For those who havent seen it, Neal has put some new old songs on his site. For those who havent heard Isom Fontenot's harmonica, you are in for a treat.

Merci beaucoup encore Neal!

Bryan, I visit that site almost daily, but I guess you are going to have to lead me by the hand to find Mr. Fontenot's harmonica. Speaking of Fontenots, J.D. Fontenot, originally from Winnie, TX, but now a boat dealer in San Antonio, told me a how to make a sauce piquant using turtle. He said on the soft-shells, you can use the whole turtle, including the shell, but on red-ears and snappers you just cube up the meat. He also talked about how his Grandma would make a sauce piquant out of those little black rice birds. A couple of shots with #9 shot into a flock of those little guys by Grandpa, then they would pluck every one of those little birds and make a sauce piquant.Talk about little bity drumsticks! That Depression era way of thinking is just about gone now in the USA. Like my Daddy said, "we were so poor we didn't know the Depression was goin' on".
JB

It's toward the bottom under Mamou Social Club.

Those little blackbirds, and several other little birds, were a steady visitor to mom's pots. Gumbo, jambalaya, and brown gravy on rice, they are all good, little legs, hearts, gizzards and all. When the blackbirds would cover the ground in the rice fields, a few shots with the shotgun and it would take several beers to clean them all. One of my favorites was when I was too young for a shotgun, but me and my friends had bb guns, and our dads would do the flock shot on the gound, our jobs were to chase down the cripples. Man that was fun.

Makes me want to go look for a flock. And the turtles, ah................

Dove meat was the closest we got to little birds, but none of that breasting out the bird like they do now. No sir, each bird was picked and the skin left on, and, like you said, the gizzards hearts, and livers were kept to make gibblets for the brown gravy. Chicken-fried dove and some rice,gravy, okra & tomatoes from the garden, and wild dewberry cobbler for dessert. Cain't get no better than that.And if that ain't healthy for you, what is?
JB

Exactly! How can something so good for you be bad. Kinda like gratons.

oh man..i sure do miss those blackbird gumbo's, i remember asking my dad.."is it blackbird season yet?"..he'd say "yea as soon as they show up" lol we'd clean them whole also but i noticed over time we just started breasting them..much easier ..we'd just shoot a few hundred more :)

Yep, what's a few hundred black-birds, more or less. Pickin' em all up, that's the problem. We're all coming to your house for rice-bird gumbo sometime before Lent. Remember, Bryan and I like 'em with the legs and wings still attached. If we don't make it until after Lent, we got to have turtle soup. See you soon!
JB

that would be fine..cept theres no blackbird's in virginia :(..but hold on though..i'm moving to florida in a may and the people there will wonder why the turtle population is rapidly decreasing


thanks Neal! is isom fontenot the guy that chris talks about from iowa/lake charles are that plays harmonica? it sounds good..maybe i should switch to the harmonica since i cant learn the accordion? I like the new roy fusilier clips too!

Aw non, lache pas, Chad.

Isom Fontenot, my wife's grandfather, was born and reared in Lanse Megre'until his death in 1972, a suburb a few miles just south of Mamou. He was a small engine mechanic who worked from home. The father of eight daughters.

Chad,

On Chris Miller's cd he mentions a man named Bashoot LeBlanc playing harmonica. I believe he was from around Iowa or maybe Lacassine.

Isom Fontenot was from the Mamou area. Not sure which town. If you are interested in his playing, see the Website link above for an Arhoolie cd, Folksongs of the Louisiana Acadians. Great album! If I were ever cornered into naming some essential recordings that I would need if I were stranded on a desert island, this album would certainly be on my list. He does one of my favorite versions of T'en a eu, T'en auras pus. And the one on the cd called Fiddle Stomp with Cheese Read and Isaac Soileau is really T'en a eu, T'en auras pus. Another of my favorite versions.

I believe board member Kirk Menier is a relative, or maybe it's his wife who is related to Isom Fontenot.

Thanks also for mentioning Roy Fusilier. I am partial to those recordings, too. To me it sounds like just an accordion, fiddle, and steel guitar on Belisaire and Grands Chemins. No bottom, but very nice sounding.

Isom Fontenot was my grandfather. Kirk's wife Monica was also his grandaughter. Web surfing to find out more about him. Not that many around that remember him. He died in 1974. He is supposed to be honored in April at A Festival at Chicot Park. Trying to find out if anyone has info they could pas on to family.