"Chere Catan" - Lee Sonnier

Accordionist Lee Sonnier and his contemporaries were attuned to, and profoundly affected by, the ever-changing musical landscape that sustained their art.  They were not only products of their environment, but also cultural actors who intervened by adapting the diatonic accordion into a Cajun swing framework, a context they knew intimately well.1 But it would take his son-in-law JD Miller to bring him into the studio to shine.

Before Miller married into the Sonnier family, he had been a musician himself.  When Miller was 11 years of age, he played in the grade school band and his interest in music was born.  At the age of 15 Miller joined the Crowley High School band as a drummer. He recalled,

That band was the only formal music training I ever got, and I didn't pay any attention to the instructor even then.  I just played!3  

J.D. Miller, 1954

Oh, bébé, malheuruse, catin,

'Tite monde, quoi moi j'va faire, chère,

Ouais, quand mon j'vu là, 'tite fille,

(Pour toi m'écoute), malheuruse.

...

During his high school days, he began writing songs.  Though this period, he wrote 95 songs, but being convinced that they were not good, he destroyed them all and temporarily put the thought of a musical career behind him.2  However, by the 1930s, Miller was invited by steel guitarist Papa Cairo, and fiddler Irby Thibodeaux to form the band called Daylight Creepers.  J.D. Miller states:

You think the names of bands are strange now.  We used to play at night and it seemed that almost every time the old car we used broke down.  We'd have to push that car back home during the day and that's how we came up with the name.1

Lee Sonnier

Oh, baby, oh my, pretty doll,

Little everything, what you've done, dearie,

Yeah, when I saw you there, little girl,

You were listening (to me), naughty woman. 

...

By 1946, he was no longer in a band.  Instead, Miller gathered Sonnier's group into his new recording studio at M&S Electrical shop around 1948 and using a tape recorder, listened to Lee's band record a traditional tune called "Chere Catan" (#1002) with Calvin Holloway as vocalist, Lawrence "Blackie" Fruge on fiddle, Eula Mae Fruge on guitar, and Happy Fats on bass.  Sadly, Miller struggled with balancing the instruments and Calvin's vocals are hardly heard over the volume of Lee's accordion.

1. Cajun Breakdown : The Emergence of an American-Made Music by Ryan Andre Brasseaux
2. JD Interview.  RT.  1953
3. JD Interview  DA.  1954

Release Info:

Dans Les Grand Meche | Fais Do Do F-1002-A

Chere Catan | Fais Do Do F-1002-B

Find:
Fais Do Do Breakdown - Volume One - The Late 1940's (Flyright, 1986)
Acadian All Star Special - The Pioneering Cajun Recordings Of J.D. Miller (Bear, 2011)

"Dans Les Grand Meche" - Lee Sonnier

In 1948, Livaudais "Lee" Sonnier's connection with Fais Do Do records was a chance circumstance when producer J.D. Miller married into the family.  Miller was a musician himself.  He had played with several hillbilly groups, even playing alongside Amedie Breaux on one occasion during the 1930s.  But it wouldn't be long before Miller entered the military.  Once he was out, he created his own contracting business and rented a large building.   

In the meantime he had married an accordion player's daughter.  His wife was the daughter of Lee Sonnier of Rayne, a local musician. However, with all the building space, he chose to use some of the building to sell musical instruments.  This led to making records. Having already recorded string band leader, Happy Fats, Miller decided Lee's accordion talent was a reasonable addition. He recalls:

The jukebox operators around town came to me wanting Cajun French records.  There weren't many available, only Harry Choates' "Jole Blon".  The records of Joe Falcon had been discontinued. I figured heck, we'd try to make some of our own.1

Moi, j'connais, moi, j'm'en va, chère 'tit fille, malheureuse,

Dans la platin(?) avec un autre, mais, pour toujour,

Moi j'connais, tu va venir, chère 'tit fille, malheureuse,

Avec ton negre pas longtemps, mais, chère mignonne.

Tout les jours, tu m'aimie, moi j'connais, (...........?) 

Qui m'aime, chère 'tit fille, malheureuse,

Moi, j'm'en va, pour toujour, j'connais (les) promets, malheureuse,

Moi, j'connais tu va venir (à grand mèche).

