The Balfa Brothers ~ Play Traditional Cajun Music Vol I & II [Swallow, 1990] 320 / FLAC

SW6011

01. 'Tit Galop Pour Mamou 2:05
02. Je Suis Orphelin 2:35
03. T'en A Eu Mais T'en N'aras Plus 1:36
04. Two Step De L'anse À Paille 3:32
05. La Danse De Mardi Gras 2:22
06. Je Me Suis Marillié 1:56
07. Enterre-Moi Pas 2:08
08. Chère Joues Roses 2:00
09. Chère Bassette 3:52
10. J'ai Passé Devant Ta Porte 3:07
11. Les Flammes D'enfer 2:50
12. Madeleine 2:53
13. La Valse Du Bambocheur 3:12
14. Lacassine Special 2:46
15. My True Love 2:36
16. La Valse De Grand Bois 2:56
17. Family Waltz 2:39
18. Newport Waltz 2:57
19. Indian On A Stomp 2:28
20. T'es Petite Et T'es Mignonne 3:04
21. Two Step A Hadley 1:48
22. Valse De Balfa 2:27
23. Parlez-Nous À Boire 3:12
24. Les Blues Du Cadien 1:49

Accordion – Hadley Fontenot, Marc Savoy [tracks: 2, 4, 7]
Guitar – Harry Balfa, Rodney Balfa
Triangle – Burke Balfa
Triangle, Drums – Tony Balfa
Violin [Baritone] – Will Balfa
Violin [Tenor] – Marc Savoy [tracks: 10, 11]
Violin, Vocals – Dewey Balfa

Compiles two albums originally released as Swallow 6011 [in 1965] & 6019 [1974]



The Balfa family name is legendary in Cajun music. They grew up in abject poverty in Bayou Grand Louis, near Big Mamou, Louisiana, USA, where their father, from whom they gained their musical interest, worked as a sharecropper. The music offered a means of escape and relief and in the mid-40s, brothers Will (Born c.1920, d. 6 February 1979; fiddle), Harry (Born 1931; accordion) and Dewey (Born 20 March 1927, d. 17 June 1992; fiddle, harmonica, accordion, guitar and sundry other minor instruments) began to play for local dances. In 1951, they made their first recording on home recording equipment, but during the 50s Dewey frequently played and recorded with Nathan Abshire. He also appeared at the Newport Folk Festival in 1964, playing guitar with Gladius Thibodeaux (accordion) and Louis Lejeune (fiddle). In 1967, Dewey was joined by Will, Rodney (Born 1934, d. 6 February 1979; guitar, harmonica, vocals), daughter Nelda and Hadley Fontenot (an accordion-playing local farmer) and the unit toured extensively both in the USA and Europe as the Balfa Brothers (incidentally, Will always preferred to spell his name as Bolfa). In the late 60s, they recorded for Swallow and their recording of "Drunkard's Sorrow Waltz" was a bestselling Cajun single in 1967.

In 1968, they appeared in Mexico City at music festivals run in conjunction with the Olympic Games. They played music for and appeared in the 1972 film on Cajun life, Spend It All. Dewey also formed his nightclub orchestra, which comprised himself and Rodney (fiddle, guitar, vocals), Nathan Menard (accordion), Ervin "Dick" Richard (fiddle), J.W. Pelsia (steel guitar), Austin Broussard (drums) and Rodney's son, Tony (bass guitar). In the mid-70s, they made further recordings (with Nathan Abshire) for Swallow and Sonet Records and appeared in a documentary on Cajuns. On 6 February 1979, Will and Rodney were killed in a car accident. Dewey continued to perform and record as the Balfa Brothers with other musicians, including Tony, his daughter Christine (triangle), Tony, Ally Young (accordion), Dick Richard, Mark Savoy (Born 1940; accordion), Robert Jardell (accordion) and Peter Schwartz (bass, fiddle, piano) (Schwartz, who first played with the group in his early teens, was Tracy Schwartz's son).'

