Swamp Music VOL. IV – Modern Cajun Lovers / Music of the Bayous & French Rock´n´Roll

Trikont has issued the most complete audio overview of the history and development of Cajun and zydeco music in history. This fourth volume explores the modern scene’s practitioners, whose music is deeply rooted in early rock & roll and Hank Williams-era country. There is a ripoff/rewrite of Merle Haggard’s „I Am a Lonesome Fugitive“ entitled „Cajun Fugitive“ and credited to Belton Richard. Also featured are the rhythms introduced by Johnnie Allan and D.L. Menard, which would be picked up later by Beau Jocque and ground out with a vengeance to the blaze of electric guitars alongside the accordion. This collection begins in 1963, when the sounds of guitars (lap steels for the most part) make their appearances for the first time, and ends in the late ’80s. The Menard and Allan tracks are standouts on this volume, including Allan’s wonderful „Karvilien Alleman.“ In fact, Allan was easily Cajun music’s Elvis, full of sexy swagger and theatrical performances. There is an outstanding track by the plagiarist Richard, however, called „Roll On, Wagon Wheel,“ where the fiddles engage the guitars in a slippery little dexterity contest. The riff for the tune is more like Speedy & Jimmy than the Hackberry Ramblers, and it slips and shimmies all over the key of C before coming to a startling halt. By the volume’s end, it’s easy to see how the growing influence of electric country music and rock & roll were encroaching on the traditions of the Louisiana Cajuns.