Just received 2 cd's from the Smithsonian/Folways collection (I believe I posted the web site earlier). Since this does not appear to be a well know source, I thought I give a little insight into the cd's.

I got "Cajun Social Music", which was recorded by one of my newfound heroes, Gerard Dole, in 1975 in various locations in SW Louisiana. It has 13 songs recorded by various musicians including one with Hadley Fontenot, Preston Manuel, and Sady Courville, and several with N'onc Allie Young, Hector and Bessyl Duhon, Nathan Abshire, Marc Savoy, Milton Melançon, Lurlin Lejeune, and Adausas (?)Thibodeaux. They sound like they were recorded on porches or on bandstands, often my favorite recordings.

CD number 2 is called "Cajun Fiddle, Old And New:Instruction" with Dewey Balfa and Tracey Schwartz. It is apparently 2 separate recording sessions put on 1 cd. The first part is Dewey Balfa demonstrating to Tracey (I guess)certain sound techniques on the fiddle with a song to demonstrate each technique. The second part was recorded by, again, Gerard Dole, and has Dewey and Rodney Balfa, Nonc Allie, and Weston Bergeaux playing live at C.C.'s lounge in Basile in 1975 for the Basile Cajun Hour. Sound quality is, of course, not great being recorded in a bar, but I dont care. It has several pages of liner notes including transcripts and translations to the songs, and conversations.

That Dewey Balfa recording also has 3 songs with Dewey leading his orchestra at the Lakeview Club in Eunice, when Ray Abshire was the accordion player. They do a Cajun version of Help Me Make it Through the Night, Jolie Blonde, and Johnny Can't Dance. Premier stuff all around!

I'm not dusty yet!