacassine Special . Creole And Cajun Lullaby . Cajun Comets : Zydeco Mardi Gras . Louisiana . Cajun French .

Cultures of Acadiana : Joe and Cléoma Falcon were first to record Cajun music. Cléoma came from a musical family. Her brothers, Amédé on accordion, Ophé on guitar, and Cléopha on the fiddle, played together as the Breaux Frères. She played guitar with them on one of the earliest recorded versions of Jolie Blonde, which they recorded under the title of Ma Blonde Est Partie.

Flat Town Music Company : Although a highly respected and influential musician, Abshire was never able to support his family completely with his music. He was, for many years, employed with the town of Basile, Louisiana, where admirers from all over the world would come to see him. He died at Basile on May 13, 1981. He asked to have his music buried with him… a request that was not honored.

BlackCat Rockabilly Europe : Like Hank Williams, Choates balanced his musical talents with painful struggle in his real life. An acute alcoholic, he sold the rights to “Jole Blon” for $100 and a bottle of whiskey.

Old Blue Bus : Breaux Frères (the Breaux Brothers) were a very popular Cajun band of the mid 1920s. The family band consisted of Cléoma Breaux on guitar, and her brothers, Amédé on accordion, Ophé on guitar, and Cléopha on the fiddle. On April 18, 1929 Breaux Frères recorded Ma Blonde Est Partie (My Blonde Left) in Atlanta, Georgia. The record was an overwhelming hit in Louisiana and got the attention of the major recording companies.

Neal Pomea : Columbus “Boy” Fruge from Arnaudville was a contemporary and friend of Moise Robin. He recorded four songs: the famous Saute Crapaud (Jump Toad), not included here due to sound quality, and the three included here. The Point Claire Blues turns out to be an early version of a song I had previously associated with Nathan Abshire, The Lemonade Song.

Ron and Fay Stanford : The Lawtell Playboys’ fiddler is Calvin. Carrière, the son of Eraste Carrière and the nephew of Joseph Carrière. It was from Joseph (Bébé) that Calvin learned the fiddle, and before Delton Broussard inherited the band’s name six years ago, Eraste and Calvin were the mainstays of the Lawtell Playboys. Both Calvin and Joseph play the violin as a strong rhythm instrument, as well as for carrying the melodic line when the music demands.

Arhoolie Productions : “When folklorist Harry Oster recorded the 34 selections on Folk-songs of the Louisiana Acadians from 1956 to 1959 in the Mamou Prairie of Southwestern Louisiana, little attention was being songs and dance tunes had become largely the province of the older members of the community; many of their children and grandchildren were drawn, as were their peers elsewhere, to commercial, popular American culture. The “Cajun Renaissance” that has since taken place has at least some of its roots in Oster’s interest and in Folklyric and Arhoolie Records’ release of many of his field recordings.

Bruce Daigrepont : People are often astonished by the fact that, while the feel of a guitar lingers heavily in the mix, Bruce does not actually have a guitar player in his band. Neither is there a keyboard. The unusually full sound is ultimately traceable to the wall of complex rhythmic underpinnings that Bruce lays down on the accordion. Even while singing his heart out, he’s busy executing difficult rolls, trills and hammerings-on that simply defy a lot of other very good accordion players.