The accordion was resisted by quite a few old fiddle players because of its limitations. To some, it might have been like the bagpipes when it first showed up. I sure wish there was more info on this, but there is probably very little, and a lot is educated speculation.
Back then most families, if not most households, had musicians, and noone traveled beyond their communities. So even with the racial barrier, there was plenty of mixing of ideas in communities, whether it be food, language, or music. Many dont realize what is now considered Cajun music, at one time was pretty localized, like many other things, such as the dialects. When people started getting record players, and traveling a little, the music started being shared more, but at one time a lot of the music was different from area to area, look at the first recordings of the Balfa brothers, the Deshotel brothers, and others.
Chuck Guillory isn't the only one.
My wife and two of my daughters will do the same with a big knife.
They destroyed now several bellows, but I keep on repair them, just like the tires of my bike and keep on playing.
My third daughter loves the accordion but also the fiddle and she helps me with repairing.
Excellent article, notice all the mentions of "it will probably never be known"? For anyone who has not been to this website, there are a huge collection of great stories and and essays.
I concur -- Joe & Cleoma Falcon -- probably the "first" "Cajun" player(s) to be recognized as such by the "first" recording. Then again, I wasn't around then. Ha! First accordion player in Louisiana was probably Creole -- very likely in New Orleans. I can only discern this historical info through the same videos and books available to everyone else.