Lee Sonnier

In 1948, Miller gathered the group at his new recording studio at the M&S Electrical shop.  After purchasing a tape recorder, Miller recorded the group performing the traditional "Dans Le Grand Meche" on Miller's new Fais Do Do label featuring Happy Fats on vocals and bass.   It was a slightly different take on the traditional melody of "Grand Texas".  Backing him up was Lawrence "Blackie" Fruge on fiddle and Eula Mae Fruge on guitar.  Miller had recorded the group with his own equipment in his shop.  Taking the time and effort to get a good recorded sound, he said:

I went to Houston to the Gates Radio Supplies. They had just received three Magnecord tape recorder, it seems like it was the PT-6 model. You could carry it around, so I bought that, three microphones and a three volume mixer.  I think I was helped by my electrical background.  I had a sense of something. I didn't go by the book because I went by these two things.... my ears.2  

J.D. Miller

I know, I'm going to leave, dear little girl, oh my,

In the lowlands with another, well, forever,

I know, you are going to come, dear little girl, oh my,

With your man not long ago, well, dear cutie.

Everyday, you loved me, I know, (........?)

Who loved me, dear little girl, oh my,

I'm leaving, forever, I know the promises, oh my,

I know you are going to come (to the marsh).

1. Interview with J.D. Miller. Stacey Courville. CPS. 1983.
2. Slim Harpo: Blues King Bee of Baton Rouge By Martin Hawkins

Release Info:

-A Dans Les Grand Meche | Fais Do Do F-1002-A

-B Chere Catan | | Fais Do Do F-1002-B

Find:

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

"'T' Mamou" - Lawrence Fruge

Ernest Fruge was one of the most iconic Cajun fiddle players of the 1920s.  He and his close neighbor, Angelas Lejeune, recorded popular regional favorites for Brunswick records in 1929 and 1930.  However, Ernest's brother Lawrence not only played the fiddle skillfully but became one of the areas most talented accordion players.1   

T’en aller aussi loin,

Joli ‘tit monde, à ‘tit Mamou,

Rappelles-toi les paroles, ‘tit monde, 

Mais, ça m'fait du mal.

Oui bébé, tu connais,

Pour toi-même, toutes les paroles,

Tu connais que ça tu fais*, 

Joli ‘tit monde, ça me fait du mal.

Moi, je connais, joli ‘tit monde, 

Toutes les paroles je pouvais pas dire, 

Ça t’as fait, mais, à ton nègre, 

Joli ‘tit cœur, ça me fait du mal.

Lawrence Fruge
Courtesy of Cajun Dancehall Heyday

Around 1950 Lawrence formed the Tee Mamou Playboys, a band basically composed of his own family: Eula Mae Fruge on steel guitar, Luderin Fruge on drums, Joseph (J. U.) Fruge on guitar, and his son, Lawrence "Blackie" Jr., on fiddle. While playing as the Tee Mamou Playboys, they recorded "Country Boy Waltz" and "'T' Mamou" on the TNT label (#104). Although they were playing as the Tee Mamou Playboys the record label reads Lawrence Fruge & the Country Boys.1    Quite possibly a recording done at KPLC in Lake Charles by Eddie Shuler, he was known to outsource some of his recordings to Bob Tanner in San Antonio.  Better known as "Tit Mamou", it was a similar tune to Lee Sonnier's "Cankton Two Step". 

You have gone so far away,

Pretty little everything, to little Mamou,

Remember your words and what you have done,

Well, it hurts me so.

Yeh, baby, you know,

Yourself, all the words,

You know what you have done,

Pretty little everything, it hurts me so.

I know, pretty little everything,

All the words, I can't dare say,

What you've done, well, to your man,

Pretty little sweetheart, it hurts me so.

Lawrence taught four of his five children the instruments of Cajun music and they remained around the Jeff Davis Parish area, working and playing music throughout their life.1  

1. "Cajun Dancehall Heyday" by Ron Yule
2. Lyrics by Jordy A
3. Photo by Ron Yule

Release Info:
TNT-104 Country Boy Waltz | TNT 104 (1)
TNT-104 Te Mamou | TNT 104 (2)