French Blues (CD - 1993)

Personnel: Nathan Abshire (vocals, accordian); Ernest Thibodeaux (vocals, guitar); Will Kegley (vocals, fiddle); Dewey Balfa, Little Yvonne Le Blanc, Jake Miere, Roy Broussard (vocals); Jim Baker (bass); Oziet Kegley (drums).

Compilation producer: Chris Strachwitz.

Includes liner notes by Chris Strachwitz.

FRENCH BLUES represents Abshire's earliest known recordings.

Personnel: Nathan Abshire (vocals, accordion); Ernest Thibodeaux (vocals, guitar); Will Kegley (vocals, violin, fiddle); Dewey Balfa, Jake Miere, Roy Broussard, Little Yvonne LeBlanc (vocals); Harry LaFleur (guitar); Wilson Granger (fiddle); Oziet Kegley (drums).

Liner Note Author: Chris Strachwitz.

Recording information: 1949-1956.

Photographer: Chris Strachwitz.

Unknown Contributor Role: George Morrow .

Recorded between 1949 and 1956, this is prime Cajun music. The fidelity is slightly better than the best Cajun discs of the 1930s, but the approach is still satisfyingly raw and spontaneous, with waltzes, boogies, and blues. A steel guitar is present to varying degrees on most of the tracks, giving the fiddle/accordion-dominated arrangements a bit more flavor. This has a great spontaneous feel that stops short (but not that short) of raggedness, highlighted by Abshire's joyous calls and asides. Includes his big "hit," "Pine Grove Blues," although a hit by the standards of this regional style only constituted about three thousand copies sold. With 28 tracks and 78 minutes running time, it's the usual excellent value for an Arhoolie reissue. ~ Richie Unterberger

Highly influential Cajun hits, recorded between 1949 and 1956, but sounding for all the world as if they were cut two or three decades earlier, both sonically and musically. This is fiddle- and accordion-driven party music, pure and simple, and if it occasionally seems to veer drunkenly out of control, with Abshire essentially yelling lyrics that might be indecipherable even if you spoke Creole, well, that's part of its charm, as is the oddly tuned pedal steel guitar that decorates many of the tracks. minimize