Louisiana Cajun Music Vol. 4

Another Cajun LP from the same pile at last week's boot sale - this time on the Old Timey records label. A compilation from 50's released in 1972...........................................................................................................................................................................Wikipedia says of Harry Choates - "Harry Choates (December 26, 1922, Rayne, Louisiana or New Iberia, Louisiana - July 17, 1951, Austin, Texas) 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 Blon", a top 10 hit (Billboard position #4) for Choates, was recorded by country singer Moon Mullican and became a major hit, but Choates had waived his rights to the song and was never compensated for the song's success. Choates remained with the Melody Boys from 1946 to 1951, recording for Gold Star Records in 1946-47. The Melody Boys disbanded over Choates's chronic problems with alcoholism and his frequent missed concert dates, and shortly after the dissolution he played with Jesse James & His Gang on KTBC radio. In the middle of the year, Choates was found to be in contempt of court for failing to pay his support payments for his children. He spent three days in prison, at which time he began hitting his head against the bars of his jail cell, eventually knocking himself into a coma. The condition persisted for several days before Choates died on July 17, 1951."......................................................................................Wikipedia says of Hackberry Ramblers - "The Hackberry Ramblers (also known as the Riverside Ramblers), a Grammy Award-nominated Cajun music band based in Hackberry, Louisiana, formed in 1933. Since its heyday in the late 1930s it has become one of the most recognized names and influential groups in Cajun music. Its sound has come to be one of the genre's most imitated, and its 1936 song "Jolie Blonde" — the group's most covered song — ranks as the informal "Cajun national anthem." The group, which continues to tour and perform, has one of the longest histories of a musical group in the United States of America, and while its lineup has changed many times since its conception, its founders — fiddler Luderin Darbone and accordionist Edwin Duhon — led the band until Duhon's death in 2006. (Darbone died November 21, 2008.) While the roots of the band lie in its Cajun music repertoire, the Ramblers perform a broad swath of American music, from Western swing to blues and rockabilly, and much of their sound blends them all. The Country Music Hall of Fame has honored the group; it holds enshrined many of the founding members' instruments. James "Glen" Croker died at the age of 77 on August 23, 2011."...............................................................................Tracks are as follows - 1. Wondering - Joe Werner & His Riverside Ramblers 2. Dissatisfied - Joe Werner & His Riverside Rablers 3. Jolie Blonde - Hackberry Ramblers 4. Ma Cherie Belle - Hackfield Ramblers 5. Austin Special - Harry Choates 6. Saturday Night Waltz - Harry Choates 7. La Prison - Oaklahoma Tornadoes......................................................................................Cajun Music - Side One