By JOHN WIRT
Music critic
Published: Nov 23, 2008 - UPDATED: 12:00 a.m.
Luderin Darbone, the fiddle-playing co-founder of the Hackberry Ramblers, Cajun music’s longest-running band, died Friday at Calcasieu-Cameron Hospital in Sulphur. He was 95.
Formed in 1933, the Hackberry Ramblers appeared at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival as recently as last year. The band featured another original member, accordion player Edwin Duhon, till his death in 2006 at 96.
“He was a virtuoso, the Stephane Grappelli of Cajun-swing music,” Hackberry Ramblers’ manager and drummer Ben Sandmel said of Darbone. “At his peak, he was very dexterous, with a light touch and precise phrasing, tasteful but also passionate.”
The Hackberry Ramblers never got rich playing their mix of Cajun, swing, pop and rockabilly, but recent decades brought them belated recognition.
The Ramblers attended the Grammy Awards in New York City in 1998, the year their CD, “Deep Water,” received a nomination for best traditional folk album. The band also made an “MTV Live” appearance during their New York visit.
“It almost floored me when I heard it,” Darbone said of the Grammy nomination. “I got over it, of course, but after 65 years, something like that comes up, it’s a big surprise.”
The Hackberry Ramblers made their Grand Ole Opry debut in 1999. While in Nashville, Darbone presented the Country Music Hall of Fame with the fiddle he played for the band’s 1936 RCA/Bluebird recording of “Jolie Blon” and Duhon donated the guitar he played in 1933.
The Hackberry Ramblers’ other achievements include being the first band in south Louisiana to use an electronic sound system, which allowed instruments other than the accordion to play solos.
The band made only sporadic recordings after the 1930s, including a 1963 record for Chris Strachwitz’s fledgling Arhoolie label.
Darbone attributed the Ramblers’ longevity to its versatility. Besides Cajun music, the group performed hillbilly and popular music in the 1930s, western swing in the ’40s and rockabilly in the ’50s.
“We had a little advantage over some of the other groups,” Darbone said. “There wasn’t too many other groups, but those that played, they only played by ear, and most of them played strictly Cajun music.”
The band made its first nonregional appearance at a music festival in Berkeley, Calif., in 1965. It didn’t tour nationally until the 1990s. Its appearances included the 1996 Super Bowl in Phoenix, the President’s Summit for America’s Future in Philadelphia in 1997 and the American Music Festival in Washington, D.C., in 1998.
Darbone is survived by his son and daughter-in-law, Eddie and Annette Darbone; his granddaughter Paige Neal, her husband Bob, their daughter, Julia, and son, Taylor; his grandsons, Heath and Dustin; and band members Glen Croker and Ben Sandmel.
Visitation will be held from 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Monday at Hixson Sulphur Memorial Funeral Home, 2051 E. Napoleon, Sulphur.
The funeral will be held at 10 a.m. Tuesday at Our Lady of Prompt Succor Catholic Church, 1109 Cypress St., Sulphur.
we've lost another great Cajun fiddle player. this makes me sad. i'll play some of his tunes today, he was a unique and wonderful fiddle player......
roger w
They're also the ones that made Un Piastre Ici Un Piastre La-Bas, if you're familiar with the version covered by the Lost Bayou Ramblers on the CD Bayou Perdu.
The band has a website
www.hackberryramblers.com
There is also a one hour documentary "Make 'em Dance" whose world premiere took place in Saulieu where the band was playing in August 2003. The doc was aired nationally in the US on PBS later the same year.
http://www.pbs.org/independentlens/makethemdance/
Sad news indeed.
I got to hear him play last April in Lafayette. He sat in with the Lost Bayou Ramblers at Festival International when they played a tribute to the Hackberry Ramblers.
The April 2011 Dewey Balfa Cajun & Creole Heritage Week
