Center for Louisiana Studies Archival Catalog

Arceneaux talk about his introduction to music and how he became and accordion player.

1:48-Corey arcenaux originally played guitar (at 7-8 years old) but quickly prefered accordion.

4:00-He had mentor who taught him to play with all his fingers they practiced for seven month.

6:15-Arceneaux was a fan of Nathan WIlliams, he came to see him every week. One day Nathan williams brought him on stage

13:50-Arceneaux started a band at 17, he attended the holy rosary institute in lafayette. His first band struggled to find a steady guitar player.

15:37-Arceneaux was voted quietest kid in his school in 1993, he says he is very shy.

16:09-he won his first zydeco award in 1994

17:51-Corey Arceneaux's family initiated him to zydeco, they always listen to zydeco. His family took him to plaisance zydeco festival.

19:50-buckwheat has been one of his Idols.

26:30-Arceneaux does not speak french, only his grand parents on both side do, even his mother does speaks but not fluently

30.40-Arceneaux used to work as a DJ on KJCB radio station he even got an FCC licence for this.

35:39-His favourite musician at that time was Keith Frank

37:14-Arcenaux explains his song writing process.

47:00-Arcenaux talks about playing when he was under 21, he had issues when he was playing in casinos and bars.

0:30-Chris and his brother Sean Ardoin are often working together, they are used to write songs togeteher. Sean has reggae and rock influences, whereas Chris has rap and rnb inflences.

0.50-Chris Ardoin talks about his new album, he is especially proud of the song Beauty in your Eyes, Gon be Jus Fine and Lake Charles connection.

10:37-Chris Ardoin was 16 at the time of the interview, he wanted to go to college and keep playing music at the same time.

12:26-Sean was 28 at the time of the interview.

14:00-Despite not speaking french, Chris Ardoin recorded a version of "Un dimanche apres midi" originally recorded by his grand-father bois sec

His father Laurence Ardoin influences him to keep his family heritage alive.

Chris Ardoin claims to have a more modern approcah to zydeco.

Part 2: Lawrence Ardoin (Chris's father)

18:00-Lawrence Ardoin explains that the Ardoin has their own pitch of voice, he compares it to a "flavor in the gumbo". Their voice us their signature  spice.

Bois Sec Ardoin already had health problems at the time, Lawrence seems worried about it.

0:58-Chris Ardoin played at Carnegie Hall in 1985 at 8

1:32-Chris Ardoin started the accordion at 3

3:05-Chris Ardoin started triple note accordion at 10

4:27-Chris Ardoin talks about his new album at the time "Lick it up"

5:30-The students in Chris Ardoin's school at the time pretented to not like zydeco but he saw them at dances on the weekend.

7:30-Chris Ardoin explains that he wanted to release his album as quickly as possible to enter the music industry

11:21-Sometimes Chris wanted to be more fluent in french like the rest of his family

11:54-Chris talks about his future

13:45-Lawrence Ardoin explain how crowds react differently and how he ajusts his setlist and playing style accordingly

21:53-Chris says he records songs everyday

23:29-Chris thinks young people are still going to like zydeco in the future

24:40-Michael TIsserand asks about the differences between the people who go to hip hop clubs and the people who go to zydeco clubs.

26:00-Tisserand talks about the book he is currently writing (The Kingdom of Zydeco)

31:15-Lawrence thniks the mixing on the last Ketih Frank album is bad

35:20-Lawrence says that all the cajun music today comes from Amede Ardoin. Lawrence does not like Iry Leujeune because he got the credit (and the copyrights) for Amede's songs. 

0:27-When Sean grew up (in the 1970s), there were no radio stations playing zydeco music. Some Cajun radio stations played Clifton Chenier once in a while.

1:36-Lawrence Ardoin (Sean's father) played music with the family band (the Ardoin Brothers).

2:31-Sean started music by playing drums.

3:10-Lawrence Ardoin made between 600 and 1000 dollars per gigs in the 1980. 

4:14-Creole music was called French Dance or Lala

6:37-His father did not encourage him to play music

11:34-Beau Jocque was a big influence for Sean Ardoin when it comes to the rythm.

18:10-Sean studies in General Education with a social science concentration.

18:47-Sean says that Geno Delafose sounds "old style" like Lawrence Ardoin. 

20:58-Sean says that Chris was already a very good accordion player at 14, he just lacked visibility.

26:20-The dancing style changed, because the music changed too.

27:04-Sean started liking Zydeco when he was studying at LSU, he realized how important it was to preserve his creole roots.

30:04-Sean is proud of the Creole heritage, he wishes more people would be aware of the culture.

32:26-He did not speak french nor Creole at home, he wishes he spoke more.

38:00-Sean uses the example of Amede Ardoin to explain how black people are rarely given credits for the things they achieve.

39:30-Bois Sec could afford a confortable life by being a famous musician, everyone respected him

40:55-Him and Chris are the only musicians of their generation in the Ardoin family

42:15-Sean depicts boozoo as a very pretentious man, he charged a lot for his gigs.

44:25-Seans says that everyone in his family had jobs outside of music to be more independent from the music industry. They did not have to accept every gigs, unlike John Delafose.

59:06-Sean learned to dance from Erika, his sister

1:03:14-Sean explains that younger people don't like zydeco, as it was something for older people. At the time it was not as trendy as hip hop.

1:13:00-Sean says zydeco shares similarities with African music and Caribbean music