another band of brothers & simply some of the most vibrant & consistently uplifting recordings in my humble treehaus. this is traditional, old skool ['65-74] family style cajun musique at it's finest, delivering effortless doleful harmonies, magnificent dueling fiddles, thumping rhythms & predominant triangle! there's something really magical about these jams; the fiddle virtuosity is readily apparent & one can hear musical strains of the many cultures making up the louisiana melting pot back in the day. multi-instrumentalist extraordinaire dewey balfa was the heroic champion of cajun music & after his brothers croaked in a tragic car accident [& later his beloved wife], he continued to soldier on, bringing cajun kulture to the local community & folk festivals throughout the country. immediate, no-brainer, life-affirming jubilation of the highest order. the snake eats its tail, 320 er FLACK. further

The Lonesome Drifter ~ Eager Boy [Norton, 2010]

ED-327

A1. Eager Boy
A2. Tear Drop Valley
A3. Honey Do You Think of Me
A4. No Lovin' No Rockin' Blues
A5. Ain't Got Nothin' But the Blues
A6. I Want You Back
A7. Eager Boy [Alternate Take]
A8. I'll be Lonesome When You're Gone

B1. Teardrop Valley [Alternate Take]
B2. I'll Take a Chance
B3. This Old World Don't Seem the Same
B4. I'm Gonna Quit My Crying
B5. Blues from a Broken Heart
B6. I Wished It Wasn't So
B7. Your New Love
B8. Tear Drop Valley [Alternate Take]
B9. Eager Boy [Alternate Take]



'The Lonesome Drifter was born, on December 6, 1931 on a cotton farm in north Louisiana. As a youth, He worked as a water boy for the cotton pickers on a plantation and recalls hearing his first blues music while watching an old black man playing a slack string guitar out side of an old country General Store. Other musical influences included Jimmie Rodgers, Bill Monroe & Bluegrass Music was the foundation of his style.

His Recording of 'Eager Boy' and 'Tear Drop Valley' on Mira Smith's K record label is one of the most sought after records among rockabilly collectors in the late 1950's. The Drifter an established hillbilly performer, got word of a new recording company, Ram Records, that has just opened for business in Shreveport , seventy miles from his home in Monroe, Louisiana. The Drifter recalls on the first release from Ram: I had been to Mira Smith's studio to record and she asked me what name I wanted on the record, I did not want to use my real name. As I was driving back to Monroe, I thought about one of my idols, Hank Williams, and he had made records as 'Luke The Drifter'. I was a rambling man in those days so when I got to Minden, Louisiana it came to me. I got out of my car and phoned Mira, CEO of the record company & said, 'call me 'The Lonesome Drifter'.

'Eager Boy' and 'Tear Drop Valley' were released on K Records in 1958, a subsidiary of Ram, named after Mira's sister. On 'Eager Boy' & 'The Drifter' a friend Tom Bonnet of West Monroe La, who had accompanied him to the studio, played the lead guitar. The success of the flip, 'Tear Drop Valley', featuring West Monroe musician George Mercer on lead guitar, secured for The Lonesome Drifter wish to appear on The Louisiana Hayride.

Today The Lonesome Drifter lives quietly in West Monroe, LA where he is the owner and founder of Wellsprings Records®, The President of Old Riverwood Music & Publisher, founder & operator of Acrew Records, TN & owner of Studio Apache. Oh well, so much for living quietly.'

'Wonderful work from Lonesome Drifter – an enigmatic figure on the late 50s Louisiana scene, working here in a very hip blend of early rockabilly and country swing! The cuts are nice and raw & mostly feature acoustic guitar in the forefront, alongside Drifter's vocals – which have a plaintive, echoey quality that's very much in the Hank Williams school – although take it from us, Lonesome is no Hank copycat either! There's some nicely stripped-down production on all these cuts – giving them a timeless feel that really holds up – and the overall approach is quite different than more familiar late 50s work of this type, kind of the echoes of the underbelly of the scene first started in Memphis – but spread out to some really local inflections.' ~ dusty

perch merch

despite the 4 alternate takes that i can live without, these are the most evocative songs i heard owl day. what a vibrant sound this cat conjures; short, sweet & poignant. some of the more obscure tracks have these echo-drenched vocals that really elevate the high lonesome weirdness factor. highest imaginable recommendation fer a saturday afternoon. 256 variable bits later

VA ~ Les Haricots Sont Pas Salés [Cinq Planètes]

