Is Ambrose Sam the same person as Ambrose Thibodeaux, as this online bio says? Or is there two Ambrose Thibodeaux accordion players?

Also known as Ambrose Sam, this Cajun accordion player was one of the leading exponents of Creole or la la music in the '50s and '60s, blowing out the doors in dancehalls throughout the St. Landry Parish of Louisiana. The appropriately titled Authentic French Acadian Music on the La Louisiane label collects many of his prime recordings. He continued performing well into his eighties and lives on as a musical presence in Cajun music in the form of his tunes, many of which are covered by artists such as Michael Doucet. The family itself is something of a musical dynasty. His brother, Herbert Sam Thibodeaux, was a sideman in his bands and Ambrose also played with his nephews in the Sam Brothers 5 band. Bassist Kenneth David is also a successful alumni of Thibodeaux's groups.

I don't think they are the same person.

I actually used to play bass with Ambrose Sam for a while, in the early 90's when he sojourned for a time here in S. Cal. He was an old Creole guy and he played a triple row. He gave me a copy of his Arhoolie LP.

I am pertty sure that Sam was not just a nickname for several reasons. One is that I am acquainted with his daughter, and she calls herself Senorah Sam. There is a large clan of Sams back in Louisiana as well, and one batch of siblings had a Zydeco band called the Sam Brothers Five (or something like that). I think that family was related to Ambrose.

As for Ambrose Thibodeaux, I have 3 LPs of his, which I am very fond of. He was an old Cajun guy that played the single row. Very nice music - I highly recommend.

-David

There are two well known musicians in Cajun music named Ambrose (or in French, Ambroise) Thibodeaux, both white. Ambrose Thibodeaux the accordion player who recorded for La Louisianne Records. And Ambrose (real name Andrus) Thibodeaux, the fiddle player for Happy Fats after the Doc Guidry era.

Ambrose Sam was a black, Creole accordion player. Whether his real last name was actually Thibodeaux, I don't know. Sam is a last name of many families in Louisiana, so it may be his real last name. This is a picture of Ambrose Sam: http://www.frenchcreoles.com/MusicEvents/other%20zydeco%20notables/ambrose%20sam.jpg

In any case, Ambrose Sam is not the same as the person I photographed at the Festivals de Musique Cadien in 1977: http://npmusic.org/Ambrose_Thibodeaux_1977.jpg This is the accordion player who recorded for La Louisianne.

This picture shows Ambrose Thibodeaux the fiddler between Alex Broussard and Happy Fats. http://www.flickr.com/photos/npomea/5978187486/

The article is conflating two different accordionits who share first names and who have both died. Ambrose Sam was a creole accordionist while Ambrose Thibodeaux was cajun. There is sometimes further confusion between Ambrose Thibodeaux who played accordion and Ambrose Thibodeaux, also known as Nonc Ambrose, who played fiddle with Happy Fats.

that bio, or versions of it, are all over the internet. evidently a lot of cutting and pasting going on from an unqualified source.

I do oil & gas leasing for a living and I had the opportunity to meet many of the surviving members of the Sam family who own a little bit of property about 2 to 2.5 miles east of "downtown" Lawtell. I was able to meet some of the Sam Brothers 5 as well as others, and not only that, but a few of the elderly folks in the area would tell me stories about house dances and such back in the day and they would all say how the Sam family were the go-to musicians for the area at that time. And being that I ran much of the title for the various tracts of land owned out there and personally meet with them, I can confirm that this is a black, creole family and that the name "Sam" was indeed the family surname, not a nick name or anything like that.