Harry Choates – Devil In The Bayou: The Gold Star Recordings (2 CD Set)

Description

Release Date:  2002

Label:  Bear Family Records

Track List

1-1 –Harry Choates Jole Blon (Pretty Blond)
1-2 –Harry Choates Louisiana Boogie
1-3 –Harry Choates Poor Hobo
1-4 –Harry Choates Port Arthur Waltz
1-5 –Harry Choates Dragging The Bow (Draggin’ The Fiddle)
1-6 –Harry Choates Tondelay
1-7 –Harry Choates Basile Waltz
1-8 –Harry Choates It Won’t Be Long
1-9 –Harry Choates Louisiana
1-10 –Harry Choates Cajun Hop (Les Blues Du Port Arthur)
1-11 –Harry Choates Allons A Lafayette
1-12 –Harry Choates Harry Choates Special
1-13 –Harry Choates Wrong Keyhole (The Right Key The Wrong…)
1-14 –Harry Choates San Antonio Waltz
1-15 –Harry Choates Honky-Tonking Days
1-16 –Harry Choates Everybody’s Waltz (Wednesday Night Waltz)
1-17 –Harry Choates I’m Gonna Move To The Outskirts Of Town
1-18 –Harry Choates Have You Heard The News (Good Rockin’…)
1-19 –Harry Choates Joe Turner
1-20 –Harry Choates Nobody Cares For Me
1-21 –Harry Choates Old Cow Blues (Milk Cow Blues)
1-22 –Harry Choates Devil In The Bayou
1-23 –Harry Choates Chere Meon
1-24 –Harry Choates Bayou Pon Pon (Bear Creak Hop)
1-25 –Harry Choates Harry Choates Blues
1-26 –Harry Choates Te Petite (T’est Petite Et Mignonne)
1-27 –Harry Choates Fa-D-Do Stomp (Fais Do-Do Stomp)
1-28 –Harry Choates Rubber Dolly
1-29 –Harry Choates Jole Blon (Engl. Vers.)
Disc Two
2-1 –Harry Choates Honky-Tonking Days
2-2 –Harry Choates Lawtell Waltz
2-3 –Harry Choates Maggie Waltz (When You And I Were Young…)
2-4 –Harry Choates Mari Jole Blon (Jole Blon’s Husband)
2-5 –Harry Choates Gulf Coast Blues
2-6 –Harry Choates Missing You
2-7 –Harry Choates Rye Whiskey
2-8 –Harry Choates Sidewalk Waltz
2-9 –Harry Choates Oh-Meon
2-10 –Harry Choates Corpus Christi Waltz
2-11 –Harry Choates Jolie Blon’s Gone
2-12 –Harry Choates Valse de Lake Charles
2-13 –Harry Choates Hackberry Hop
2-14 –Harry Choates Je Pase Durvan’ Ta Port (I’ll Pass In…)
2-15 –Harry Choates Tip-E-Te Tip-E-Ta Ameon (You’re Cute And…)
2-16 –Harry Choates Poor Hobo
2-17 –Harry Choates Jole Brun (Pretty Brunette)
2-18 –Harry Choates Yes, I Love You
Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers
2-19 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers O.S.T. Gal
2-20 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers A Litte High Chair
2-21 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers The Old Ice Man
2-22 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers I Know You Feel The Way I Do
2-23 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers Lake Charles Shuffle (instrumental)
2-24 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers I’ve Grown So Lonely For You
2-25 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers Gran P’rairie (Cajun Hop)
2-26 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers La Polka A Gilbert (Old Time Polka)
2-27 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers Le Veuve De La Coulee (Cajun Hop)
2-28 –Happy Fats And His Rayne-Bo Ramblers Les Tete Fille Lafayette (Cajun Hop)

Notes

All of the Harry Choates’ surviving Gold Star masters are together here for the first time, plus his earliest recordings, made with Happy Fats and the Rayne-Bo Ramblers in 1940, as well as the sides he made for the Cajun Classics and O. T. label in 1947. Untutored, he was one of the instrument’s great natural talents, and his fiddle sings with the joy of making music. The 112-page-book accompanying this set contains a comprehensive, newly-researched biography of Choates by Andrew Brown, and contains many rare and previously unpublished photos and illustrations.

If Harry Choates is remembered for just one thing, it will be for writing Jole Blon. Now looked on as almost a cajun anthem, this unforgettable fiddle tune was given away by its creator for $100 and a bottle of whiskey. There lies the brilliance and tragedy of this great musician.
Harry Choates played the fiddle, and imported into cajun music the sounds of blues, western swing, country and even jazz. These formed a potent mix when married to the two-steps and waltz tunes of rural Louisiana. Unfortunately Harry Choates was also an alcoholic, and his bands formed and fell apart as his unreliability in making dates and sessions ruined his career.
Bear Family have gathered together 57 of his recordings for the Gold Star label. Harry Choates recorded for a number of labels, but his Gold Star recordings are amongst his best, comprising a lovely mix of his own compositions, public domain classics and cajun favourites. They date from the early to the late 1940’s, but the sound is good.