Thanks a lot, Chris, for your comments and notes on the recordings, and congratulations on the sound! I know that good source 78s must be rare, and metal masters ever moreso!

It's especially great that this set includes the first 6 songs done together by Ardoin and McGee, as they are some of the most important ones. Standards. McGee really comes though too! Those 6 tunes weren't on Arhoolie's previous cd release (I'm Never Coming Back,) so I guess they didn't have good sounding sources to work with.

I might be alone in this, but I personally thought that the notes on the Arhoolie release were a bit of a stretch, trying to draw a connection between Ardoin and zydeco music that is just not as strong and real as the connection between him and Cajun/Creole music. Upthread I went through each song and labeled the ones that became standards in Cajun and Creole music, and I do not find any comparable overlap between his repertoire and the earliest recorded zydeco music. That's probably of little interest to the potential listener who has never heard his music before. Connecting him with Charley Patton and the mystery men of the blues was helpful! I like it when our music is seen and discussed within a broader context that way.

It is just amazing that this music was recorded and commercially released in the first place! You are so right about that.

Thanks Neal,

I appreciate your comments very much. I'm glad that you enjoyed the set.

Best,
Chris

Hello, Chris...A most articulate and interesting post. I will purchase a copy based on that alone. Good luck with the accordion...hopefully you will be a regular poster here now. Have you been to a Balfa Heritage Camp?

CharlieB.

Hi Charlie,

Thank you & I do hope that you enjoy the CD. Yes, I will be posting regularly as soon as I get my accordion back from being tuned/set-up. I've been playing fiddle & guitar for almost 20 years so I'm hoping some of that music will transfer to the accordion. I've not been to a Balfa camp but I plan to attend Augusta and hopefully another camp this year.

Best,
Chris

I have added a section on Recommended Recordings to my Web site in the area on the 1920s and 30s.

http://npmusic.org/artists.html#20s30s

Recommended: We are very fortunate today to have so much music from the 1920s and 1930s available on CD, much more than was available even when this Web site began in 2002.

As a young man in the 1970s I was introduced to the old time Cajun and Creole music of the 1920s and 1930s through a remarkable series of lps (long-playing records) put out by the Arhoolie Records label. I will always be grateful to producer Chris Strachwitz for making that music available! Some of these outstanding lps are still available from the Arhoolie Web site, with these titles: Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 1, First Recordings (OT108); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 2, The Early 30s (OT109); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 3, The String Bands of the 1930s (OT110); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 4, The 30s to the 50s (OT111); Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 5, 1928-1938 (OT114); Amade Ardoin, His Original Recordings 1928-1934 Volume 6 (OT124); Leo Soileau, Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 7 (OT125).

From 2004-2008, the JSP label put out three 4-CD sets that cover a good portion of the 1920s and 30s recordings. Look for Cajun Early Recordings (JSP7726), Cajun Country 2 (JSP7749), and Cajun Music Rare and Authentic (JSP77115). Also look for recordings by Dennis McGee and Leo Soileau, who have individual compilations available on the Yazoo label.

Recently, in 2011, Tompkins Square released an essential compilation of Amédé Ardoin recordings with much improved sound mastering by Chris King! It's just great to have all 34 of these great recordings available in a single 2-CD set! Look for Mama, I'll Be Long Gone: The Complete Recordings of Amédé Ardoin 1929-1934! This music by the great black Creole singer and accordionist Am�d� Ardoin, first with fiddler Dennis McGee and then solo, includes some of the most important and influential, not to mention beautiful, tunes and lyrics in all of Cajun and Creole history. Many of his songs became standards or well known songs in the Cajun and Creole canon, sometimes with different names, as shown here.

Neal the time and money you spend on this subject is very much appreciated. You are serving a very important part and role in preserving and passing along the music that keeps us drawn to. Thank you for what you do.
Jerry