Canray Fontenot:

First interests in music:
-Son seul oncle (frère à sa mère) il avait jouait le violon
-Douglas Bellard était premier cousins avec sa mère. La tante à Douglas
-Cigar box violins. Making each one a violin. String from screendoor wire
-Wasn't loud, but made sound. The other guy went to school and became a teacher
-Canray didn't go to school. Had to be good too in school to go through a grade in two years
-Father died and he had to go to work to help support his family. The other guy went to Texas
-15 years since he's seen him. He told Canray he couldn't carry a tune
-First violin. Uncle bought it for him if Canray would go help him work in the field
-Canray was about 11 years old. Canray and that other guy started when they were 9 years old
-Fiddle head resembled a guitar head
-First time tuning violin. Going to see Douglas to see how to tune it. Breaking strings
-Needing the desire to learn music

(5:00) - Accordions
-Mr. Adam as well-known as Dennis McGee
-Canray can play a song, but he's not interested enough to learn
-Mother played accordion, but never played dances
-$16 for the last accordion father bought in Rayne. That was expensive back then
-Used to buy accordions for $13
-Canray's brother-in-law brought Canray's father to Rayne in a Model-T. Father had $20
-Passing the hat
-Playing accordion and picking up a little extra money
-Father never sang, sometimes had a triangle/fiddle player accompany him
-Alphonse LaFleur a good second fiddler (white)
-Whites played for blacks, and vice versa
-Canray playing with his daddy on table and chairs
-Wedding dance for white people
-Bois-sec started playing before his father died in 1938
-Canray starting to play fiddle after his uncle died

(10:00) - Music changes in the 1930s
-Everyone wanted hillbilly music, George Lennon, string bands
-Playing with Bois-sec Ardoin for 40-something years. Got together in the 1940s
-Stopped played music for 8 years and going back to play around Lake Charles for 3 years with Wilfred Latour and going back to Bois-sec
-Playing with Amédé Ardoin---Pineville & Death. He could sing and play well
-Black people's music sounded different than white people's
-Amédé (and Canray's uncle) would quit working to go play. Canray would usually finish his work
-Seeing him in Crowley. Hurting behind his neck. Sent to Pineville because he lost his mind

(15:06) - Amédé had an older brother living in Elton (Thomas)
-Amédé didn't recognize him. Thomas tried to play accordion, but couldn't
-Amédé couldn't remember anything. People hated him
-He played a dance in Eunice and wiped his face with a white lady's handkerchief
-They beat him because the white lady did what she did
-Amédé played in Basile at a dancehall. Guitars were rare, but one was broken
-Amédé was a jokester. Amédé wrote everything he played
-If an accordion played could play about 5 songs, that was a big thing
-Dance at Canray's grandfather's big house
-Amédé went play a dance for white people, Canray's daddy played one for black people
-Usually, black's lasted all night. Canray's grandmother cooked a gumbo
-Amédé came play the dance. Back then, people didn't drink in the house
-White mule. Selling gumbo 10 cents a bowl
-Amédé came take Canray's father's place playing accordion
-Amédé took over the bass side from his father and then the melody side. Dancers never stopped
-Amédé jouait simple. Played sitting down in that time

(21:23) - Amédé played accordion only
-Iry LeJeune redid all of Amédé's songs
-How Amédé learned to play music. Joe Falcon
-Amédé would take two step and turn them into waltzes, and vice versa
-Pop's superstitions about recording. Shouldn't hear dead people
-Adam 'Kahzey' Fontenot, son père
-Playing music until sunrise. Father got there around 12:30 AM and lady who brought two cups of coffee

(26:29) - None of Canray 6 kids can play anything
-Canray's cousin from Lafayette played flute. Dinner in Basile at his uncle's
-Mother couldn't understand how he could become a musician since neither parent can sing (father sings for Mardi Gras)
-Easy to know when kids will be musicians. Almost all of his kids became musicians
-Played with Isaac Hayes. Can play organ
-Warren Ceasar. Horse kicked and he never regained his health
-Stopped playing with big bands because he couldn't eat just anything (bologna, etc.)

(29:13) - Traveling with Bois-sec. Started in 1966 for festivals
-Only Bois-sec and Canray went to the Folklife Festival in Newport, Rhode Island
-Record with Spotwood in Washington D.C. on the way back
-People loved their music
-Guy in Jennings who picked up trash for the city found a fiddle and brought it to Canray in Oberlin. Wasn't a good fiddle
-Stopping for 8 years because he wanted a break from it. Canray gets bored with things
-Playing with Clifton Chenier in Elton around 1969. Big election
-Canray would play one Saturday, Clifton would play the next just accordion and scrubboard (brother played)
-Not many blacks who can play fiddle like Canray
-Uncle had a sitter who only played blues. Lives in Texas now, never liked to hire himself out?

(35:10) - Bois-sec Ardoin
-Son frère est meilleur joueur d'accordéon que Bois-sec, mais il a pas l'envie
-Il garde pas un accordéon. Han?
-The Carriere family from Lawtell--Bébé Carriere (violon) et Dolan (son père)
-Carrière joue le violon drôle. Comme Canray chante drôle
-Ça me fait du mal, bassette
-Danser avec moi/La Valse à Tante Nana?

(39:51) - La Valse de 'Tit Maurice
-Mon Cher Bébé Créole (Reprise in different key: La Valse de Samedi Soir)