Interview with Leroy "Happy Fats" Leblanc
Leroy "Happy Fats":
00:00 - Pre-war recording sessions - RCA Records through Hillman Bailey
-Recorded at Saint Charles Hotel in New Orleans, Dallas, Atlanta, Chicago
02:18 - Eli Oberstein - Recording engineer of these sessions
03:45 - RCA discovering the group
04:20 - Success of the records - Les veuves de la coulee, $25 payment to make each record
06:10 - Personal Info - Beginnings in music, first guitar, favorite musicians
07:20 - Influence of Western Swing and Country Music on Leroy
10:00 - Cajun French Dialects - Teaching French in schools
11:45 - Musicians in Fats' band - Ambrose Thibodeaux, Smiley LeBlanc, Glenn Monte, Murton Thibodeaux
12:50 - Recording for King Records in 1949
14:45 - Records made with Jay Miller in the '50s
16:00 - Colinda - Finding the song in the library at USL
17:15 - Record sales - Civil Rights, interracial record sales
19:30 - Radio shows made with "Doc" Guidry
21:00 - Playing at the Louisiana Hayride
24:00 - Different bands Fats played with - Rainbo Ramblers, Leo Soileau, etc.
25:00 - Harry Choates
28:30 - Records made with La Louisiane
29:50 - Iry Lejeune
30:30 - Other Cajun record sales - Camey Doucet, Belton Richard, Nathan Abshire
31:30 - Fats' Definition of a Cajun
34:00 - Cajun dances in the '40s
35:30 - Favorite Clubs
38:10 - "Doc" Guidry
41:40 - The war's effect on his band
43:10 - Jimmy C. Newman
43:50 - Al Terry
44:45 - Fats' guitar style and how he learned