1:19:11-Erika and Sean talk about their experience with racism and segregation

Former Accession # TI1-001

0:00 Happy with how new album turned out. Hoping it goes a long way with Rounders capability to push nationally and internationally. Hopes people get to know him through his music.
1:45 Guys in the group call him a perfectionist. Doesn't read or write music, writes songs. Took music since sixth grade but used ear.
3:22 Reflection of blues/spiritual in music, wishes was a better singer. Ray Johnson- guitarist, Chuck Bush- bass, Stevie (18 years old) drummer.
9:17 What you gonna give me for a porkchop
10:20 Hopes to make another album every 6-8 months. People steal songs, record gig from back of club.They can steal the songs but they can't recreate something that's not their style.
13:13 Porkchop added 'What you gonna give me for that porkchop' gives extra rhythm. When band goes from Porkchop into Cornbread, he laughs that people think he wants to sell everything he's got. Gets crowd in good humor, mood to have fun.
15:15 Played Zydeco Festival for the first time ever. Everyone said to Tisserand 'you have to hear Beau Jocque'.
16:14 How music career began. Started playing around 7 years ago and got into accident about 10 months after started playing, just when things were starting to happen. Started playing on accordion. Dad said 'You might as well put that down. Not something like a horn you can pick up and play.It's very hard to learn. Don't fool with it.' Dad wouldn't play much. He tied the accordion to drinking and having fun and it would tend to get out of hand so he left it alone. Dad lives near Mamou. Joque bought his own accordion then about 10 months later got some guys together and started playing. That was around '87, accident was in '86. The accident was an explosion at work at Texas Gas where he was an electrician and welder. Fell sitting down on concrete, broke back and left legs partially paralyzed. Had three surgeries on lower back. Couldn't get around for 9-10 months, can't lift anything.
19:30 Dad conned him into playing accordion by telling him he couldn't do it. Dad laughed afterwards and said 'works every time'. There's a lot that dad can do on accordion he'd like to do. Would like to play with him every once in a while. Marc Savoy told him he'd like for him and his dad to go on tour to Rhode Island where somone is looking for a father and son group that could represent Zydeco and Cajun--dad plays Cajun.
21:13 He played for a while and then the insurance company and attorney said to let it go or they would regard it as an occupation. He couldn't afford that, wasn't making a living from playing. It was just something to keep him from depression. It's hard being laid up doing nothing. He had to shut it down and leave it alone for about 5 years. But during that time, he and his wife would got to shows. Would see Boozoo Chavis and listen and pay attention to what the crowd reacted to most. They would go out and listen to different groups: Zydeco Force, Nathan Williams, Terence Simien. That experience gave him the chance to get out within a year's time. He says he's been out a year this past Christmas. Staying very busy drawing people of all groups. Playing around Opelousas, Lafayette. It paid off studying other musicians and analyzing things. Got a lot done that way.
23:50 Does some of Boozoo's music. People love Boozoo's music. That particular style people love to dance to. Clear beat, good dancing beat. Boozoo's timing is real bad. But his son plays drums in the band and knows his dad so well that he can cover him so fast audience doesn't realize. The whole band can. Boozoo's timing is not good but his style is, so Jocque developed a style like his. Beau Joque's original name is Andros Espre. Dad is Sandrus Espre.
26:24 Beau Joque is a nickname he always had meaning Big Jocque. Grandfather and brothers would tease him because he was so much bigger than he was supposed to be for his age. He would play with high school boys when in elementary school. The nickname was just a family thing for a long time. Then wife said 'why don't you use that name when you start playing again?' Wife thought people would like it. It's unusual. A name is more important than people realize--especially in music. Has to have flair, be catchy, draw a picture. Beau Jocue means big guy. He's 6'6".
29:28 Used to try to sit down with father and learn some of his songs but he's hell to learn from. Very, very strict. Nothing ever right with him. Dad came to Kermon's place for wife's birthday and Kermon asked dad 'what do you think of your boy now?' Dad replied 'he's coming along.' Kermon said 'Coming along?! The place is packed!' Dad replied 'Yeah, but maybe they didn't have no where else to go.'
30:48 Dad and friends used to jam out in the piney woods where parents are from out near Oakdale. They would start around 2pm and play until 1 in the morning. Beau Jocque would go listen. They played music he'd never heard before that had never been recorded.
32:45 We speak Cajun French dialect. Around Lafayette they speak a Creole French. Totally different. The first time he heard Creole French was when he enlisted in the service and met guys from Lafayette. They spoke French but he couldn't understand it. He grew up speaking French and English. 37 years old right now.
33:44He grew up around Mamou and Oakdale area. He sings Cajun French. Cajun French is regarded as the formal French in Louisiana. Creole French is a broken dialect of French. They can understand Cajun French, but he can't understand Creole French. Creole French not broken down from Parisian or Canadian French. Just a dialect from that area, a regional thing.
35:30 Style dad plays is Cajun French but lots of the old stuff he plays is not Cajun. Don't know what it's called but it's not Zydeco either. Soulful bluesy style that's hardly known. Similar to what Canray Fontenot plays on the fiddle. Heard Canray's very sick. But he's still playing. Came to New Orleans a couple of weeks ago. Still doing shows, has cancer. He speaks Cajun French but his music style is often called Creole. Plays Cajun music but gets into bluesy style like Amede Ardoin.--bluesy style of French music. Marc Savoy probably knows more about that history.
38:40 Beau Jocque never listened to Cajun or French music growing up as a kid. Listened to stuff on t.v. Would go to Mardi Gras with other kids and listen but it was never something he considered doing. Maybe the injury made it all possible. Stuff comes to him so easily, like he inherited it. Dad would make up songs on stage. He does too. Unless his wife has a tape recorder, he'll never know that song again. The guys in the group will say he pulled another rabbit out of the hat. Feels like he's done it before in a former life. Didn't start playing at a young age. Would have ruined life. He was a very excitable person with few limits. Had to mature before God let him go on to do his thing. He lives for his wife and kids now. He's more responsible and predictible than he was in his teens and twenties. Parents wouldn't allow them to have any instruments in the home. He was raised to think that musicians were bums and drunks and womanizers. But he says it's not the music that makes you do those things. It's the person. Dad and friends would get together and drink too much and mom didn't like it. When his oldest brother was born, his dad put away the accordion. The first time he really heard him play was the day he got married. It made him cry. He played that well. And he could see his dad loved it so much.
43:58 Drove to Memphis about two weeks ago. Don't like driving, loading and unloading. Had to stop outside of Jackson. Too tired. Always try to make it back to catch Sunday gig in Mamou. Hoping to get a bus and a driver. It's too dangerous being on the road tired.
46:38 He writes a lot of songs. Kermon asked him to make a song up about Richard's. No one has and it's the oldest Zydeco club around. He made up about 4 different Richard songs. One came together and they played it one night. Kermon loved it. He was dancing behind the bar. Kermon said 'If that's not a hit I'll eat my hat.' Beau Joque said 'but you don't ever wear a hat.' Kermon said 'Well, it's gonna be a hit anyway.'
49:22 Cornbread--old, old song. Willis Prudhomme put out a version of it. That's wear Beau Jocque heard it. Don't know who did the original. Scott said it could be regarded as traditional. People would ask for Cornbread. Beau Jocque changed it around, polished it up. No one plays it that way. They break it down and put a spotlight on each band member. Chuck didn't want a spot--afraid he'd miss a note. Wilfred Pierre is the scrub board player. Everybody calls him 'Caveman'. Vocal style on song comes from John Lee Hooker. He likes his style. Nobody can duplicate his style. It's a laid back style. Very effective.
54:00 Tisserand asks if he describes his music as Zydeco. He says 'Yeah. It's Beau Jocque Zydeco". He tries to put as much heart into it as he can. Strong kick, a lot of drive. At the end of the night you've had a good workout. He wants to create a lot of excitement. Beau Jocque asks if it would damage his image if he went up there and recorded a few x-rated songs. Scott says yes. They are funny and make people laugh. He uses a rap style. He says it's more effective when people aren't talking so fast you can't understand them.
58:37 People who have never been to Louisiana will hear the new album. He thinks they will appreciate it.
59:34 He wanted to use a piano accordion on Brown Skin Woman because it has more notes to playbut he got rid of his piano accordion and couldn't get one for the recording.
1:00:09 He switches accordions on Damballah, Beau's Mardi Gras, Beau's Boogie. Damballah is just some words. Stevie and Chuck watched the movie Chucky. In the movie, a guy is practicing voodoo saying 'damballah'. Beau told them he didn't believe in it and thinks it's evil and told them to cut it out. Stevie and Chuck told Beau they thought he was scared of it. Beau said he wasn't scared. He'd make a song out of it. One night while playing in Vile Platte, he came out with the song and the people covered the floor. The band just looked at each other and laughed. He said he doesn't know if it's some kind of evil and they acted a fool and recorded it. It comes from that dumb Chucky movie.
1:04:26 A couple of the songs are basic, stripped down Zydeco one-chord songs. Some are in minor keys. You can get more bluesy in minor chords. He decided he wants to get into the blues with a blues harmonica when he gets good enough. When he was 8 or 9 years old, he played the blues harmonica very well. People would come listen to him play during recess. He would play some low-down blues that he had heard his brothers play on old records they had at home. He is thinking about bringing the blues harmonica into the material.
1:06:24 One song, Creole Queen, that he wrote has a lot of words to it. Tells a story and starts out serious. In the end the guy falls out of bed and realizes he was dreaming. He gets pissed off because the dream was just getting to the good part. John Lee Hooker is Beau Jocque's favorite blues singer. He's a natural, has a style nobody can copy.
1:07:29 Beau's Mardi Gras. They have been playing it over and over this week. It's been a while since he played a trail ride. Problem with trail rides is that they always cost him money. Dust gets into power amps and they have to be repaired. He's going to do two this year for some old friends that pay very well. Sort of a family reunion. Serious money. He will go by Vincent's and rent some power equipment and save his.
1:09:04 For Mardi Gras he played an old-fashioned Mardi Gras run at an old-fashioned place in Eunice that used to be a warehouse for feed storage. A guy made a club out of it and opens it for special events. He's been down to play there for Mardi Gras for 6-8 months. They had a good time, played an hour over. Just about all older musicians have a version of Mardi Gras song. Each region, different areas have their own story. Usually a similar melody. Sing for charity, a duck or a chicken or anything you care to give, a piece of fat meat or something that would help the feast tonight. We mean no harm we just come once a year to have a good time. If you would like us to dance we'll dance a while for you. And then captain says it's time to move on. Let's go to the next neighbor down the road. That's basically what all the songs say but melody is different.
1:11:10 The melody for Beau's Cajun Two-step came from the theme song for Jambalaya. They play a similar song. He changed the tempo and added a double kick. Gives more time to dance, a more kicked up beat. Dancers like it. If you can't create a groove, something's not right.
1:13:18 Tisserand tells Beau he has a real strong deep voice he hasn't heard on other Zydeco records. Asks him what's the secret? He doesn't know. For a long time was convinced he'd never be able to sing. He was always told--don't even try. Just play the instrument. He was told that by his rude brothers. He has one sister that has always been really good to him. They wouldn't dare put him down in front of her. She told him that he could do anything he wanted and better than them. That's why they are always on you. He has two brothers. He is the youngest.Neither can play. They like to dance. Wouldn't give themselves enough time to learn to play. When he would sing they would tell him to please just put the harmonica back in his mouth or just hum.
1:14:59 He prays a lot. Asks God to bless him to become as good a singer as he'd like to be. There are lots of things singers do that fascinate him. One guy that no one knows or has heard of from Palmetto has an unbelievable tone in his voice but has no ambition. He also plays blues guitar well and sings B.B. King music--makes his guitar sound like Lucille. He had recorded a demo with a con artist who took him for a ride and that finished him off right there. He's Chuck Bush's father-in-law. I told him I'd like him to do 2-3 songs in my show.Told him I couldn't give him much money but I draw 500-600 people to the show that would give him lots of exposure and let the audience find out who he was. One night in Breaux Bridge He sang with Beau. Sang Rainy Night in Georgia. Beau considered adding him to his show, adding that B.B. King sound. But older club owners told him not to add him. Said don't ever do that and that people pay to see Beau Jocque and hear Zydeco music, not this other stuff. Clifton Chenier never added anyone and that's why he stayed number one as long as he lived. People don't like an added feature. They feel like they are being cheated. Beau can't remember the guy's name.
1:19:30 He says he'd like to sing well enough to make somebody cry. One old man said if you can't make 'em cry and you can't make 'em laugh, you ain't done nothin'. If you can make them go from one extreme to the other extreme, you're doing something.
1:20:07 Beau says his wife is always in his corner. She encouraged him all along. She's always been a very good friend to him. He wrote the song "Shelly Shelly" for her. She didn't like the idea of him singing "Brown Skin Woman". She'd say 'Who you talkin' about?! You should say something about Shelly'. He decided not to put Clifton's song "I'm Coming Home" on the album.
1:22:05 Nonc Adam is a part of a song his dad would play when mom wasn't around. It's a dirty joke about an old couple. The old man bought himself a long banana. When he peeled it, it just fell down. Madam was excited but in the end let down. Mom would catch them on the porch playing that song and get mad.

