Thought this would be an interesting thread....

What was it that made you pick up the accordion?

WF

I left my banjo in the car. Someone broke into it and tossed an accordion in with it.

What a coincidence! That's how I learned to play the zucchini.

I just wanted to be a musician. Had since I was young.

I tried guitar, and the only thing I could pick was my nose.

I tried piano accordion, but the reaches kept screwing me up.

I tried harmonica, but my lips are/were revolting.

I tried piano, but had no one to play with.

I tried flute, and couldn't figure that out at all.

I tried rubboard, and actually got pretty good at that, but never really felt like a musician.

Then I tried cajun accordion and, though it was difficult and is taking a long time, it is the first instrument I could play melody on. One reason for that is, it's hard to do anything BUT play melody on a cajun box.

Dwight

Reluctantly went with my folks to a festival in Baton Rouge and watched a young guy from Crowley try to blow the reeds out of his flashy red accordion... anyways, something inside turned on like a light and I was bound and determined to learn it. Although I accomplished my goal, I went a different route than most, never played in a band and still don't care to... I wanted to learn how to build em and this cat in Judice that I've been begging for the last three years finally agreed to teach me how to build them and I've now come full circle. You see, the young guy from Crowley is Wayne Toups and I had the pleasure of him playing my first completed accordion last week only to receive a wink, a smile and 30 minutes of some of the most talented playing that I myself have ever heard...

Great to hear..
Gotta love it.

I have always fooled around with musical instruments, Guitar, Clarinet, Harmonica (my best), penny whistle, etc. My father passed away back in 1992 and while looking through his stuff I found an old black, Hohner one row melodeon, I fooled around with it for a while and sold it not much later, but I never really forgot it. Then I run into another old Hohner at a garage sale...one with four stops and flapper keys...I didn't buy it, but I started looking into what it was on the internet...I had always loved Cajun music and I found Marc Savoy's shop this last April, called him up, and before I knew it, I had bought a Hohner 114 (his recommendation), had Dirk Powell's videos in my hot hands, and I was on my way. The world of Cajun accordions had opened up and I haven't looked back. I fairly quickly traded the Hohner in on a Gabbanelli "Cajun King" n less than 5 months I have a repetoir of some 10 songs that I play adequately with few mistakes. I have begun meeting other Accordionists in Austin, including Ponty Bone and Charles Thibodeaux, etc. Those who know and have heard me play say I have come along very quickly. Who knows where I will be a year from now, still playing, I am sure. I expect to acquire a couple of Louisiana boxes by then as well. My Accordion interests have recently expanded beyond Cajun music, I found a Paolo Soprani two row that has beautiful tone, is fun to play and has a totally different sound that appeals to my traditional American/European folk interests. It is a F/Bb box that would be useable for Zydeco as well.

Everyone else was playing one... so I thought... "why not?"

R!CK

I think the first bit of Cajun music to catch my ear was Beausoleil's Live from the Left Coast. It piqued my interest but not much more than that...
Years later I decided to visit Acadiana. The first band I saw was some easily forgettable band at Mulate's. But our next stop was Whiskey River Landing where I saw Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys and after that I was pretty much hooked.
I suppose I fell in love with Cajun music, the culture, Acadiana, boudin, Lake Henderson, etc. etc. and not just the accordion itself...
Of course you can play Cajun music on other instruments...but the accordion felt to me like the most Cajun of all.
As far as the instrument itself is concerned, it always sounded just a little dissonant, a little harsh and sweet all at the same time, and I found that irresistable.
Also, and this was completely wrong, but because it had so few buttons, and a superficial resemblance to the way harmonicas are layed out and played in second position, I convinced myself that this would be an easy instrument. Of course, in a way it is--it's easy to pick out a simple melody but........well you know.

When I was born, my mom was already listening to this stuff and I have had no other choice but to learn to like it..lol...I went watch Steve Riley at Balfa Week about 3 years ago and from that day on, I begged my wife for a box of my own...I had always wanted to learn since I was a kid, but my parents could never spring for a box. In college, I started playing guitar and that helped give me a little headstart as far as picking up on some easier tunes.

Joey Guillory

I was raised in Montreal. As a kid, I watched my dad (who is Acadian from New Brunswick) playing the harmonica one or twice a year (at Christmas, etc.). He has a unique style that I've never been able mimic. When I was about 10, I saved my money and bought an harmonica... I learned guitar as a teenager... In elementary school, my grade 6 teacher (Madame St-Onge, also an Acadian woman) used to play some Acadian and Cajun music in the classroom. She introduced me to Zachary Richard and Edith Butler who were very big in the late 70s in Quebec. I acquired the taste for accordion from there.... Many years later, on August 15, 1998 (National Acadian day), I was standing up in a a crowd of 5,000 people at an outdoor concert in Dieppe, New Brunswick, featuring Zachary Richard and Bruce Daigrepont. That is the night when I had the big spark... From then on, it was officially on my "to-do" list. I told myself: "I have to learn that thing!". In summer 2000, I went on Ebay, and ordered an Ariette as well as the Dirk Powell videos. I didn't know anyone who plays.. I picked it out of the box, put the video on, and learned from scratch from there... It became a passion, and still is.
That's my story and I'm sticking to it...

