2005 is going to be another great year to travel to SW Louisiana and learn
more about playing the Cajun accordion, dancing and eating. (I may
even imbibe in a few Budweisers!)
I think that the best part of traveling is the people you
meet, and I'm sure that this season will be no exception!
But, I'm always looking for common ground when jamming at
Augusta Heritage in Elkins West Virginia or at Balfa Heritage week, or
the jams in Amana Colonies Iowa, Smokey Hollow campsite and Dodgeville's
Cajun Weekend in Wisconsin.
So, what I've done here is recorded several clips of
myself playing some of the tunes that I have been working on in hopes that
others may be inspired to learn these tunes (or, accompaniments/fiddle
parts to the tunes) that will serve as "jam fodder"!
So, here they are:
"Between Eunice & Opelousas"
written by Mark Savoy. The title is where his shop is located!
Steve Riley taught me the foundation licks for this tune. "Wandering Aces
Special" written by Lawrence Walker. This is another one that Steve
showed us at the Balfa Heritage week. "Walfus Two Step",
a great starting tune for learning the box! "Cajun Exercise" by Octa
Clark. I learned this from his CD which is still available thru his
son! "Cajun Hot Soles", another Octa
Clark tune. Dirk Powell taught us this tune at Elkins Augusta
Heritage two seasons back. "Cajun Two Step" I learned this tune from a BeauSoleil
CD and had recorded it on our last Big Nick CD, "Big Nick Picnic" as well. "Church Point
Breakdown", another tune that Steve taught us at BHW in Chicot. This
version features my Cajun French vocal attempts :-) "Dog Hill" a tune by
the very cool, late Boozoo Chavis. It's a fun lick to play! "Johnny Can't Dance" as shown to me by Robert Jardell.
It's a nice dance tune and Robert is a gentleman and heartfelt player! "Lacassine
Special" which must be about equivalent to Louie-Louie at jams
sessions by now! "The Back Door" which was taught to us by Paul Daigle at BHW.
I hope to learn the lyrics some day! "Pointe Au Pic"
which is really a Canadian tunes, but I love it! Steve also taught
us this one. "Vagabond Two Step"
as I learned it from Mark Savoy's 'The World Accordion to Mark's' video
tape. "Valse De Pins" as I learned it from Dirk
Powell at Folklore Village in Dodgeville WI. And, lastly, "Perrodin
Two Step" as I learned it from Mark Savoy's 'The World Accordion to
Mark's' video tape.
Phew! Well, that's it for now. Hope you enjoy,
or are at least amused by my ramblings and tunes!
These clips were paired down to a 9600 bit rate as MP3's
so they stayed small. Should anyone be interested, send my an email
and I can burn a high (audio) quality CD and mail it for my cost.
