"What's The Matter Now?" - Walker Brothers

The pre-war Cajun recording era had a surprising set of artists that many rarely consider today.  Accordionist Lawrence Walker, more known for his honky-tonk post-war career, had formed a small group in the late 1920s to bring his mixture of American blues and French music to the surrounding parishes.  As a teenager he formed the Walker Brothers group with his brother Elton. Featuring accordion, fiddle and guitar, the band played both Cajun and hillbilly music.  Soon, they were invited to record for both Brunswick and RCA.   In 1935, Walker waxed a pair of bluesy English compositions at RCA Bluebird's mobile recording facility in New Orleans.2  

With guitarists Junior and Aldus "Popeye" Broussard added to the group, their professional sound has been preserved on Bluebird recordings like "What's The Matter Now" (#2199).  The droning guitar strum with simple accordion riffs gave the traditional Cajun sound an added dimension.1   It arrived on the heels of similar recordings of the era, such as the Breaux Brothers' "Le Blues De Petit Chien".

Lawrence Walker

Tell me now, pretty baby, baby,

What's the matter now?

(You) stayed out late last night,

You don't need no papa, no how, Lord, Lord.

Let me tell you something, baby,

I got up on my mind,

Let me tell you something, baby,

That's keeps me worried all the time.

Oh, baby, what's the matter now?

You got me worried now,

But I won't be worried long.

1. South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous By John Broven
2. Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American-Made Music By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
3. Lyrics by Jordy A

Release Info:

BS-87614-1 Alberta | Bluebird B-2199-A

BS-87615-1 What's The Matter Now? | Bluebird B-2199-B

BS-87614-1 Alberta | Montgomery Ward M-4882-A 

BS-87615-1 What's The Matter Now? | Montgomery Ward M-4882-B

Find:

Cajun Early Recordings (JSP, 2004)

"Jamais Marriez" - Walker Brothers

In 1928, Leo Soileau had helped RCA Victor Records make a huge impact on their southern music sales across Cajun prairies with his accordion-led recordings with Mayuse Lafleur.  By 1935, the company spun off their subsidiary company Bluebird Records and began offering recording sessions to many Cajun string-band musicians such as the Hackberry Ramblers, the Rayne-Bo Ramblers, J.B. Fuselier and others.  The first of these string-bands to be invited by Bluebird were the Walker Brothers and Soileau's Three Aces.  Accordion player Lawrence Walker, who had recorded earlier in Dallas in 1929, was familiar with the music scene of the area.   How these musicians were discovered by RCA scouts has been forgotten but each one of these groups received invitations during the year.  As long as they could make it to New Orleans, they packed up their instruments and joined A&R Eli Oberstein for sessions at the field studio.   

Jeunes filles de la campagne,

Mariez-vous autres jamais

'Gardez comme moi j'ai fait,

J'ai mis dans la misère.

Tu vu (de) ton vieux nég,

Rejoindre ton pauv' vieux nég,

Qui c'est, mais, pour toi-même,

Qui c'est boo-boo t'aimes ça.

Eh, petite!

Quand j’étais jeune z-enfant, 

J’étais un bambocheur, 

Et asteure que j'suis marié, 

Ça va tout le temps pareil.

Petite, t'es trop mignonne,

Pour faire la criminelle,

Pour faire, moi, m'en aller

Tu vas voir, mais, pour toi-même, 

Je mérite pas tout ça, 

Tout ça, mais, t'es après faire. 

Petite, tu me fais quitter, 

Quitter, ouais, toi tout(e) seul.

Dallas Centennial, 1936

Walker, his brother Elton and Junior covered the old Cajun song "Jeunes Gens De La Campagne" as "Jamais Marriez" (#2195).  First recorded by Dennis McGee in 1929, it would be popularized later by Iry Lejeune in 1954 as "Don't Get Married".  Instead of addressing a young gentleman, Lawrence and Elton sung of the concerns of a young woman getting married too soon. 

The recordings made Walker a local known name among musicians and led to him playing ever more frequently in the dance-halls.  However, it was in Dallas during the great Texas Centennial the following year that the versatile French accordion player played to more Texans than he had ever dreamed.  In 1936, he entered a French accordion music contest in Rayne, competing with three other men.  To his surprise, he had won an all-expenses paid trip to the Centennial.  He was accompanied by folklorist and columnist Lauren Post, professor at Louisiana State University and head of the Louisiana Delegation for the event.

Marksville Weekly News
Jul 4, 1936

Young girls in the countryside,

Never get married to anyone,

Look at what I did,

I've placed myself in misery.

You saw your old man,

Come back to your poor old man,

Who is the one, well, for you,

Who is the boo-boo that you love.

Hey, little one.

When I was a young child,

I was a reckless one,

And now that I'm married,

It's the same thing, all the time.

Little one, you're too cute,

To be this bad,

You're making me go away,

You'll see, well, for yourself,

I do not deserve all that,

All that, well, you're doing,

Little one, you making me leave,

Leaving, yeah, all alone.

