00:00:00.439 - 00:00:20.190

I put a fan on and just some, you know, I don't even have your fan on. No, ma'am. I don't have the fan. I got one of them with the fan and I don't have it on. It's really cool. And most, every day I let on

00:00:20.399 - 00:00:39.060

around two o'clock, you know, I don't, I knew I was gonna come at your nap time but I, that's ok. Uh, uh, sometimes, you know, by doing that, I believe that's why sometimes I can't sleep at night more. I sleep about some, every four hours and

00:00:39.069 - 00:00:52.430

I wake up and don't, you know, I can't hardly go back to sleep. Yeah, I guess not. I know, maybe by, you know, sleeping in the, you know, in the, maybe, I don't know if it's that I'll find a way to do it, you know. Yeah.

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You're in good health. How, how old are you? Well, next month I'm gonna be, uh, next month I'll be, uh, so you must, when were you born? 1919 08, 1908. You know, this early, 19 hundreds were some good years for musicians because there's a lot of

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like, well, Joe Falcon was born in 1900 a day, bro. And let's see, a lot of people. Well, Dennis, Dennis mcgee is older than y'all. He's 90. Yes. How's that? For a good plane when you're 90? And still pull it hard. I, no, but he, he

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got a good health. Yeah, he's in good health too. Have you always lived out in the country? And yes, ma out here where have you lived? Is this your, I was born and raised right around you. Well, how many Children were in your family? You and

00:02:02.370 - 00:02:26.940

up five more than 11, sister, five boys and one sister and poor thing. She got here in the young, back in 42 she was coming back from picking cotton, did high, you know, pick cotton, the people and the p I bought, well, he had a few

00:02:26.949 - 00:02:42.660

of them in the wagon there. IC her, it was coming back, uh, that evening getting off, you know, and on that highway that I gone from between a blue and a lot of pills. And, uh, as a truck came right in the back, I hit the

00:02:42.669 - 00:03:07.039

wagon. She flew away up and pulled down on the fee. The only daughter, you know, the only that killed her and I was working in, uh, what was her name? Gabriel. Gabriel. Yes, ma'am. I have a picture and, uh, I was working in camp that time

00:03:08.119 - 00:03:23.050

and while I got back I wouldn't even need it. Out there that time, you know. So one of my friends told me I have something to help, you know, and then Friday, but I was kind of suspicious. I figured it must have been something serious. So,

00:03:23.059 - 00:03:42.050

he waited a while and he threw, he said I didn't see your sister got too long. And, uh, I went out where were and had, yeah. Well, is that the, were you at that time? All picking cotton? What kind of work were you doing on that

00:03:42.740 - 00:04:03.509

job? You know? I mean, uh uh uh and uh at least we have, uh you know, Baghdad. No. And uh that's why I was working but she was, she work out uh you know, they can talk and she was married or were y'all all still living

00:04:03.520 - 00:04:35.950

at home? Were all at home still? Well, um, what other kinds of work did you do for your living in your life besides plant? I was mostly on the most hard work. You talk about what kind of stuff you wet and that's good. You gotta wait

00:04:35.959 - 00:04:54.440

till I have some hard time, you know, the, it's really bad and the law we made it, you know, it was a strain but uh we just bought it off. That's right. Well, did you, um play mu when did you start playing music? I must have

00:04:54.450 - 00:05:14.790

started playing music. Uh must have been about, I would say about 13 or 14 years. Are you the man? Who made the, the, how did you get that idea? Well, uh, you know, uh, one of my friend had made one of the things. So, uh, I,

00:05:15.230 - 00:05:29.880

I said to myself, well, I'm gonna make me one. So that's how I started. And you, how did you, what do you do to make them? Well, after I've seen the one that my friend had made, you know, so I said, well, I'm gonna try to

00:05:29.890 - 00:05:51.170

make me and I got, I succeeded in big one. And, uh, finally my old daddy after I know how to put the thing through, we went to church and he bought me a, a, oh, yes, I know. You could really get tunes out of it, ma'am.

