Description
Release Date: 1995
Label: Arhoolie Records
Track List
1 –Nathan Abshire – Crying Pinegrove Blues
2 –Nathan Abshire – Chere Te Mon
3 –Lawrence Walker – Mamou Two-Step
4 –Lawrence Walker Country Waltz
5 –The Texas Melody Boys – Old Time Waltz
6 –The Texas Melody Boys – Ain’t No More
7 –Harry Choates – Valse De Lake Charles
8 –Harry Choates – Jolie Blon’s Gone
9 –Floyd LeBlanc – Orphan Waltz
10 –Floyd LeBlanc – Louisiana Stomp
11 –Lawrence Walker – Tu Le Du Po La Mam = Both For The Same
12 –Lawrence Walker – Ton Papa Ta Mama Ma Sta Da All = Your Mom And Dad Threw Me Out
13 –Lawrence Walker – Evangeline Waltz
14 –Lawrence Walker – Reno Waltz
15 –Lawrence Walker – Boscoe Stomp
16 –The Musical Four Plus One – Tran La Ezy
17 –Vincent & Cagley Lawtell – Two-Step
18 –Elise Deshotel With Dewey Balfa – La Valse De Bon Baurche
19 –Elise Deshotel With Dewey Balfa – Le Two-Step De Ville Platte
20 –Elise Deshotel With Dewey Balfa – La Valse De Courage
21 –Elise Deshotel With Dewey Balfa – La Valse De Tamper Tate
22 –Shuk Richard & Marie Falcon – Le Cote Farouche De La Vic
23 –Shuk Richard & Marie Falcon – Jolie Brun
24 –Shuk Richard & Marie Falcon – Madame Entelle Two-Step
25 –Lawrence Walker – Waltz Of Regret
26 –Lawrence Walker – Wandering Aces Special
Notes
Drawn from the vaults of the Khoury’s label and its Lyric Records subsidiary, the 26 sides here date from the late 1940’s and early 1950’s. This is some of the best documentation available of what was a thriving music scene, spawned by the absence of younger players during the mid-1940’s (they were off fighting the war), leaving the field to older musicians, who played Cajun music and found an audience in local clubs and an outlet in these two labels. Nathan Abshire’s 1949 hit “Pinegrove Blues” got the ball rolling, and all of the 26 sides here (including Abshire’s “Crying Pinegrove Blues”) were spawned from that beginning. The sides here, in addition to Abshire’s “Crying Pinegrove Blues,” include various waltzes, stomps and blues laments by the Texas Melody Boys, Harry Choates (“Valse de Lake Charles,” “Jolie Blon’s Gone”), Floyd LeBlanc, Elise Deshotel with Dewey Balfa (his first four records), Lawrence Walker (his five earliest sides), and Shuk Richard and Marie Falcon. The focus may be history, but sound is also astonishingly good, incidentally.