Former Accession # TI1-003

0:00 Talks about his children. Oldest boy, 3, pick up accordion. Youngest will probably be drummer and singer, beats on everything.
0:54 Tisserand talks of new raw, horse Zydeco singing style. Joque noticed a lot of folks doing that. Thinks it's because they don't train their voices. Big scream/ no tone. Would like to become better singer and have a teacher or video. Loves to sing
2:50 Richard's Club--sounds like a place you want to go.
3:13 Family background cross German/Coushatta Indian/Black. Mom's mom full blood Coushatta . Mullato, dad's family has some Coushatta too, multi-racial family. Wife's family Cajun and Coushatta. Want everyone to learn to like each other. Too much hate in the world. Teach kids love, not hate/predjudice.
6:13 Hate/predjudice is a sickness in the South. Bad seems to overpower good. Heard old man say "empty buckets bring the most noise"
6:40 Chere d'Allien is an old traditional song. People love to dance to it. At the gigs, sometimes songs last 4 or 5 minutes because dancers like longer songs.
9:13 Beau talks about the Saturday dances. Some people have gone to Zydeco dances their whole life. No matter how bad things are, they go to the Saturday dance and it makes all the hardships of the week alright. A good dance and church on Sunday morning and everything's alright. He loves the older people coming up to him and complimenting him. They are bigger critics than the young folks.
13:27 Wants to do Brownskin Woman with a B3 sound and add keyboard sound to some of the other slow songs. He plays octaves on the accordion, get a fat sound. Dad always told him if you're gonna play accordion, learn to play in octaves or don't say you play accordion.Talks about difference between single row, triple row and and piano accordion.
16:20 Talks about Richard's Club being their regular stop. They mostly play there twice a month. Says it was Kerman and his wife who encouraged him most. Kerman said he learned from his father and being in the business over 40 years how to spot a sure thing. Kerman told Beau that he'd be number one by Christmas and was right. By Christmas, he was outdrawing Boozoo and Zydeco Force. Kerman said there's a certain electricity in the air when a band is right.
20:00 Tisserand asks Beau what he wants people to know about him and his music. Beau says his music is a mixture of things he hears and things he wants to hear in Zydeco music. It's a cultural and traditional thing. He inherited a lot of talent from his father. He says nothing is more effective than playing and singing from the heart. Wants people to listen to the music and expect something to happen. They will feel part of his heart--compassion, happiness, excitement, peace of mind--things he cherishes most and tries to reflect in music.Wishes he knew more about spiritual/gospel music. He wants to write songs with more meaning and feels Zydeco music is missing out on a lot of that.
24:00 He talks about the song Brownskin Woman and how it came from him goofing around at home with his wife. Tells a story of his parents showing up at his house after church while he was in the middle of playing it.

