For those of you who've been to the Saturday morning jams at Savoy Music Center, Mr. Freddie Hanks has passed on. He played guitar at many a jam! Didn't know about his military honors but I am not surprised. We're losing our WWII vets very quickly.
Mr. Freddie Hanks was the nicest man I have met in Louisiana.
In 2010 I was going to the jam at Maison Begnaud and it was very quiet there.
Mr Freddie, Terry Montoucet, Zachary Fuselier and Jacob Leblanc were making music. There was nobody playing the accordion. They make me a warm welcome and the first song we played was Madeleine and Mr. Freddie looked at Terry like, that's sounds allright. (of course I disagree)
A week later it was a lot more busy with DL Menard, Don Montoucet, Mr. Freddie and lots of others.
A year later I saw Mr. Freddie again and the first thing he said was,
"Hello Ron from the Netherlands"
He also did a lot in learning youngsters like Zach, Jacob and others how to play and sing Cajun Music.
The way he played waltzes on his guitar was very special.
I'm sorry that I didn't see him again, because I didn't visite LA since 2011.
RIP Mr. Freddie Hanks I'm sure you will be missed.
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
