When I came back to California in 2000 to work for a while, I brought my then-recent passion for Cajun/Creole music with me. I was so fortunate to spend a handful of times listening to, and playing with Danny Poullard at his Fairfield home before he passed. I could not play for squat, but he sat with me and patiently taught me what I could grasp.
There are people on this board who were lucky enough to hear him and share music with him for years.
To me, Danny was -- and still is -- the best 10-button box player I have ever hears, period. If you listen to the regrettably small output he recorded on Arhoolie, you will hear an absolute master of the Creole/Cajun music. His playing of A. Ardoin is dead on, and he freely admitted that he learned so much from the recordings of Aldus Roger.
Danny was good to everyone who wanted the music. He never put on airs that I saw, and was very free in his compliments and good spirits, despite the fact he was living with a bum ticker.
The Louisiana music world -- and French accordion world is incredibly small. There are probably more fans of Barbershop Quartets than what is so loved here.
As they say, you have the inalienable right to alienate others. One of my former accordion buddies has bailed for another genre. I'm 62, he is ahead of me by 10 years, and like myself, this stuff is supposed to be fun. When it becomes a masochistic exercise in butt kissing, then it's time to find another way to express our innate creativity.
Danny Poullard and Eric & Suzy Thompson played my wedding reception in 1994. Near the end of the evening I played fiddle and sang 2 or 3 tunes with them, and Danny invited me out to his place in Fairfield for his get-togethers. Unfortunately I never made it, newly married, busy, etc.
I think Danny was a huge influence on the whole Bay Area Cajun scene, and especially the East Bay. Danny was a primary influence on accordion for Suzy Thompson, Maureen Karpan, and lots of others.
Fast forward 12 years to 2006 when I finally got a box. I called Suzy Thompson and she showed me some stuff. It pretty much all came from Danny. So the tradition is being passed on.
I did a three day workshop with Danny, in the Netherlands. Besides teaching me a number of tunes, he also learned me that when others (Irish, French, Italian, etc.) go to bed, the Cajuns start jamming. Danny and Kevin Whimmer played many hours, and also give beginners a chance to play along, and the lead. Dear memories.
Would that have been February of '99? I was supposed to do that with Kevin Wimmer, and at the last minute, I had to cancel. Danny was a champ and took my place.
Danny and I roomed together for ONE night at Augusta. We both requested private rooms because the other was snooring. We laughed about that for the whole week.
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