0:00 Michael Tisserand and Beau Jocque are traveling in the car on the way back from his performance at the House of Blues in New Orleans

1:50 To stay awke on long rides Jocque says he keeps thinking and planning. Down the oad he'd like to own his own club.

8:18 Talk about the show at House of Blues earlier that night.

10:35 Jocque watches B.E.T. to get ideas and study what makes people popular.

17:15 They talk about imitators and people sampling Jocque's music without permission. Rounders had attorney write letter to Fred Charlie in Eunice who produced Keith Frank, Preston Frank's son who recorded the song "Yesterday". They toldhim to pay royalities or pull from shelves.

23:36 Todd Mouton, writer for the New Orleans Times-Picayune wrote a negative article about Zydeco and Cjun music where he called Beau Jocque the Michael Bolton of Zydeco.

26:10 Willis Prodhomme plays the song Cornbread. He and Jocque are friends and Jocque says he is going to teach him how to play the triple node accordion.

33:24 Jocque has another nickname "Juke Jack" given to him by Warren Ceaser back in high school at W. W. Stuart High School in Basille. He and Warren had a band back then that would play pop music around DeRidder. Jocque played tuba this was long before Warren played with Clifton Chenier. When Jocque enlisted, Warren went on to play with several big names including Isaac Hayes. Jocque says Warren was arrogant. But that he and all the guys in the band were like family.

38:12 Jocque met Clifton Chenier once at Chenier's house with some friends in 1979. He has played Margaret Chenier's club once. He wanted to buy one of Clifton's accordions from Margaret. Someone offered her $40k for the one that he wanted. It was a Petosa. Jocque spent $10k on a Gabbanelli he felt was just as good.

43:38 Jocque says there's only one King of Zydeco--Clifton Chenier.

47:18 Jocque says he was exposed to neurotoxic gas while in the military. He had top secret security clearance.

52:00 They talk about an incident at Hamilton's when Jocque threw Hamilyon against a wall when he was reaching for a knife in his pocket.

55:00 They talk about the new album coming out. He says he records what feels right to him. Says he wants to record and release the song "Yellow Moon" soon as a single. Michelle Espre wakes up and speaks occasionally throughout the rest of the interview. Jocque says his favorite Zydeco musicians are Buckwheat and C.J. Chenier.

1:06:30 Wolfman Jack

1:09:50 Jocque was asked to call if he ever wants to play Mulate's in New Orleans. Steve Riley plays there every Friday night.

Former Accession # TI1-017

1:09 Brasseaux begins by telling the history of the populations of South Louisiana as a whole and says it's regarded by anthropologists and cultural geographers as the most complex rural society in rural U.S. Most outsiders believe that the French speaking culture is monolithic but it is anything but. The French speaking population arrived from a multitude of regions. The second largest free black community was in this region of south central Louisiana, the first being in New Orleans. He talks about the manumission of the mistresses of white planters and their children. Many of the free black were prosperous and some even owned their own slaves. During the Civil War, their sympathies would often lie with the Confederacy.
8:20 Land among the Mississippi was a premium during the 18th century and the free blacks migrated to New Orleans or this region where there was more available land. Transportation was waterborn. A long-lot system was adopted from Normandy and Canada. This gave the land owner access to the stream, which was their means of communication, and the more fertile land. In the 19th century, a large black community emerged from the surplus slaves from the Carolinas, Virginia and Tennessee being brought in from slave merchants. The French speaking black population was tied to the French speaking white population by culture and religion.
13:00 Students did a research paper on Allons Danser Colinda. The Calinda dance originated in Africa and brought in by slaves from the West Indies.
15:00 There are differences in areas where there were nodules of settlements along Bayou Teche and Bayou Vermillion. The geographical area where Zydeco originated forms a triangle from Ville Platte to Crowley to Cankton. That's the region where three cultures came together--the free black community, white creoles and prairie Cajuns. The crossing of the cultures is represented in the music and in the cuisine.
20:00 The musical distinctions came in the 40s and 50s when Cajun became more country and Zydeco became more Rhythm & Blues, and with the introduction of Swamp Pop.
22:00 Going back to the 19th century, it wasn't usual for black musicians to play white parties. Amede Ardoin and Clifton Chenier were successful at melding styles. The country dances early on were a form of entertainment and a way to renew community ties. They were mostly free from violence prior to the Civil War, but became increasingly violent post-Civil War. Dance Halls also faced issues of violence--especially when people from other communities would gather. The people in the area were self-isolated socially and culturally due to negative stereotypes.
25:15 There was a multitiered society in the beginning of the 19th century with white Creoles being the top aristocratic tier, followed by the Acadians, the free people of color, and then the slaves. After the Civil War, the region was seemingly third world with small elite and middle-classes and a large number of dispossessed. There was a large migration to E. Texas by economic refugees at the beginning of the 20th century. under the tenantry system, people of all backgrounds worked side-by-side in the fields which was a source for cross-cultural exchanges.
38:57 There were staggering acts of violence in the Cajun prairie areas in the early part of the 20th century. There was an attempt to establish a chapter of the Ku Klux Klan in Lafayette until the newspaper published a member list which led the group to disband.
43:00 Cookie and the Cupcakes played at the Southern Club in Opelousas but were not allowed in the club itself, only the bandstand. This was common up through the 1950s. Mrs. Hebert, a war widow in New Iberia, transformed her house into a dancehall in the wake of the Civil War. He says Tisserand should contact Shane Bernard about stories at the Southern Club when black musicians crossed the line.
47:30 They talk about violence in the black community at the turn of the century in the region.
53:20 There are some myths dispelled such as one that Mallet refers to mulatto. The talk about influx of migration from Santo Domingo.
57:00 Only in the last Census is there a category for Cajun. But there is none for Creole. Brasseaux grew up in southern St. Landry Parish. There was little Creole and Cajun music performed when he was growing up because it was a time when those communities were under extreme stress. Cajun culture was publicly denigrated in the Opelousas newspaper as late as 1964. Most of Clifton's shows were on the road, particularly East Texas. It wasn't until the first Cajun Music Festival in 1974 that young Cajun activists insisted that Creole musicians be included. The members of the Cajun elite (including Barry Ancelet and Jimmy Dimaggio) who were part of the CODOFIL establishment were adamantly opposed to their inclusion. The festival provides a forum for these people who had been shoved aside during the 40s and 50s. Had it gone another decade. Brasseaux believes both musical forms may well have disappeared. It attracted a new following of younger generations.
1:05:55 They talk about efforts to stamp out the local cultures in the mid 20th century by educators. This trend was reversed in the 70s for the Cajun clulture, followed by the Creoles in the 1980s.
1:09:40 Tisserand asks about social functions and institutions in the late 19 and early 20th centuries. The Cajuns had a social function that enforced a sense of community called la ramasserie, which was a communal harvest of people gathering to help out those who were shorthanded. They was another institution called a boucherie, which was a weekly butchery for people in the community. The dances were for community ties as well but also included courting rituals. It was discovered only recently that many Jewish families of German and Eastern European consciously changed their identities and converted to Catholicism to integrate into the community. There were instances of a need to look for outer marriages in some Creole communities like Natchitoches due to the small population. There were high instances of genetic problems in areas where there was horizontal marriage. This was more common in bayou areas than in the prairie areas where people could move around more freely.
1:15:57 The talk about the genetic presence of Native American blood in the Cajun and Creole cultures. Brasseaux believes it is exaggerated. He said the natives in the region were sparce to begin with and that the Attakapas Indians were cannibalistic. The last full-blood Attakapas died before 1910. There was a western influx of Coushatta Indians in the 1790s but their co-mingling was limited. The Chitimacha intermarried but is was largely confined to the Charenton area. Within a decade of their arrival, the Acadians formed commercial ties with the Attakapas with a smuggling ring that extended into central Texas.
1:22:60 The term 'bright' is often used by the darker-skinned black community to describe the lighter-skinned community. The tension between the two communities and lingering hostility is discussed.

