"Silver Star Stomp" - Hackberry Ramblers

By the late 1940s the Hackberry Ramblers had evolved from a small string band into a large western swing ensemble, complete with a horn section. Edwin Duhon now played acoustic bass, piano, or accordion, as the moment demanded, all the while working in the oilfields. The group made some fine recordings with this configuration for the Deluxe label.1  Deluxe had recorded the group at a club across the street from the Silver Star dance hall in Sulphur, Louisiana one night after performing.  Luderin Darbone played fiddle and sang while Lennis Sonnier backed him up on rhythm guitar.

 Hired in 1946, the Silver Star was a place where the Ramblers often outplayed Cliff Bruner's group during battle-of-the-bands competitions.  Sometimes they'd win dance contests simply by striking up their French version of local favorite "Jole Blon".   Recalling performing opposite a number of popular musicians, including Moon Mullican and T. Texas Tyler, Edwin Duhon stated:

We'd play "Jole Blon".  They'd count how many dancers.  We'd win every time.  Cliff Bruner, same way. We just beat the shit out of him.2,4 

Tu m'as quitté pour t'en aller, pour t'en aller avec un autre,

Audjourd'hui, j'apres me braillier, 

J'apres me braillier, pour t'en venir, t'en venir avec un nègre, 

Audjourd'hui, j'apres me braillier. 

Lake Charles American Press
Sep 17, 1954

Places like the Silver Star dotted Hwy 90 during the 1940s.  The Star's "house band" during the late 1940s, led by guitarist Amos Comeaux, occasionally would broadcast live from the dancehall itself via KWSL.  Accordion to author and historian Nola Mae Ross:

Nearly every square foot along a 35 mile strip from Westlake (Louisiana) to Orange (Texas), called the "Silver Strip", was occupied by a dance hall or casino with back rooms where gambling was enjoyed by thousands of area citizens.5

Hackberry Ramblers, 1948
Lennis Sonnier, Neal Roberts, Lefty Boggs,
Luderin Darbone, Edwin Duhon

In order to compete with the "big band" crazy in the 1940s, the Hackberry Ramblers changed up their lineup in order to land performances in the same venues as big orchestras.  The 1948 tune "Silver Star Stomp" (#6038) is a swinging version of Papa Cairo's "Big Texas" with a brass accompaniment by Gary Major on saxophone and Neil Roberts on trumpet.  Throughout the song, Grover Heard fills in with a rocking guitar solo. The remaining band had Edwin Duhon on bass and Lefty Boggs on drums.  The whole session for DeLuxe was recorded live at a dance-hall across the street from the Silver Star.  According to Luderin:

We started at the Silver Star in 1946 and played until '56.  We built our home with the money from the dances I played. Each brick on our home represents one tune I played, during the 10 years of Saturday nights at the Silver Star on old Highway 90.3,7

You've left me to go away, to go away with another,

Today, I'm crying,

I'm crying, for you've come back, you've come back to your man,

Today, I'm crying. 

Lake Charles American Press
May 20, 1954

By the early 1960s, however, demand for the Ramblers’ sound dwindled, along with general interest in Cajun music. Luderin Darbone considered disbanding the group, but Chris Strachwitz—the guiding force behind Arhoolie Records, who has documented a wealth of Louisiana music—encouraged the Hackberry Ramblers to stay active. Strachwitz recorded the Ramblers in 1963 and also reissued some of their Bluebird classics.1    


According to author and Hackberry Ramblers drummer, Ben Sandmel,

I think "Silver Star Stomp" reflects southwest Louisiana's transition from a totally isolated rural agrarian French-speaking area to a far more industrialized (primarily oil) bilingual region where Cajun culture interacted significantly with mainstream America, in the context of vast changes in communication which made that interaction ever more far-reaching.  Some of the other DeLuxe sides are weak but this one, to my ear, is a gem.  And it really gives a sense of evolving music history.6  

1. https://www.knowlouisiana.org/entry/hackberry-ramblers/
2. Crossroads: A Southern Culture Annual By Ted Olson
3. http://ereserves.mcneese.edu/depts/archive/FTBooks/hackberry.htm
4. Cajun Breakdown: The Emergence of an American-Made Music By Ryan Andre Brasseaux
5. Louisana Folklife Journal. Vol 37.  2013.  Ron Yule.
6. Discussions with Ben S
7. Cajun Dancehall Heyday by Ron Yule 
8. Lyrics by Smith S

Release Info:
D 942 Dans Le Grand Bois | Deluxe 6038-A
D 944 Silver Star Stomp | Deluxe 6038-AA