01 - Bee Fontenot - Pain de maïs
02 - Sirley Bergeron - La valse de la belle
03 - Nathan Abshire - Ma négresse
04 - Les Frères Balfa [Balfa Bros] - Les haricots sont pas salés #1
05 - Bee Deshotels - Aux Natchitoches
06 - Les Frères Balfa [Balfa Bros] - Tu peux cogner
07 - Nathan Abshire- Two step des Cajuns
08 - Les Frères Balfa [Balfa Bros] - Une livre de tabac
09 - Shirley Bergeron - Madame Bosso
10 - Bee Fontenot - La porte de la prison
11 - Canray Fontenot - Les barres de la prison
12 - Dennis Mc Gee - Ma chérie bébé créole
13 - Dennis Mc Gee - Madame Young
14 - Les Frères Balfa - La danse de la limonade
15 - Bee & Ed Deshotels - La veuve du lac bleu
16 - Freeman Fontenot - Les 2 cousines
17 - Alphonse Ardoin - Quoi faire ?
18 - Alphonse Ardoin & Les Frères Balpa - Bosco stomp
19 - Bee Fontenot - Make it to me
20 - Sirley Bergeron - J'ai fait mon idée
21 - Les Frères Balfa [Balfa Bros] - J'ai été au bal
22 - Canray Fontenot - Bonsoir Moreau
23 - Les Frères Balfa [Balfa Bros] - 'tit galop au Mamou
24 - Bee Fontenot - Chère Toutoute
25 - Nathan Abshire - Les maringouins
26 - Ambroise Thibodeaux - Les haricots sont pas salés #2
27 - Freeman Fontenot - Le two step à Jules

'Les Haricots Sont Pas Sales offers a wonderful snapshot of real Cajun musique, performed live in the homes of musician Dewey Balfa outside of Basile, LA, and painter Eraste Fontenot of Mamou in 1972, as part of a movie project by French filmmaker and music aficionado Jean-Pierre Bruneau. What a collection of artists they gathered together for these very informal sessions: Alphonse 'Bois Sec' Ardoin, the Balfa Brothers, Nathan Abshire, Conray Fontenot, and Dennis McGee are the most familiar names, joined by lesser-known or unheard Cajun players. Priceless pearls in the set include Bee and Ed Deshotels' 'The Blue Lake's Widow,' heartbreaking in its raw beauty and its metallic fiddle sound; and a spirited rendition of 'One Pound of Tobacco' by Dewey, Will, and Rodney Balfa in their prime. Abshire and the Balfas join together for the classic 'Ma Négresse,' and a little-heard pair of cousines (dance tunes for solo accordion) are offered by Freeman Fontenot. Whether it's an old favorite or a little-known gem, the whole set is a pleasure to hear--a reminder of the roots and the power of the living room jam session.' ~ Louis Gibson



seemingly obscure cajun compilation originally released on lp in 1972 & expanded for polycarb coaster re-ish in 1999. features the recording of the performance above & 26 other pearls :) more balfa brothers & nathan abshire. nuff said. 320 thanks to tineg

Harry Choates ~ Fiddle King of Cajun Swing [Arhoolie]

Harry Choates - fiddle & vocals
Johnnie Mae Smirle [Manuel] - piano
Joe Manuel - banjo
B.D. Williams - bass
Eddie Pursley - guitar
Ron Ray 'Pee Wee' Lyons or Julius “Papa Cairo” Lamperez - steel guitar



'Harry Choates was an American Cajun music fiddler. Choates's place of birth is disputed. He moved to Port Arthur, Texas in the 1930s, and received little schooling, instead spending time in local bars listening to music on the jukebox. By age 12 he started playing fiddle for spare change in barbershops. He gained early professional experience playing in the bands of Leo Soileau and Leroy LeBlanc, then split off to form his own group called the Melody Boys in 1946. His 1946 song 'Jole Blond', a top 10 hit for Choates, was recorded by country singer Moon Mullican and became a major hit.