0:00 After the Civil War, there was no longer a legal distinction between free people of color and slaves. The free people of color were a de facto elite due to their land holdings. Below them was a large population of former slaves, which within, also contained a small minority of descendants of while planters and their slave mistresses who were not manumitted. It is this minority population, for the most part, who are responsible for the Creole revival movement and are the musicians playing Creole and Zydeco music.
5:00 The majority of these descendants would have been from the original wave of slaves brought in from West Africa, the Bambara, from what is now present day Mali. Brasseaux sees the inference that there was a large population from Haiti as an exaggeration. He says it would be nice if the Saint-Domingue connection was true as it would solve some riddles, like the population of Creole speakers, both white and black, stretching from Parks to Cecilia. There's an all-white Creole speaking population on the fringe of LaFourche/ Terrebonne Parish. But he believes it's the case of parallel developments. Because the slave trade was a monopoly handled by one French company, you see a population of Creole speaking people in the French islands in the Indian Ocean that were colonized at the same time as Louisiana. The community of Creole speaking people in the West Indies even has a variety of music they call Zydeco, a term believed to be a French corruption of the Wolof infinitive for "let's dance".
10:34 In 1964, the Opelousas newspaper wrote derogatory remarks about Dewey Balfa and others who were playing at the Newport Jazz Festival in Rhode Island. Tisserand brings up the Opelousas newspaper covering a 1929 accordion contest that was pro-Cajun music. Brasseaux says there were many things happening simultaneously at that time. The release of the film 'Evangeline' in 1929 was followed by a movement by the elite to establish the Evangeline Longfellow National Park. Dudley Leblanc was the spokesperson for the community. At the same time, The Bayou Pom Pom radio program was the Cajun answer to Amos and Andy and French language was being suppressed in the schools.
14:55 LSU was at one time a hotbed of Cajun and Creole research when James Broussard was there. They pride themselves on being a center for Old South Studies. But there's not much of this information there or at Tulane. Most you will find here in the folklore and folklife collection here that Barry Ancelet administers(at UL). He says it's a wonderful resource that's going to waste and is not staffed. Brasseaux suggests Tisserand try to contact Alan Lomax.
17:52 The free people of color adopted some of the elite's attitudes towards poor whites during the Antebellum period. The term Cajun became associated with white trash by the civil war and was used by blacks themselves as an insult in their own community. Queen Ida muddied the water by using the name Cajun for herself. Tisserand says that in California there seems to be a resentment to be told you play Creole music, as if it infers that you can't play Cajun music. Joe Simien. Brasseaux agrees that that dynamic doesn't exist here. The Creole Newsletter is published in Simi Valley. They talk about resentments by parts of the community towards the infusion of other genres into Cajun music.