Well, for me, when I hit 50, I was having my midlife crisis. So it was either learn to play an instrument, or buy a sports car and start chasing younger girls around. I chose the former and never looked back.

But seriously, for me my first exposure to Cajun music in NJ was stumble upon a documentary on PBS about Marc and Anne Savoy one evening. I fell in love with the music and went out and bought every CD I could find (which in NJ about 15 years ago was 3!). A few years later I decided to learn to play a Hohner but it wasnt until I got my new accordion from Mr. Miller that I got serious.

I have been listening (and playing) folk music for many years. I liked Cajun music and said to myself "I want to play that music." Living in Milwaukee, I could find no Cajun accordions, just piano accordions and lots of oompa music, so I resorted to e-Bay. One used Ariette and Dirk Powell tape later I was set. Luckily I found out about the Cajun weekend at Folklore Village in Dodgeville, Wis (coming up Mar. 14-16, 2008) and found others who could help me. I still love the music and now play a bit of it.

WHFS radio. Bethesda Maryland. 1969. D.J. Josh used a Cajun 2 step as his signiture opener. It took me 33 years and the internet to get hooked.

Craig,

Since you did not leave an email address on your posting, I'm just going to post it here:

As a WHFS "alumnus," I believe that the DJ was Damien Einstein and the musician was Ambrose Thibodeaux. I believe the song was "Musician One-Step" or something like that. When WHFS moved to Annapolis and changed to WRNR, Damien eventually moved with them and continued to use that Ambrose Thibodeaux song as his theme song.

Back in 1998, I set up an interview and "live" performance on WRNR with Michael Buckley for Charivari. They put on a great performance, and Damien happened to be at the radio station. He came out and listened to the show. Afterwards, the band members talked with him for a long time; and he told us about meeting and knowing Ambrose Thibodeaux.

Alas, radio has changed and Damien is no longer at WRNR; but I ran into him recently at Joe's Record Paradise in Rockville, Md. He still gets excited about Ambrose Thibodeaux. He was then working at Joe's, and I believe that he still is. I am sure that he would like to talk with you and be gratified that he had something to do with your interest in the accordion and Cajun music.

Just one more short story. A couple of years ago, I went into a truckstop in Duson (4 Deuces or something like that), and lo and behold, who was there delivering meat to the truckstop restaurant but Reggis Matte. We started talking and he told me the story about his coming to Washington with Ambrose and being interviewed by Damien on WHFS in the early 70's. He remembered many small details about the visit, and it was just fascinating to see the impression that Damien had made on him and Ambrose. We talked so long that I began to worry that he would be late for the rest of his deliveries, but it was one of my highlights of the trip.

And radio just hasn't been the same since the demise of the original WHFS where the disc jockeys made their own playlists and knew the music that they played

Jack Bond

Wonder if Charles Thibodeaux (link above) is related to Ambrose?

Don't know, but Thibodeaux is not an uncommon name in So. La.

I know Cajun music for a long time, but I decide many years ago I want to play banjo. About ten years ago I played in a country band(Banjo,dobro,piano-accordion) and there was somebody who brouhgt a tape of the first CD of Steve Riley. On the old records I never heard the accordion so clear. At home I searched for my old cajun records and I was completely turned over.
So I start playing the Cajun accordion.
Cajun music get me also on the dance-floor.
I don't understand why I'm not earlier hear the special sound,groove of Cajun music.

Damien eh? It has been a long time. How is he these days? It was quite a shock when he was in that terrible accident. You near Rockville? I'm a little north in Germantown. I need to find some folks to play with.

Around '74 I heard cajun for the first time. An old record I borrowed from the music library, with very bad sounding (technically I mean) music made by old men with funny screaming voices. I taped the record and played it now and then. After some years I decided if ever to play another instrument, it would be the acccordion and try this cajun. Around 1996 I bought my first (two row) hohner, but I missed the (cajun)sound I had in my ears and wanted to play. I started to play the one row a few years later, but cajun didn't come from the instrument. It was to difficult to get the feel without lessons. Ten years later I had my first cajun workshop. I was lost again and decided to buy me a real LA box (in D) which I am playing for almost 3 years. Last autumn I bought my second LA box (in C). Life will never be the same

Gus

1992 Allons a Lafayette on Dutch radio by Captain Gumbo, I was stunned.

Never heard anything like that.
From that i worked my way back to traditional Cajun.