00:05:53.630 - 00:06:13.989

What were the strings? Rubber bands. Well, uh, uh, the string, the, at first I took to the screen, you know, them little screen I did and I put on it and it would, but, uh, it wouldn't give the correct sound, you know, because, uh, you know,

00:06:14.000 - 00:06:33.500

the real water string, it's a different sound, you know, black, uh, E ad G and all that, you know. But you couldn't get that off that, uh, strength from the screen. You see, it would sound all right. But, uh, until finally my dad bought me a

00:06:33.510 - 00:06:57.679

real set of strings and you put them on there, you know, and, uh, some numbers that's smart. Yeah, I tell you that it come from a long way that that is. Well, um, did anybody else in your family play music? When did Air o get his

00:06:57.690 - 00:07:13.899

accordion? Well, uh, around my dad bought, uh, I don't know. He had first, he had bottom of all. I would rather have, bottom of all. But, uh, I don't know if he never could learn how to play ball. So he got behind my old dad for

00:07:13.940 - 00:07:33.470

a cordon. So that's how my dad went and bought my cord and he finally learned how to play. Well. So you were playing the fiddle before he got his accordion. Did you know he, he learned before you before you see our old dad, he used to

00:07:33.480 - 00:07:54.730

play, what was his name? Ernest Carrie. I know. No, I haven't seen the pictures and it was uh like now in the summer time it was very hot and don't, you know, he had never went to the doctor with that. So a few days after me

00:07:54.739 - 00:08:10.109

and my Iraq, we went there and visit, we'd go and visit, you know, I think God, that his foot was looking like a loaf of bread was so swollen. He had never went to the doctor. So that evening when we took him to the doctor and

00:08:10.119 - 00:08:29.869

so the doctor said, honest is what does it mean? Said, honest is the best thing you can do is to be able to see, you know, if the dog I'm gonna wake up tomorrow. My oldest son, he live in Oakland. He's left, I'm left handed but

00:08:29.880 - 00:08:49.659

I play all the instruments right handed. Uh, uh, it's a little weird but it's not too bad. Yeah, I couldn't, it seemed to me like I couldn't, you know, but, you know, you do all your fingering with your left hand. That looks like the hardest part.

00:08:55.799 - 00:09:17.359

Well, um, ok. So just your dad played the accordion. So y'all all, did y'all ever make, like, family groups? Like, did y'all play things around the house? Like get your instruments together and play everybody sitting on the porch like triangles and things and, um, name some

00:09:17.369 - 00:09:29.940

of the musicians you like, have heard in your life back then and stuff. Can you think of the names of any people you'd ever hear playing music back in those days back when you were real young? Well, your dad, of course. And did he have any

00:09:29.950 - 00:09:53.275

friends who were musicians? Did you, did you ever know Oscar Bineau? Any of those people that the boba, they weren't real good musicians. They were far from here though. That was in rain. So that was kind of talk about them, you know, I never knew it.

00:09:53.744 - 00:10:10.919

So you learned all your tunes from your dad or what? Well, I just pick it up like that from, uh, that, you know them the day I had no radio where the people had from. I, so you learn them off of, what kind of records do

00:10:10.929 - 00:10:36.219

you remember? The names in your records. That's a good question. It's been so long. I know. Well, it couldn't, like records started being made about in the twenties. Did you listen mostly to Cajun music? Yes, ma'am. And, uh, like a, a day and the one that

00:10:36.229 - 00:10:56.320

would play, uh, in English too, you know, you had some, uh, I used to play, I remember when I was quite young and good man. Jim Rogers song. Uh oh, I like his record and uh I used to play a good man of his song but

00:10:57.340 - 00:11:12.609

I don't, uh you know, kind of forgot him. I used to sing him to, uh I liked it very much so. II I learn some, I'd copy the song, you know, if I, for me to keep it up. Yeah, I played over and over, you know,

00:11:13.679 - 00:11:33.570

so I would write the word. So you can remember that in your head. Did you have a band and that you play Jimmy Rogers songs in, did you ever make a band? You just play at home and for parties with friends? And it was, it was

00:11:33.909 - 00:12:04.630

just, yeah. And uh the club. Well, in, in that time I have none. Oh, they might have some somewhere else but not around here, around them. Some of them big city. And uh a Muslim, nobody did know much, too much travel for, you know, they must

00:12:04.640 - 00:12:26.979

have been. But y'all really stuck pretty close to home. You just had a buggy to get around in. Did y'all have a, when did you get a car and tell about when, when did you, when did cars get in your family? Like, uh, oh, no, I

00:12:26.989 - 00:12:51.799

can't as early as the thirties. I wonder. Uh, well, uh, I would see something like that a little later than that because it is hard around here. These roads are killers on the cars. I see you have a lot of, like religious symbols in your house.