Former Accession # TI1-011

2:12 Bebe talks about having a fiddle with rattlesnake rattles in it. He would put two or three rattles in the violin to improve the tone. One day he realized someone had taken the rattles out. They had been in the violin for years and he never figured out who took them out. He got the idea about putting the rattles in by some old friends.
5:20 There weren't many musicians around where he lived when he was young so he heard music from records. There were house dances with accordion players. He heard a record by Amede Ardoin. Eunice Two-Step. Bebe played bass with Amede at a Creole house dance around Lawtell. Bebe was asked to play a house dance in Ville Platte but didn't want to go. He said Ville Platte was too rough. He went anyway and it went alright. He said he'd played a party once in that area when someone was shot and he had been in the line of fire.
12:03 Bebe played his first club with his brother at Richard's in 1940. He played when Eddie Richard ran the club. He played other clubs around Louisiana around Welsh and Iowa. Bebe talks about one night he played in Iowa at a time it was forbidden to have whiskey. The club owner picked Bebe up from his dad's house in Welsh where he'd been working in the rice fields. They went to get a load of whiskey and were stopped by Lake Charles law enforcement and got arrested and had to stay in jail for 4-5 days. He says it was the first time he'd ever been to Lake Charles.
17:28 White Mule was the bootleg apple punch Bebe had on him when he was arrested. He talks about making white mule in the 1920s in Lawtell.
22:25 They talk about the old house dances. Bebe said that the young girls would ask the older people if they could use their house and they'd take all the belongings out of the house and put them back after the dance. Sometimes Bebe would play solo for the dances.
25:30 Bebe talks about drinking lemon juice and taking his medicine. He says he was diabetic but a doctor in Beaumont took him off the meds and he doesn't have it anymore. He mostly just has pain now.
27:20 They talk about dancers back then that danced swing and waltz dances. The men would extend a white handkerchief to ask a woman to dance. Bebe talks about playing with Douglas Bellard. They didn't call the music Zydeco back then. They called it Lala. He first heard music called Zydeco a few years ago with Clifton Chenier. Bebe played the Beverly Hillbillies theme song. Kentucky Waltz. Bill Monroe. Jimmy Rogers. Bob Thibodeaux wanted him to play dancing songs in church.
34:18 Bebe wrote the song Blue Runner. It was Bebe's biggest song. It's a fast snake that whips you with its tail. Bebe likes hillbilly music. Jimmy Rogers. Bill Monroe died about a month ago. When clubs like Richard's opened, the house dances discontinued. The clubs drew people from all over whereas the house dances were just people from the neighborhoods.
38:50 Bebe started playing the blues on the violin and would listen and learn from records.
41:19 Bebe says he was brought up on a farm planting cotton, corn, sweet potato, etc. Then his first wife left him when he didn't want to go to Lake Charles. He was raised in Lawtell. Bebe's dad played the accordion. He says he learned violin playing one made from a cigar box. His dad bought him a real violin in Church Point when he was about 12. Bebe talks about tuning his violin in different ways for different music.
46:38 Blues of Bebe. Baby Please Don't Go Back to New Orleans.
48:20 They talk about alcohol and musicians drinking. He says even the doctors would recommend alcohol.
50:38 Beb didn't make his first record until about 1978. Amede was the first to record in the area after he was discovered at an accordion contest in Opelousas. Bebe and his brother started playing together around 1965 and played clubs. Madame Faielle was written about a woman who lived outside Lawtell.
56:03 John Delafose passed away at Richard's. Geno is taking over the band. Willis Prudhomme. Leo Thomas.
59:09 Nathan Abshire.

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.

Former Accession # TI1-016

1:00 They talk about Rosie being in heavy rotation on the radio, especially from Lafayette to Lake Charles. Rosie says she wasn't a big fan of Zydeco growing up. She started liking it after hearing Boozoo play at Richard's one night when she was a teenager with her uncle. Her parents listened to Zydeco but no one in her family plays music. Rosie listened to a lot of rock and roll and talks about the musicians she likes listening to. She talks about the night she saw Boozoo at Richard's. Morris sat in that night on accordion playing songs by Amede Ardoin and that's how he got his start. Jealous Man Two-Step. That night was the first night Rosie and Morris met. They got married the next year. He had a band for four years before she ever picked up the accordion.
8:40 They tell a story about Morris telling Rosie not to mess with his accordion while he was gone. Rosie played 'Morning Train' for him after she had been practicing on her own. They went on tour (Morris Ledet & the Zydeco Playboys) in the summer of 1993 and Rosie would play with the band some of the time. By 1994, Rosie was in the band full-time and Morris moved to the bass. Rosie recorded her first album that year.
11:49 They talk about Queen Ida and Ann Goodly being the other women accordion players in Zydeco. Rosie says some of the older people feel like women shouldn't play.
16:30 Rosie says she has a reputation for being shy, but she's not like that on stage. Morris says her change on stage is like night and day.
20:40 Rosie's given name is Mary Rosezla Bellard. She was born in Church Point and brought up in Eunice. Morris was born and raised in Iota, La where he works at the high school as a janitor. They say Beau Jocque is their biggest influence. She says basically Zydeco is revved up blues. Morris started playing his second year in high school when he found one in the band room. The first song he learned to play was Terrence Simien's 'Hee Haw Breakdown'. He learned to play by ear. His dad had an accordion but was a blues harmonica player. He plays rubboard with the band. Morris manages the band. They talk about how the band makes business decisions.
27:10 They just moved to their new home and talk about how they've been taking care of Morris' parents for the past several years. Rosie's family is very supportive. She says her mom is her number one fan. They talk about Rosie's first songs that she wrote.
33:30 Rosie talks about her parents speaking French but Rosie doesn't speak it well because her parents discouraged her from speaking it but now she's trying to learn from her parents.
36:30 There are younger people in the crowds now. She feels like Zydeco is popular with the younger crowd because of people like Beau Jocque and Boozoo putting rock into the music. Zydeco has brought the community together. Morris wishes they were on the road more and they are playing a venue in Los Angeles called the Alligator Lounge and the Foothill Club in Long Beach.
39:28 They talk about how local people don't like musicians to change Zydeco and add outside influences. She likes to write about everyday stuff. She mentions her favorite songs that she wrote and songs that other Zydeco musicians have written.
45:00 Rosie used to be terrified of Mardi Gras. She talks about what it was like for her during Mardi Gras as a kid.
48:30 They are working on songs for the next album. Rosie plays at home for her daughter, Cassandra, and at her daughter's school. Rosie talks about being a fan of Koko Taylor. They talk about rivalries in the Zydeco scene.
55:20 They talk about working with Rockin Sidney and how much he has taught them. Lake Charles and Lafayette want to hear the piano accordion, but the Opelousas/Lawtell area is more French accordion. Rosie loves New Orleans and all the different music.
59:00 Their band is almost all family members. Ray Johnson is starting to play guitar with them.
1:02:00 Women's roles in music and the lack of credit they get in the country.

0:00 It's unclear who they are speaking about. But it's someone who has died. Tisserand says he saw Moss Music Store and Moss Barber Shop. They belonged to some of Moss's nephews. Moss says he was good dancer. He remembers when the Charleston came out. He talks about some of the old shows he would do with all kinds of acts.
4:50 Moss says things have changed and he feels the devil is here on earth. He gets a kick out of teaching music. When he was younger and playing music, he still worked during the day doing all kinds of different jobs.
9:23 He met his wife at a Zydeco at the Junction. She was from Louisiana.
10:05 Tisserand dictates some notes to himself saying Moss was singing "Tell Me What's the Matter Now" as he was leaving. He got up to watch every car pass by. He was wearing nice shoes and shirt and red suspenders and a hat.

