Of all the accordion led recordings of the late 1940s, one stands out as a curiosity. It was a 1949 pressing by record producer Virgil Bozman on his own O.T. label. Virgil's foray into country music and Cajun music simultaneously culminated into this obscure recording session with a local western swing outfit known as Lacy Adaway And His Ranch House Boys.
Lacy was a native of Sulphur, Louisiana and fought in WWII. When he returned, he got a job working as a pipe fitter in the oil industry and formed a group with his Ranch House Boys, possibly an ode to Johnny Gimble. Around 1949, the band recorded two sides, one being an instrumental entitled the "Sulphur Two Step" (#108).
The surprising element in the recording is that the instrumental is led purely by an accordion player. Immediately, Nathan Abshire fans will recognize the sound of his old Monarch accordion, prominent on many other O.T. releases. At several points throughout the song, a keen listener will notice Nathan's iconic yelp: "Hah!". Is this a lost recording of Nathan Abshire? If so, why did Virgil attempt to merge these two artists?
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| Lacy Adaway |
Clearly, artistic differences were at play. The audio seems to suggest tension between Nathan and the other musicians in Lacy's band since there's no evidence they knew Cajun music. Nathan repeats the same droning riff throughout the song, keeping Lacy's band from having to guess turns and chord changes. The flip-side contains a country tune by The Ranch House Boys. Although the accordion is present, Nathan's playing is barely audible—fading in and out occasionally.
Although the mashup was a failure, Virgil didn't seem to care. By this point, Nathan's own group, the Pine Grove Boys, was gaining popularity and his recordings were taking off in the jukeboxes. Lacy's career, however, never materialized much further than a few recordings produced around Lake Charles. His band recorded again for George Khoury in the early 1950s and afterwards, it seems they disbanded. In the 70s, Lacy carried around his "famous" guitar, one played by Hank Williams Sr.
Very interesting item Wade. You refer to '109' but the scan shows the cat.# as 108 (109 was a Bozman release). What is the title of the 'A' side? Is Nathan Abshire's prescence just an inspired guess?
ReplyDeleteNick Leigh
Hey Nick. Thanks for catching the clerical error. Yes, his presence is just an inspired guess, but I think the justifications listed in the article point to him. Otherwise, who else could it be? Like I told Lyle, "if it's not Nathan, than it's surely someone that picked up his exact sounding accordion and played it." A side is a country title "Louisiana King", sung in English.
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