Wilfred

Hmmm... In the early eighties I moved to New Iberia for a job and ended out living there for ten years. During that time I did a bunch of interview surveys all along the coast and talked to people. I liked the music, but I didn't learn it. I moved to the other side of the state and while swamping out and rebuilding my house after Katrina, I got it. Picking up a classic box on ebay just seemed like the right thing to do.

i used to play bass in a cajun band,
atlanta swamp opera

the band used to play a little zydeco

i went to louisiana, lafayette, the jazz fest
and such

it became clear to me that our music didn;t
sound like the zydeco i was hearing

beau jocque, keith frank, john and geno delafose,
boozoo, chris ardoin, leo thomas

gradually i started to see that it was
not going to sound right with
fiddle, external mic C accordion,
and acoustic guitar

also zydeco bands were starting to tour
through atlanta, i would go see them

and dance

boy do i love to dance to the stuff

people were always asking me,
why is there not a local zydeco band?

and i thought, yeah, why not?

but one reason was that no one really
seemed to care about playing it right
on accordion

the accordion guys here were either
cajun or cajun/roots/blues

it just didn;t work

i started to see, if i wanted it to sound
right, i would have to learn accordion

i didn;t really want to

if someone else had ever made it sound right,
i would still be a bass player

but i knew no one else was going to try it

mainly, because no one really wanted to
learn and play JUST zydeco
[well some cajun but only because even
the 'real' bands play some, especially
waltzes]

so i got a $14 toy accordion
wore that out
then a $350 ten button chinese
then a $900 pr so i think C from dick richard
then one from larry miller in Bflat
then a larry miller in C
somewhere, several chinese 3 rows
and now a castiglione GCF
and a C system chromatic
and a piano accordion
[the last 2 i don;t play live yet]

i started with a guitarist, learning songs
after a couple years we added drums bass
and rubboard

7 years later, the band is still cooking
i think we sound pretty good
www.zydecot.com

i also had to start singing in public
the guitarist/singer wouldn;t learn some songs,
i refused to *not* play them
so i sang them
now you can;t stop me

wle.

love your story wle.
I was and still am an R and B sax player playing in various bands in Vermont. When Queen Ida came to Vt in 1986 some of us were inspired to start a zydeco band named Gidget and Ghandi. i was the sax and rubboard player. At first, we were fairly clueless and our accordion player challenged us to be a better rhythm section. We worked at it and became pretty good. then we asked the accordion player to learn some other songs. He said, no and where are you going to get another accordion player? Shortly after that the band broke up-and 3 of us from the rhythm section started playing the accordion- because we loved the music, and possibly as a reaction to our acc players challenge.
Our bass player Dave Sousa was one who took up accordion then. And i have been playing in a band as the accordion player for the last l2 years. I dont claim to be great but I have very much enjoyed playing the cajun/ zydeco here in Burlington Vt. I was bitten by the bug back in '86 and it remains my favorite music to this day-
Gus from Vermont

We have traveled to Louisiana playing bluegrass for years. When I would be down in the Eunice/Opelousas area I would hit the seek button on my radio in the truck and would pickup these Cajun Radio stations. It didn't take long for me to fall in love with the music. I'd been cooking and eating the food for years also, so I thought "hey I should buy me one of those boxes and try to learn it" I got my first one off of ebay which turned out to be a good little box. When it first came the glue in it like to have made HIGH! Then when I tried to play it, I thought "man this sucks" "this is really hard". So I put it down for a while, then last November I decided to pick it up and try to learn a few Christmas songs playing in octaves, like the Dirk Powell video had shown. Believe it or not, I actually started to sound like something, I won't say what ofcourse After Christmas I put it down. I ordered every BooZoo CD available from Amazon and soon figured out their was quite a difference in Zydeco and Cajun. Zydeco was really what first drew me to the box, but old Chank Chank was closer related to the bluegrass I've played for years. Last April we made a run through some churches in the St Landry Parish, so I made a point of going to Marc's shop the Saturday morning I was close. Of all things I took a banjo. I was amazed that I could actually play on the banjo anything they played, even though I could understand a lick of the Cajun/French songs. The thing was I got to sit with Marc and then Wilson that morning. Sitting two feet from Wilson playing the accordion beside you is an awesome experience. He was real helpful with my questions about the box. I came back to North Georgia pumped. I immediately called Jr Martin and bought a D box so my daughter could fiddle with me. Since I didn't know any of the songs, I started working up old bluegrass tunes and using Wilson's video gave me the ideas of how to work in the licks and syncipation. I even made up a few tunes that had a cool groove to them! I beat those Chinese boxes to death, but the day the Martin arrived everything changed. I appreciate all the encouragement I've had from players and the folks in the churches where we've played that commented they liked it. Larry English for letting me sit in and watch him play at the Seafood Kitchen here in town. So its been a journey that has been fun so far. Like the banjo I fell in love with as a child, I can spend hours on the porch just me and the Martin. Bruce

I had played banjo, mandolin and guitar for many years

around 93 I stuffed my right hand into a shaper

without getting into the gore.. I forced the hospital to save my fingers and thumb..

I couldn't play anything for some time and...
thinking the accuracy and dexterity required of accordion would be less..
I was already into Irish Trad music and one thing led to another.. off into the world of single rows
etc

Love the sound of free reeds and the visceral and intuitive nature of the diatonics... beyond cool