Interview with Rod Bernard (Part 1)

Accession No.: 
BR2-005-1

Rod Bernard:

00:00 - Family details
01:00 - First guitar - picking pecans to earn enough money to buy it. Favorite Musicians
02:40 - How Cajun music influenced on his style - His grandfather owned a Cajun nightclub in Port Barre
03:10 - Never learned how to speak French
05:25 - Starting his own radio program/Becoming a regular radio DJ in Opelousas
07:05 - Songs that he played on the radio show - "Hot Rod"
08:10 - Getting into radio broadcasts as a child
08:50 - Moving to Winnie Texas, meeting Huey Meaux
11:20 - Forming "The Twisters" while in high school
11:30 - Floyd Soileau - starting his record shop in Ville Platte, starting his record label
13:25 - Guitar Gable playing on the show; Bernard Jolievette
15:25 - Learning, recording, distributing, and promoting "This Should go on Forever"
18:10 - J.D. Miller producing the song, session musicians
21:35 - Dealing with Jukebox operators
24:00 - Refusing to lease to national labels - Chess Records
30:00 - National promotion tours, Playing on American Bandstand
33:00 - Alternate edited version that Dick Clark played on his shows
37:00 - Getting a manager and signing with Mercury Records
40:25 - Running Bear - Johnny Allan
43:45 - This Should Go On Forever - Total Sales
44:30 - Thoughts on Leonard Chess

Media Type: 
Audio
Collection: 
Broven
Subject: 
Louisiana; Music; Swamp Pop
Creator: 
John Broven
Recording date: 
Wednesday, April 25, 1979
Coverage Spatial: 
Lafayette, LA
Publisher: 
John Broven
Rights Usage: 
All rights reserved
Language: 
English
Meta Information
Duration: 
01:30:38
Cataloged Date: 
Wednesday, May 15, 2019
Digitized Date: 
Monday, August 14, 2006
Original Format: 
Audio--Cassette--90
Digital Format: 
Audio
Bit Depth: 
16 bit
Sampling Rate: 
44.1k
Storage Location: 
Returned to Donor