Former Accession # TI1-013

0:00 Sidney tells the story of him recording Toot Toot at his home studio and asking his wife's opinion after recording all night.
5:30 They talk about Sidney's recording studio setup. He hasn't had any other players record in his studio but he has produced and worked with other players in other studios like Ann Goodly and Rosie Ledet. Sidney says he believes there are powerful ways to approach a bandstand. He said he got advice and education like this from older players.
9:23 He says he was making $500-$600/ week in high school and graduated with a brand new '58 Plymouth station wagon painted green and pink. He talks about the ways he would promote himself with his behavioral style. He said there were a lot of things he had to compete, especially because he didn't speak French. He wrote 'Joy to the South'. It was hard for him to get into Zydeco. He decided he wanted to be in Zydeco like Mohammed Ali was in boxing. He said people started to pay attention to him after he challenged the bigger acts like Clifton Chenier and Buckwheat, often at The Summit in Houston, TX.
19:00 Sidney had a white band play behind him. He talks about planning a performance for a month to get people to notice him on the Zydeco scene. Tyronne Davis, Buckwheat, Z.Z. Hill, and Clifton Chenier were all performing the night Sidney pulled his planned act out in Houston. Sidney would dress up like Clifton and also had ventriloquist act he did with a dummy of Buckwheat. He talks about his publicity stunts he learned from the older musician in New Orleans.
32:30 Sidney liked comedy and would dress up like his dad and make his twelve brothers and sisters laugh.
34:17 He would go to The Dream Room on Toulouse St. in New Orleans in the 1950s and show the musicians his pick to let them know he played guitar. The New Orleans musicians would tease him about being from the country.
37:15 Sidney's company is called Toot Toot Communications. He says his station that they are in has a lot of history, including the first black disc jockey, Bubba Lutcher. Nelly Lutcher. The show at The Summit was the Zydeco Blues Fest in 1982 or 1983. Sidney had a character he played called Josh the Pimp and he would sing the song 'Welfare Cadillac'. He had goose that he would dress up for an act in his shows. He did a 'Purple Rain' act. All those acts were before Toot Toot. He talks more about his impersonations of Clifton and Buckwheat and how hard it was to get noticed with great players like them on the scene.
49:18 Luke Collins at the radio station in Eunice said John Delafose would show up at the station within 10 minutes when he heard Sidney there. Sidney said he and John Delafose had a little competition but things were easier for Delafose and Boozoo. They talk about the money the clubs paid and the cover charges at the door and musicians competing for crowds if they played on the same night.
59:29 Sidney talks about how the shows and musicians have changed since his day. He wishes Rosie Ledet would learn some things from him about how to better her stage presence.
1:06:50 He thinks the musicians like Keith Frank and Beau Jocque should try to get along better and put aside competitions. He says he regrets doing those things in his early shows.
1:10:40 Sidney talks about producing Boozoo's 'Dog Hill'.
1:17:15 They talk about Mardi Gras and Luke Collins being the first Zydeco radio d.j. Sidney's stations are KAOK in Lake Charles and KEAZ in DeRidder.
1:27:05 Sidney, Queen Ida, and Clifton all won Grammy Awards.

Former Accession # TI1-009

0:00 interview on road with Lil Buck.
Lil Buck, John Hart, Joe Brouchet, Robert St. Judy -- original Red Hot Louisiana Band started in 1969
1:00 Lil Buck met Clifton Chenier one night at the Blue Angel Club after Buck's rock n' roll band had broken up. Buck's uncle owned the club. Clifton asked Buck to play that night because his guitar player was stuck in Houston. After the gig, Clifton asked his bass player to pick Buck up for the rest of the gigs that weekend in Houston without even asking Buck. Buck recorded 9-10 albums with him after that over about 11 -12 years.
2:50 Buckwheat, The Hitchhikers
3:28 Lil Buck says when he left to play Zydeco, that turned everything around. he says he's the one who brought the younger people to Zydeco.
4:30 Claude Boudreaux -- Lil Buck'ss uncle that owned Blue Angel
6:05 They recall a story Clifton had told them when a black accordion player was hired to play but they thought he was white when they hired him. They made him play outside and put white gloves on him.
6:55 Clifton came up with the name Red Hot Louisiana Band. Clifton played songs in different keys often. He was creative on the bandstand trying out different things and taking chances.
11:00 They talk about how Clifton would hang out with the guys in the band during the day, but at night during the shows, he'd sit at another table planning. When together, he liked to tell and joke with the band about how hard it was in the past being on the road playing for little money or for BBQ. Buck said after the shows Clifton would take his shoes off and pour the sweat out. They'd get on the stage at 9pm and it was nonstop til 1.
15:17 Leaving CA going to Austin a week before coming back to Lafayette. Lil Buck did all the driving. An ice chest full of beer and water and snacks also had Clifton's insulin. They cleaned out the chest and accidentally threw out the insulin. Clifton's feet started to swell and he told Buck to speed to Austin. He got there and went to the doctor and got the shot and went to bed and still played the gig that night. Lil Buck says Clifton was an 'Iron Man'. They talk about other stories when Clifton was sick but kept playing. Clifton said 'whenever people are waiting for me that's where I'm gonna be'.
20:38 Etta James Buddy Guy. Buck talks about how Clifton's last name was pronounced different everywhere and how Clifton pronounced it.
22:40 Tisserand asks if Clifton or Clevland would say they invented the rub board. Buck says Clifton. Playing with Lightin' Hopkins. Buck said the way the washboard started was when Clifton worked in Port Arthur at a refinery and asked a metal worker if he could make a washboard the way he drew it. The man said he could make it any way he wanted. Ernest Johnson had been with Clif a long time and ended up playing with Buckwheat.
24:50 They'd that tour to California/Pacific NW all the way to Canada twice a year and be over there for two months. They had a few agents Big Pete (accordion player) Oakland, CA, someone named Buddy.
26:14 Helen Faulk-- Buck said she was his number one agent and Tisserand says Helen said she was his other woman so she knows him well. Buck says she used to do the driving for the band in a '59 Cadillac.
27:50 Clifton got his crown in California and also was given the key to Paris, France. There's a street named after Clifton in Paris.
29:30 Passe-partout television. Danny Caron. C.J. Sparking Paradise. C.J. replaced John Hart and Hart went on to play in Doopsie's band. Swamp party every Monday.
33:27 change to an interview with Lil Buckin Opelousas. Lil Buck says John is a master mechanic. They've been friends since before they played together in Clifton's band. John played with Little Bob on Monday nights before Lil Buck played with Clifton at the Peppermint Lounge. Lil Buck says John drinks scotch and milk.
36:15 Clifton didn't mind the band drinking as long as they could do there job. Lil Buck says Clifton used to drink heavily. Funny story about a gig in St. Martinville. Lil Buck says Clifton and Cleveland got along in the band. Cleveland was the older brother. Buck tells a story about playing the prison in San Francisco. C.J. was quiet in the band. Buck says he was with the band from 1969 to about 1982. Buck talks about Clifton becoming ill and his cousin played in his place for a gig in Galveston. His cousin was killed in a car accident on the way back to Lafayette.
41:20 Buck says the last time he saw Clifton was the night before he died. He went to the hospital with him and friends and family. The next day Buck left to play a gig in Houston and got the call that Clifton had died when he got to the motel. They announced it from the bandstand and everyone was upset. They were playing a Catholic Church in Houston.
44:10 They talk about records made with Chenier. One album was with Elvin Bishop and Steve Miller. Buck tells a funny story about kicking Elvin's pipe under the table so that he could solo.
45:47 John Hart comes in.
49:00 John Hart says Zydeco is far-fetched and says he's an authority on it. Hart is 64 years old and says you have to do research to be authentic. Clifton Chenier created it. Claude Faulk.
58:40 Hart says People are playing music and calling it Zydeco when it isn't. He says it's a fast name for a fast dollar. Talks about someone named Larry who is going to expose the truth about Zydeco and put it on the internet.

