"The Lafayette Playboy Waltz" - Aldus Roger

Aldus Roger was considered by many as one of the few remaining true artists of the French accordion during the 1950s.  Roger began playing the accordion at age 10 and for 20 years, had his own band, The Lafayette Playboys.1  For many, his weekly television show was their first exposure to traditional Cajun music.  Starting on June 3rd, 1955, the show lasted for over a decade on KLFY in Lafayette.  Roger was a gifted accordion player, keeping the music hard and traditional, with the only English being spoken a brief "Thank you" at the end of the broadcast.  He was a carpenter by day and leader of the Lafayette Playboys by night.2

When KLFY was first opened in Lafayette, I was playing dances at 'Tit Maurice and at the Midway Club between Lafayette and Breaux Bridge. Ellis Richard and Norris Breaux sponsored our band, The Lafayette Playboys, to advertise their dance halls. I announced the advertisements for the dance hall schedules and Dixie and Blatz beer.3   

Tu m'as dit, bébé, tu m'aimais,

'Gardez-donc, jolie, comment moi je vas faire,

J'ai p'us personne, tit monde, pour m'aimer, chère,

Tu connais ça c'est dur pour m'endurer.

Oh bébé, 'garde-donc quoi j'ai fait, chère,

C'est pour toi j'ai rimé toutes ces paroles,

Aujourd'hui, bébé, t'après m'quitter, chère,

Pour t'en aller aussi loin avec un autre.

Phillip Alleman, Aldus "Popeye" Broussard,
Aldus Roger

He claimed that Lawrence Walker was his inspiration, which is no surprise that both bands played at many of the same dance halls throughout the 1950s.  Roger remembers watching Lawrence play and imitating his style. He quickly moved from the simple fingering style to "playing double" (two notes at the same time).  Walker's earlier career in the 30s were well known to Aldus as a teenager.  Aldus states:

At the age of sixteen, when I started playing house dances, the hat was passed around to collect money for the musicians. We usually picked up a dollar and a half, two dollars.  That was a lot of money then; cotton sold for one and a half or two cents a pound. It took a large bale of cotton to bring in twenty-five dollars.  Now you know it was rough, eh?3 

Having made a name for himself on television, it was no surprise he would eventually be invited by J.D. Miller to record some of his signature tunes in the studio.  One of those tunes was simply titled after his band, "The Lafayette Playboy Waltz".   It was a rendition of Cleoma Breaux's "La Valse Crowley" sung by fiddle player Aldus "Popeye" Broussard.  

Crowley Daily Signal, 1954

You told me, baby, you loved me,

So, look, my pretty, how can you do that to me?

I have no one, my little everything, to love me, dear,

You know that it's hard for me to bare.

Oh baby, so look what you've done, dear,

It's for you that I rhyme all of these words,

Today, baby, I've left, dear,

To go away so far with another.

His Lafayette Playboys were the first Cajun band to have a consistent run on television throughout south Louisiana.  

I played ten years on television.  We had a full hour on Saturdays from noon till one o'clock to advertise and play. Our band wasn't paid for this. We just announced where we were playing every night. We played dances seven days a week for almost three years. Everyone who had a television set would turn it on and listen.  Even those without sets would visit their neighbor and listen to us. Oh, that was something in those days!  I was the first Cajun band to play on Channel 10.3  

Roger was an unassuming man, not at all flashy, playing it right and consistently right for decades.  He was a vehement critic of modern trends in Cajun music, stating that you could not play authentic Cajun music with "a rock and roll".2   By 1960, he retired but his retirement was short lived for in 1962, he was chosen by the State of Louisiana in the National Folklore Festival in Washington, DC.   As a result of the honor, Roger was persuaded to reorganize his band.  He would continue to record and play into the 1970s.1

KLFY in Lafayette
Phillip Alleman, Gerald Touchet(?), Aldus Roger,
Harry Lee Bart, Doc Guidry, Louis Foreman, Clarence Alleman

1. Rayne Tribune. May 16, 1976
2. Gravesites of Southern Musicians: A Guide to Over 300 Jazz, Blues, Country ... By Edward Amos
3. Ye Yaille Chere by Raymond Francois
4. Lyrics by Jordy A and Stephane F
5. Photo identification by Michael Dupuy

Release Info:
-A The Lafayette Playboy Waltz | Feature F-1028-A
-B Hix Wagon Wheel Special | Feature F-1028-B

Find:

Acadian All Star Special - The Pioneering Cajun Recordings Of J.D. Miller (Bear, 2011)