Harry Choates was not only one of the most influential musicians in the history of Cajun music, but one of its most tragic figures. A wild and imaginative fiddler, Choates wrote such classic tunes as the Cajun national anthem 'Jole Blon,' & popularized such songs as 'Allons à Lafayette.' Recording for Gold Star, DeLuxe, D.O.T., Allied, Cajun Classics, Macy's, and Humming Bird, Choates introduced Western swing, blues, jazz & country music to the two-steps and waltzes of southwest Louisiana's bayous, influencing nearly every Cajun musician who followed in his footsteps.

Like Hank Williams, Choates balanced his musical talents with painful struggle in his real life. An acute alcoholic, he sold the rights to 'Jole Blon' for $100 and a bottle of whiskey. His habit of missing concerts led him to be blacklisted by the musicians union in San Antonio and resulted in his band breaking up. His death was equally tragic. Failing to make support payments of $20 a week for his son and daughter following his divorce, he was jailed by a judge who found him in contempt of court. After three days of forced withdrawal, he began beating his head against the cell bars and fell into a coma. He died a few days later on July 17, 1951, 6 months before his 30th birthday :(

a tragically short life of trouble for a boy with a broken heart. here go Harry's finest shellac sides for the Gold Star label, recorded betwixt 1946 - 49. included as a bonus is the aforementioned 'Jole Blond'. 320 tanx to brother Ambrose Bierce of We Love Music fame for the blistering bits & booklet. r.i.p. Harry Choates

VA ~ Country Negro Jam Session(s) 1959-62 [Arhoolie]

01 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - 44 Blues
02 - Robert Pete Williams And Robert J. Welch - Mississippi Heavy Water Blues
03 - Clarence Edwards Cornelius Edwards And Butch Cage - Smokestack Lightnin'
04 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - Who Broke The Lock
05 - Clarence Edwards Cornelius Edwards And Butch Cage - You Don't Love Me
06 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - It's The Sign Of The Judgement
07 - Ben Douglas - Foxhunt
08 - Sally Dotson Smoky Babe And Hillary Blunt - Your Dice Won't Pass
09 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - Jelly Roll
10 - Rebecca Smith Tom Miller And Ruth Miller - I've Got Religion
11 - Smoky Babe - Going Downtown Boogie
12 - Clarence Edwards Cornelius Edwards And Butch Cage - Stack O'Dollars
13 - Butch Cage Martha Thomas And Willie B. Thomas - Brown Skin Woman
14 - Napoleon Strickland, Lucius Bridges & Leslie Anders - I Won't Be Yr Dog No Mo
15 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - The Piano Blues
16 - Smoky Babe - Cotton Field Blues
17 - Otis Webster - The Farm Blues
18 - Otis Webster - The Boss Man Blues
19 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - Whoa Mule
20 - Otis Webster - Boll Weevil Blues
21 - Clarence Edwards Cornelius Edwards And Butch Cage - Thousand Miles From Nowhere
22 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - Dead And Gone
23 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - Called For You Yesterday
24 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - Me And My Chauffeur
25 - Butch Cage And Willie B. Thomas - Baby Please Don't Go

All recordings made by Dr. Harry Oster in Louisiana 1959/1960 and 1962
except 19,22,23,24 and 25 made by Chris Strachwitz and Paul Oliver in 1960



“The title is accurate to a time and place: Southwestern Louisiana between 1959 and 1962. The folklorist Harry Oster did a series of field recordings, informal `jams'with a group of obscure blues men and women, only one of whom, Robert Pete Williams, won fame. Williams was singular in composing stream-of-consciousness blues, support-ed by a guitar style as jarring for blues as Monk was for jazz piano. But Williams sounds nearly traditional compared to others in these recordings. Butch Cage plays fiddle in a nineteenth-century style now gone. And Cage himself sounds nearly conventional compared to the unknown resident of a state mental hospital who does a high-pitched whoop a la Sonny Terry into a Coke bottle while other inmates bang wood blocks.

In case you're wondering how a seventy-seven-minute disc with such diversity can cohere, let me assure you it does, and plenty. I've never heard a better, `rootsier' blues collection in my life, and when I wore out my vinyl album, I sadly wondered, who would ever bother to release this on disc? It's here, and if you have a taste for relaxed, funky, real-gone, real back-porch blues, it's a must.' - Norman Weinstein: Los Angeles Reader

likely the only reason this record isn't more well known is due to the slightly taboo title. a quintessential collection of amerikan folk musique