00:12:51.809 - 00:13:23.500

So you all pretty religious basically. And, you know, I'm sick even now. I never miss a Sunday. We get, our ma comes on at 930 in the morning and then, and then even on Saturday evening, but I, I usually go on Sunday. So every Sunday at

00:13:23.510 - 00:13:42.900

930 I'll be there early by nine o'clock. It seem like, uh, if I miss the going to the church on Sunday, it look like it's not Sunday. I, I think it's a good point. You're week too to stop and just say, ok, we're gonna do this,

00:13:42.909 - 00:13:58.679

we're gonna clean up our mind and we're gonna start again. That's the way I go to church too. I, no, uh, uh, I was, I'm from Virginia and my people are Methodists, but Mark's people are Catholic and I'm trying to figure out what to do with

00:13:58.690 - 00:14:21.479

my Children. I don't want to take it. I said, what are these little crosses above your door? Uh, but I was, you know, your poor mama raise that, that some, you know, and, uh, that be blessed the Saturday before Easter Sunday, they call it the no.

00:14:22.640 - 00:14:47.460

And so the holy water now the old mama and their short and daddy to put these piece of pump cross above the, the door like that to protect it from the lightness, you know, so the lightning, if it, if it, uh, a light might go, if

00:14:47.469 - 00:15:12.609

it hit the house, it gonna go right from, you know, right through the door, you know. And so say protect, I don't know, you put it over every door in your Yes. Yes, but not in the room door. You know, the outside door. And it's only,

00:15:12.619 - 00:15:27.369

it's mainly for lightning. It's not just to protect you when you come and go. Well, yes, ma'am. And then, uh, you can take, uh, some people burn that one is real bad weather. You know, you take a few pieces like that, you put it in some,

00:15:27.400 - 00:15:44.299

uh, you know, and burn it, you know. So say they drive the bad weather away, you know, we eat a candle you burn and the priest, you know, we buy a candle with the priest. You burn that and uh it was a real bad weather or

00:15:44.309 - 00:16:04.359

ton of bad ton in life. Look like you could feel it. You know, it, it's going away all the time when you buy that can. That's something I have one I bought with it. Yeah, I understand. Yes. As it melts, you know, it's changing in the

00:16:04.369 - 00:16:19.650

glass. I see that. And so that's, you can keep that for us. Yes, ma'am. And, uh, every time the weather is bad I like that. You see, and look, look like you could feel the weather is, you know, going away all the time that I don't

00:16:19.729 - 00:16:39.229

know if it's that. But, you know, that's what we will raise that. You feel like that to have such strong religious beliefs. It's funny that, you know, you don't hear more songs, like religious songs and things. Like, you never hear too much of that, this thing,

00:16:39.239 - 00:16:58.219

you know, uh, in our church. But I don't know, is not the, it's not your kind of music really? I had met, uh, one sister at, uh, one of the sister that came up one time, visit visitor. She's, uh, in male, in a church in Maton.

00:17:00.010 - 00:17:13.040

So she said I told her I was, I could play the music, even the guitar. Oh, she said with the piano, I like it. I play the guitar. I like it. She said one of these time we're gonna pick a little practice and say for her.

00:17:14.199 - 00:17:31.029

Get ready. Yeah. Kind of heavy. But once I got it sitting on my lap and then I got the strap of it. It's not too, not too bad. Not too bad. So, you play, um, when you play the guitar. Do you play Cajun music too? Creole?

00:17:31.489 - 00:17:59.160

Uh No, no, ma'am. Like you make up all the song pretty much. No, ma I just uh pick it up like that from a uh OK. Oo, ok, man. And if I could have made that rush, we going out the yard in the back there. But

00:17:59.170 - 00:18:18.630

look like you understand that dog and I can't catch him if I could, I got a chain but at the moment if I try to get him, he run on the dog. Did, um, can you remember any of the songs your dad used to play? Did

00:18:18.640 - 00:18:38.530

they have names? Uh, well, I will tell you the only one song that I remember it was a waltz. And, uh, but, uh, the, the other one I always kept in my mind, you know, because I use that. I like the word, you know, myself. And,

00:18:38.540 - 00:18:53.010

uh, I remember I used to play the wall. It was, it was, but the other one I don't remember, I just kept up with it. It's just this one tune that you remember in your head. Do you play it still on your fitter? Uh, no, ma'am.