0:00 The beginning of the recording sound like it's something that was on a tape that Tisserand recorded over and is not part of the interview.
0:57 Interview begins here. Nathan grew up in St. Martinville. His dad was a construction worker who dies of a heart attack when Nathan was seven. His mother had to work 2-3 jobs to take care of him and his 7 brothers and sisters. His grandmother helped out and cut sugarcane and his oldest brother helped raise the kids. His mother sent them all to Catholic school. In 9th grade, Nathan hitchhiked from St. Martinville to Lafayette to stay with his brother, Sid, and has stayed in Lafayette ever since. After school everyday, he worked in his brother's store. He graduated from Northside and married his wife Nancy.
5:50 When he was in 7th or 8th grade he would go and listen to Clifton Chenier play at the Casino Club in St. Martinville. He'd listen from outside the club and sometimes get in trouble with the neighbor of the club.Clifton was the first zydeco music Nathan ever heard. Buckwheat came out when he was in high school and he would visit with Buckwheat after school and started sitting in with him at his dances.
8:15 Nathan didn't play music growing up. His brother played organ. His family was very religious. His grandmother helped out a lot as did the man who owned the construction company where his father had worked. He graduated Northside in 1983 and then got sick. Soon after, he was hospitalized for 8 months with a thyroid condition which left him with a large medical bill he has only just finished paying.
13:30 Nathan spoke French growing up. He says he sings French better than he speaks it. He talks about his family heritage. His uncle, Harry, plays guitar with C.J. He talks about having his own style and being the first zydeco musician to have a parade band play his music. It makes him proud.
19:17 Follow Me Chicken I'm Full of Corn. He uses slang in his songs.
25:50 Nathan grew up in a one-room sharp-shooter (shotgun) house. He talks about adding on the house with his brothers. Growing up in school, Nathan wanted to be a football player.
30:30 Nathan's family comes home. Nathan, Jr. plays accordion and rubboard. Junior goes and gets his accordion. Nathan's daughter was born on his birthday.
34:45 Nathan talks about growing up with his brothers and the kids in the neighborhood.
37:30 He started playing zydeco after he got better from his illness and was getting ready to get married. Before he had an accordion, he had a dream that he was playing accordion in front of a bunch of people. Clayton Salpy would come by the store and play the accordion. Nathan would listen to him and one day asked him if he could play his accordion. Instead, Clayton bought him an accordion. He still has that accordion. He says has about 7 accordions. He says he never really learned until he bought his own accordion and Romero's Music Store in Lafayette.
43:40

Song 1 – Zydeco de Carrière (0:18)
Song 2 – Madame Faielle (2:12)
Song 3 – Daddy Carrière Waltz (4:01)
Song 4 – Zydeco sont pas sale (6:16)
Song 5 – Les barres de la prison (8:36)
Song 6 – Jolie Catin (11:18)
Song 7 – Robe a parasol (13:10)
Song 8 – Home Sweet Home (16:20)
Song 9 – Hey Mom! (18:05)
*Switches to Mitch Reed Fiddle Lesson*
(20:30 – 31:09)
*Switches to « La La Louisiana Black French Music » *
Song 1 – Zydeco a Carriere (31:30)
Song 2 – Robe a parasol (32:51)
Song 3 – Blue Runner (35:31)
Song 4 – Blues of the Lonesome Road (37:25)
Song 5 – Johnny Can’t Dance (40:40)
Song 6 – Valse a Cherokee/Cherokee Waltz (42:50)
Song 7 – Bosco Stomp (45:05)
Song 8 – Blues a bebe (47:25)

Song 1 – Le two step à frisson (0:02)
Song 2 – Reno Waltz (3:45)
Song 3 – Johnny peut pas danser/ Johnny Can’t Dance (8:15)
Song 4 – Amédé Two Step (11:51)
Song 5 – Cette-la moi j’aime (15:30)
Song 6 – Highpoint Two Step (20:20)
Song 7 – J’aimerais connâitre (24:40)
Song 8 – J’étais au bal (29:20)
Song 9 – Les maringouins ont tout mangé ma belle (33:24)
Song 10 – Mon Nonc Charlot (36:50)
Song 11 – Zydeco Gris Gris (41:50)
Song 12 – Le Holiday (47:35)
Song 13 – Pour la dernière fois (52:45)
Song 14 – The Courville Toyota Two Step (57:40)
Song 15 – The Back Door (1:03:35)
Song 16 – La pistache a tante Na Na (1:08:00)
Song 17 – The Mamou Hot Step (1:11:55)
Song 18 – Unknown (1:15:50) *
Song 19 – The Rolling Pin (1:20:20)
Song 20 – It’s Lonesome In Prison (1:27:20)

Song 1 – Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, the Mamou Hot Step (0:00)
Song 2 – Camey Doucet, Grand Duson (1:42)
Song 3 – Beausoleil, Le jig francais (5:50)
Song 4 – Aldous Roger, The Unlucky Waltz (10:18)
Song 5 – Paul Marks, Holly Beach (14:32)
Song 6 – Lee Manuel, La vie est comme ca? (18:06)
Song 7 – Aldous Roger, Hick’s Wagon Wheel Special (21:42) *
Song 8 – Eddie Lejeune and Lionel Leleux , Petite ou la grosse (22:47)
Song 9 – Kermit Venable , Unknown waltz (23:48) * (la valse de dimanche apres-midi)
Song 10 - Mitch Landry and the Cajun Ramblers, Le zydeco sont pas sale (27:17)
Song 11 – Bruce Daigrepont, Neither Rhyme Nor Reason (30:35)
Song 12 – The Mamou Playboys, Madame Etienne (32:53)
Song 13 – Jimmy Thibodeaux and the Gumbo Cajun Band, The Back Door (37:44)
*Mentions Harry Trahan’s mom’s recent passing, and that his dad played with Harry in the Ramblin’ Aces at the 73 Club* (40:52)
Song 14 – Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys, The Amede Two-step (42:39)
Song 15 - Johnny Allen, Not Lonesome Anymore (46:18)
Song 16 – Cheryl Cormier, Joie de Vivre (53:04)
*WJKN Hammond, Baton Rouge*
Song 17 – Paul Daigle/Robert Elkins and Cajun Gold, Mama’s Old Gray Gown (55:42)
Song 18 – Andrew Cormier and the Ramblin’ Aces, The 99 Year Waltz (59:15)