Former Accession # TI1-007

0:00 Barres de la Prison, Bonsoir Moreau. Canray talks about funny rules that the older folks had.
5:23 Creole music. Canray says he didn't know the term Zydeco coming up. He says Zydeco is nothing but a snap beat. If you were white, you played Cajun. If you were black you played Creole. Back then, it was an insult for a black person to call a white man Cajun. The music was different, but not much. Black people played more from the soul. With Dewey Balfa in D.C., the saw a man from Mississippi, Johnny Shine, and asked him how he likes the white guys playing the blues.
10:02 Talks about difference between Creole and Zydeco. He said Clifton changed the speed.
13:59 Talks about racial tension in 1950s. Talks about white musicians singing in French but not speaking French.
15:53 Nonc Adam
20:20 Canray says that Dewey Balfa went to Philadelphia and had some people make him feel bad because they called him prejudice when they asked him to play one of Canray's songs and Balfa said he could not. But Canray told him he should play it his way and so Balfa did play and record the Prison Bars. Michael Doucet recorded it too. Douglas Bellard wrote Prison Bars, but Canray is often credited with it. It's one of the first songs Canray learned to play.
28:00 In D.C. and Pennsylvania, some older folks asked the band to play a Mazurka. Only Canray knew how to play one that an old man, Olivier Edward, had taught him on fiddle. There's a distinct dance done to a Mazurka that they did that Canray saw for the first time.
29:50 Canray has been playing all kinds of music with File. He says the best way to learn music is to relax and not strain.
35:11 Talks about working at the Feed Store for 14 years. He has six children. Some went to college. They all finished high school. One of his daughters is a lawyer. When Canray went to school, they only went for three months a year. He started school sometime in 1938 or 1939. He only went as far as the 5th grade.
41:28 He went to Belfast, Ireland and was impressed by the fiddlers. Canray tells the story of playing in Ireland and how an Irish musician responded to his music. Canray celebrated his 71st birthday in Belgium, Ireland and London during that trip.
45:30 Canray said he likes to play with Bois Sec but that Bois Sec can't play like he used to since he had his stroke.
51:15 Edward Poullard
56:45 Canray says it's funny that the song that everyone likes best is the one you hate to play.
58:12 Canray wrote 'Joe Pitre'. It's an old song but he put the words to it.
1:00:53 La Jog Au Plombeau (Jug On The Saddle Horn)-- Canray recorded it but doesn't play it anymore. His wife and another woman got into a brawl one night while he played it. They talk about songs having sad or happy memories attached to them.
1:05:13 Canray talks about his father. He says his dad never wanted to record and didn't like the idea of his music still going after he was dead. He says he has recorded all of his father's songs. There was one he couldn't remember but was reminded of it one day by Shelton Manual, an accordion player from Eunice.
1:12:20 They tlak about Canray's father's religious beliefs and superstition and about Canray's sickness and recovery.
1:25:20 They recall more stories about Amede Ardoin getting into trouble.