Former Accession # TI1-019

0:00 Anderson Moss is from Maurice, LA. Earnest Henry is from Church Point and has been taking lessons from Moss every week for about two months. Moss attends church at Mother Mercy and has played church dances there. He moved to Texas in 1928 when his father went there for work. Moss says they would hire anyone from Louisiana because they were known to be hard workers.
10:30 Moss's father played harp. Moss would play washboard with him.
11:26 (He plays a song Hippy Ti Yo on the accordion) Moss is playing a Titano accordion he bought about 7 years ago.
14:21 He talks about the old house parties. People would pay about $2 or $3 to get into the house dance. Louisiana food would be served. The music ended at about 1am. News of the dances was circulated by word of mouth.
17:49 Moss says everyone in Texas misses Louisiana. There's a ward in Houston called French Town that was settled by Louisiana people.
21:07 Where he was born, there was a big hall as you cross Maurice that would have dances every two weeks. His parents would go and he'd stay home and watch his brother and sister. But after they went to sleep, he's sneak out and sit in the cotton field outside of the dance hall and listen. When it was over, he'd run back home and get under the covers so his parents didn't know. That's how he learned to play. He would hear Amede Ardoin and Bidon (Eustis Hopkins) on accordion. Sou-Pop and Belizaire Johnson were also accordion players that played at that time. He says Lonnie Mitchell was his best friend and would always pick him up to play.
29:10 Moss started playing accordion on the triple node. He learned 'Stormy Weather', 'Driftin Blues' and 'Black Gal', then people started asking him to play parties. When he couldn't play a party, he'd ask L.C. Donatto to play. He played all over Houston. Then started playing for white people in River Oaks. The white people called it swamp music or Cajun music. He talks about the River Oaks Country Club. They didn't call it Zydeco until Clifton Chenier. He said Clifton drank too much. They say Clifton drank a cheap wine called Sweet Lucy. He tells a story about Clifton trying to take a club gig out from under him.
36:14 He says he doesn't play anymore. There's a young crew playing now. Ronnie Broussard, Paul Richard. The word zydeco is from the old days. It's the word for a snap bean. The old saying was 'zydeco sont pas sale'. They talk about people dancing to zydeco. There's a dance where they act like they're snapping the beans. He talks about a dance that was so crowded with dancers the ceiling broke. He and Lonnie Mitchell were the first zydeco players out here. Clifton came after, then Danatto and a man named Willie Green that played out in the 6th ward. Willie Green was from Abbeville. Joe Jesse was another player.
44:10 Moss switched from the triple node to the big piano accordion to change things up. He says the Creole people like the button node accordion.
45:39 His doctor told him that cigarettes were good for your nerves. Moss tells stories about some rich people in town back in his day.
53:00 He talks about going to the casino in Coushatta to gamble. He said he made money playing music. He made a record a long time ago. But they threw him out and he never got his record. He talks about never getting paid for recording.
56:50 Moss talks about his time overseas in the army during WW2. He played accordion at parties in England and France.
1:10:54 His little 4-year-old nephew comes in and plays on a little accordion. Moss used to play the Continental Club when it was called Johnson's.
1:16:17 He first met Clifton in Houston. He'd go see Clifton when he was in the hospital. They talk about Lent in the old days. Musicians didn't play during Lent. Moss played with Lightnin' Hopkins.