sweartotellthetruth

Swear to Tell the Truth for Tuesday, July 28, 2020 (10:00 to 12:00 noon)

This week we devote a full program to the French music of Louisiana–Cajun music, Zydeco and a taste of swamp R&B and pop. Record companies recognized a potential market for Acadian French recordings as they had for recordings serving other ethnic minorities. After the Columbia Record Company  recorded Joseph Falcon in 1928 other companies followed their lead. Early records emphasized traditional sounds with accordion, fiddle and guitar but by the mid-thirties tastes had shifted to bands influenced by Country string band and Western Swing sounds and the accordion appears to have been retired for almost fifteen years–at least on record–though not from country socials.   A record by Iry Lejeune in 1948 appears to have rekindled interest in the traditional Cajun sounds and to have coincided with an instinct to celebrate Cajun culture and tradition.

Other than a few recordings by the Lomaxes for the Library of Congress, the only Creole musician to make records was Amédé Ardoin whose records with and without the Cajun fiddler Denus McGee were directed at the Cajun rather than the “race” market, in the terminology of the times. It was in the 1950s that the first Creole “Zydeco” recordings appeared on independent labels.

Our special covers 86 years of French music from Louisiana/

“Allons, faire le boogie woogie” –Harry Choates

On the Show:

Jimmy C. Newman – Nathan Abshire & the Rayne-Bo Ramblers – Clarence Garlow – Wayne Perry – Amédé Ardoin – Hackberry Ramblers – Harry Choates – Iry Lejeune – Johnnie Allan – Magnolia Sisters – Cleveland Crochet – Boisec Ardoin – Lynn August – Badeaux’s Louisana Aces – and others.

Listen to the program each week at FM 93.3 in Hamilton, live on Cogeco Cable 288 or on CFMU online at cfmu.ca. The program will be available to stream or download until for eight weeks until October 1st as a podcast. Just go the website, bring up the right playlist and stream or download the show.

Contact Us:

To reach us with comments or queries, write us at sweartotellthetruth@gmail.com.

You can also follow the program at sweartotellthetruth@nosignifying on Twitter.

Next week

TBA.