00:18:53.170 - 00:19:17.270

Uh, but my old brother played a rock. He did. Well, um, did Aros also do a lot of farming. Was it brought up on a farm? At least we were all brought up. Yeah. Did y'all ever do any other kind of work besides building the forts

00:19:17.280 - 00:19:34.300

up there? Well, like I was telling you, man, uh, after I quit home I started working on them, uh, some of that job, you know, in 42 during the war that was going on, I was working on a, they call it the f job on the

00:19:34.770 - 00:19:56.949

in lake job. You know, there was big enough plants there. So I worked there at first, I went to camp co, working at camp in North Louisiana. And, uh, well, the, the price got better getting 40% that can poke in there. After the, the news came

00:19:56.959 - 00:20:17.369

out, they were paying 50 cents in the lake. So that we thought that was a big, big 50 an hour. We, we all quit. Most of the men quit and they started going to, uh, to lake job and not, you know, I was living in large

00:20:17.579 - 00:20:37.630

j, we have to ride in some old truck that it was 100 and 14 miles round trip to go to camp Pon back. You talk about that every day, every day, every day. The first, the first day was so tired. The next time is the, the,

00:20:37.640 - 00:21:01.479

the truth. We, we come back at 10 o'clock at night and, uh, for two o'clock, 230 I believe, two third, I believe we had to be ready to go back there again. That's bad. So, have you been married to Miss Emily for all the time? That's

00:21:01.489 - 00:21:25.650

your wife's name? Your second wife? My first wife lives in New York. And you have some Children. Yes, eight Children, five boys and three girls. I got three of them in Chicago. I got two daughters in Chicago and a, so you want to serve its out

00:21:25.660 - 00:21:48.010

there? You have to chart the, he's still in there. He decided to live in Chicago and my old one lived in Auckland. I got a daughter living in Port Arthur and, uh, I got two sons live in Lake John. You have a big family. Yes, ma'am.

00:21:48.969 - 00:22:06.150

One of, uh, one of the boys living in the car. He's a truck driver. He's been the driver and drive a truck for, oh, I would say about 15 years old. And, uh, yeah, I never was in, no, no, no. Yes or no. But none of

00:22:06.160 - 00:22:23.709

them are carrying on your music. Huh? Anybody playing any music? I, I, one of my son living in Houston, he plays the guitar. All right. His name is and you know how to play. Good. So, you named him after your dad? Yes, ma'am. That's correct. I,

00:22:26.140 - 00:22:49.260

I put the, I forgot about him. He come here and now and then me and him, we would get together and he did good, you know, beyond the wall. So when people were Chris, last Christmas it was out, him and his wife. So we had made

00:22:49.270 - 00:23:04.979

a tip when we were playing and, uh, taking a few drinks and we were talking so you got one son, you know, he was, I quoted him with this boy and, uh, after that, you know, to folk French and all kind of stuff and we laughed

00:23:05.099 - 00:23:26.000

and, oh, we had a night time every time I think about them, I play my, you know, I play my gift to kind of remind I remind them. Yeah, on Sunday in the morning. Uh, well, you know what, um, like your songs like Madame F and

00:23:26.010 - 00:23:50.849

is that how you said F and Blue Runner and things like that? Where did those songs come from? Just out of your head? They're really great numbers, but there's some real ideas in them, you know, lots of ideas. Uh Ken was telling me about his trip

00:23:50.859 - 00:24:17.890

to Washington. I have my pitch on a big old, you know, big, big pitch. Really? Well, who did he go with? Who did he play with? So he was showing me that and uh he would tell me about that and then they gave him a book,

00:24:17.900 - 00:24:38.020

you know, all the musician and me, I mean that too and all the musicians, you know. Oh, about the festival. Yes, mama. Thank. So I then look all over the book. He showed me that uh I think was did before used to, I'd want to visit

00:24:38.030 - 00:24:57.300

my own virtual, my old brother wanted to go out there together. So he was showing me the book and then they gave him a long old picture. But that long, that showed the sheet of water. Oh, that's a big place that's near where I'm from.