Hello,

I wonder if anyone here already had any experience with an accordion made by Andre Michot from Lost Bayou Ramblers?
Last sunday they played with us here in Belgium (what a wonderful band!!!) and I've talked a lot with these great guys. Andre seems to make Cajun accordions and said he learned this from Randy Falcon... (Unfortunately he only had 1 accordion with him on tour and it was a Martin...)
So, I'm extremely curious about his accordions.

Yves

Andre is a good friend of mine. As far as I know, he only planned on building the one accordion for himself, for the time being. I haven't talked to him in a few months, so I assume by your comment, that he's finished with it. He hadn't completed it when I last visited with him.
Jude Moreau

Andre is building accordions for people and in fact I think he is currently finishing up two that have already been sold. He laughs about not playing one of his own, but as soon as he starts one, somebody wants to buy it. He did however tune all the accordions he plays on. He learned how to build and tune from Randy, and I know Andre has tuned accordions for several well known players like Dirk Powell and Ray Abshire while he was learning from Randy. If I needed another box I wouldn't hesitate to get him to build one for me.

As the old builders retire, it is good to know new ones are coming up who build quality boxes. It is so good that the knowledge of building Cajun accordions is shared so freely.

Maybe not being able to play one of your own accordions is why people like Ed Poullard play fiddle (or some other instrument). Actually I've heard that some builders don't play anything at all. What was it I heard...Fender couldn't play the guitar, but instead made some of the best guitars in the world?

A few weeks ago I have bought a CD from Les Amis Creole. Ed Poullard play the accordion on that CD and I love the way he play.
Junior Martin play the Pedal Steel and do you know if he can play the accordion.

This week I have seen Andre Michot with the Lost Bayou Ramblers in Holland.
It was a wunderfull evening and Yves is right, they are fantastic.

Mr. Ed is a monster on the accordion. (Drums, fiddle and anything else I've seen him play) Not just a fiddle player.

I asked Cecil Fontenot at Swallow records about that, he builds Swallow accordions but doesnt play. He said when an accordion player asks him about building an instrument he doesnt play, he asks them about playing an instrument they didnt build.

That's a good one!

By the way, on a related subject: Andre's uncle Bobby is back in the New World.

Wow, I didn't realize that Andre had gotten that far.
Good for him. Do you know if he's still playing on the black accordion that I built for him? He was as of last summer.
Jude