In addition to playing for the largest crowd he had ever experienced, he was scheduled to play on five different programs, including on KRLD, Dallas' Columbia radio broadcast.  Lawrence recalled:

I played the old French tunes like "Jolie Blonde", "Chere Tout Tout", and "Bye Bye La Belle", going from bandstand to bandstand over the Centennial grounds.  I'll never forget how amazed I was when Lauren Post checked the clocking device and told me I was playing to over 36,000 people.1  

Listen to sample: "Jamais Marriez" - Walker Brothers

1. RT. 1968
2. Lyrics by Stephane F

Release Info:

BS-87610-1 La Valse Des Pins | Bluebird B-2195-A

BS-87611-1 Jamais Marriez | Bluebird B-2195-B

"La Valse De Louisiane" - Walker Brothers

Introducing Louisiana-based Cajun music to outsiders was a risky endeavor.  It could have gotten you boo-ed off stage or worse.  Texas-influenced string band music was all the rage in Louisiana and not much cultural exposure was headed the other way.  This didn't stop Lawrence Walker from trying. By 1935 he was recording Cajun tunes like "La Valse De Louisiane" (#2198) for Bluebird records in New Orleans and quite often playing Texas hillbilly music in Dallas. While Walker enjoyed entertaining his Texas audiences with hillbilly music, he was determined to try to introduce Cajun music.  He recalls his discussions with his father:

One night as we were packing our instruments to go play for a dance, I told daddy, "You know something. I want to bring my French accordion and play some old French music for those Texans."  But daddy was doubtful.  "They'll laugh at you" he told me.  But I said "Let them laugh".1

Lawrence Walker, 1936

Songs like "La Valse de Louisiane", a simple instrumental of the Cajun favorite "Jolie Blonde", was ideal for Lawrence and his brother Elton Walker to introduce Texans to Cajun music.  Backed by his brother, it's possible guitarists Junior Broussard and Norris Mire were at the session.  His early stage performance in Texas must have gone over fairly well. He continues:

During Intermission, I announced that at the next dance I would have a "surprise" for them.  A big crowd turned out that night and at 10 sharp, I strapped on my accordion and announced "I am going to play a French instrument and if you like it --applaud, and if you don't, I'll just change right back to my fiddle.  No hard feelings".  Well, they all clapped and clapped and hollered, too. And from then on I played straight French accordion.1   

1. Interview by Mona Mel Mouton.  Jan 18, 1968

Release Info:

BS-87612-1 La Valse De Louisiane | Bluebird B-2198-A

BS-87613-1 Pourquois Vous Etes Si Cannai | Bluebird B-2198-B

"Alberta" - Walker Brothers

By 1935, small acoustic accordion-based ensembles began to give way to more substantial string-based orchestras.  Lawrence Walker and Nathan Abshire, a pair of experimental accordionists who would become two of the leading proponents of the pot-WWII dancehall sound, recorded the clearest example of the shift to Cajun swing on the Bluebird record label.3  

In 1935, Lawrence recorded his version of the song "Corina, Corina", in English, entitled "Alberta" (#2199) in honor of his daughter Alberta.   Originally a Leadbelly song called "Roberta", it was also covered by the Mississippi Sheiks.  Lawrence joined his brother Elton Walker on violin, with  probably Junior Broussard on guitar, and possibly Aldus Broussard or Norris Mire on guitar.  According to producer Chris Strachwitz:

It is well known among jazz musicians in New Orleans.  I think it is a jazz tune with a Cajun accent.   This belongs to both black and white tradition in the South and was first popularized on record by the Mississippi Sheiks in the late 1920s.  Perhaps it was a popular tune long before then.  The accordion on this performance seems to show strong [Creole] Cajun influence and I think Lawrence Walker probably learned it from a [Creole] Cajun performer.1

Lawrence Walker, Lena Mae Menard Walker,
Alberta Walker, unknown

"Corina" was a "blues with a touch of jazz and a flavor of hillbilly" that by the 1930s was widely popular among blues and hillbilly artists, who also recorded the arrangement under the titles "Alberta" and "Roberta". The tune later became a fixture in the Western swing repertoire largely through the popularity of Bob Wills.3   Author Ryan Brasseaux writes:

In essence, "Alberta" can be equated with the Breaux family composition "Ma Blonde Est Parti" because both tunes describe an inconsolable man lamenting about the impenetrable boundaries that separate the protagonist from his belle.3

Alberta, Alberta, where have you been so long,

Alberta, Alberta, where have you been so long,

I ain't had no lovin', since you've been gone.

I met Alberta, way across the pond,

I met Alberta, way across the pond,

Didn't write me no letters, you didn't care for me.

Alberta, Alberta, tell the world "Adieu",

Alberta, Alberta, tell the world "Adieu",

Just a little bit of lovin', let your heart be true.

Alberta, Alberta, where have you been so long,

Alberta, Alberta, where have you been so long,

I ain't had no lovin', since you've been gone.

Lawrence Walker transformed the Cajun accordion style by adding strong elements of swing to his playing. This transformation is revealed in this Bluebird recording.  Even so much that James Hancock (a Joe Davis pseudonym) had taken out a copyright to what he called Lawrence's "Alberta Blues".2

1. Louisiana Cajun Music Volume 2 The Early 30s.  Chris Strachwitz.  Liner notes.
2. The Melody Man: Joe Davis and the New York Music Scene, 1916-1978 By Bruce Bastin
3. Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American-Made Music By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
4. Lyrics by Jerry M

Find:
Louisiana Cajun Music Vol. 2: The Early 30s (Old Timey/Arhoolie, 1971)
Cajun Louisiane 1928-1939 (Fremeaux, 2003)
I Saw The Light (Blues People 1934 -1935) (Blues Classics, 2015)