SFBAYou.com
Providing Cajun & Zydeco information on the Web since 1995
©Andrea D. Rubinstein, 1995-2007
Visit my new Amazon Store for Cajun, Creole & Zydeco music, book & video recommendations (and help support this website).
Bay Area Calendar
(maintained by Ellen Papper)
This website is created and maintained by Andrea Rubinstein.
I've been taking Juice Plus+ since 1996.
|
SFBAYou WebSite Design Services and Consulting for Cajun & Zydeco websites |
OLD-TIME MEETS CAJUN - THE (ALMOST) LOST RECORDING BY DENNIS MCGEE AND SADY COURVILLE
by Jack Bond (Maryland)
This article is about
Dennis McGee and Sady Courville, two icons of traditional Cajun music. They
made many classic recordings in 1929 and 1930. Their fiddling styles were
powerful and unique. In 1972, after not making any recordings for forty-two
years, they made a record for Morning Star Records. It is in danger of being
lost.
The following quote is from the book "Desert Solitaire" by Edward Abbey. It was
written about ancient pictographs and petroglyphs in southern Utah, but it also
applies to traditional music and the musicians who played the music:
"Whether crude or elegant, representational or abstract, very old or relatively
new, all of the work was done in a manner pleasing to contemporary taste, with
its vogue for the stylized and primitive. The ancient canyon art of Utah belongs
in that same international museum without walls which makes African sculpture,
Melanesian masks, and the junkyards of New Jersey equally interesting - those
voices of silence which speak to us in the first world language. As for the
technical competence of the artists, its measure is apparent in the fact that
these pictures and petroglyphs…still survive vivid and clear. How much of the
painting and sculpture (or music) being done in America today will last - in the
merely physical sense for even half a century?"
On July 30, 1972, after an appearance at the National Folk Festival in
Washington, D.C.,, Dennis McGee and Sady Courville traveled to Frederick,
Maryland, to make their first recording in more than 40 years. Dick Spottswood,
who worked for the Library of Congress and is a prominent musicologist and
authority on old-time traditional music, had made arrangements with Richard
Nevins, then the President of Morning Star Records, to have them make the
historic recording. They went to the home of Joe Bussard, one of the most
well-known collectors of 78 rpm records (He has more than 25,000 of them), to
make the recording. Charles Faurot was the recording engineer. Charles has
recorded numerous old-time fiddle and string bands from Maryland to Texas. He
was (or is) the best. Charles made the master tapes for the recording. By a
stroke of brilliance, Joe also taped the entire recording session, including the
music and conversation among those in the room. The completed album was released
in 1972 on the Morning Star label (#16001).
Although I knew of Sady Courville and Dennis McGee from many of their 1920's
recordings , their music came to life for me in September 1998 at Festivals
Acadiens when I heard Eric and Clay Chapman play their music. Eric and Clay are
the grandsons of Sady Courville. The day was gray and hot; severe thunderstorms
were predicted. For one hour, they played tunes in the style that their
grandfather and Dennis McGee had played. Most of the crowd stopped dancing to
listen. Many advanced to be near the stage. Eric and Clay gave a magical,
spellbinding sample of fiddle-playing in the old style of Dennis and Sady. While
they played, the weather became threatening. A storm was approaching and the
crowd was apprehensive; but Eric and Clay never hesitated - they just kept
playing. The crowd never wavered, and the storm passed. From that time I wanted
to hear everything that Dennis and Sady had recorded. I understood why they are
revered Cajun musicians. At the time, I did not know about the Morning Star
#16001 recording.
By early 2001, I had learned that Morning Star had released two recordings by
Dennis McGee in the early 1970's, but I had not found either of them.
Fortunately, I found one of them on ebay almost hidden in a bulk offering of
albums by Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Glen Miller, and others. No one bought the
set; so I contacted the seller and offered to purchase the single album by
Dennis McGee. The seller agreed to sell it to me. When I received the album, I
learned that it was Morning Star #45002, titled "The Early Recordings of Dennis
McGee, Featuring Sady Courville & Ernest Fruge"(The other Morning Star record).
All of the tunes on the album were also on a CD released in 1994 by Yazoo
Records, Two things, however, made this album special. First, a marvelous
booklet written by Jean Stewart, Barry Ancelet, and Tracy Schwarz was included .
The authors explained far better than I could why the fiddle styles of Dennis
and Sady were so unique and intriguing. Jean Stewart also referred to the
second Morning Star album (#16001) when she wrote, "Listen also to Morning
Star's recently recorded album of Dennis McGee and S.D. Courville…and shake your
head in amazement at the extraordinary vitality in the playing of these two men
(then 80 and 68 respectively)…" Second, several months later, a friend was
examining the record cover when he said, "Look at this…Dennis and Sady signed
this album cover!" He was correct.
By then, I had learned more about the second Morning Star recording, and had
almost become obsessed with finding it. My search intensified. After spending
untold hours on the internet searching for possible sources for the album and
talking with many people around the United States who might help me find it , I
began to sense that there might not be many copies of the album still available.
Despite many references to it, the album seemed to have disappeared. Few people
knew about it. In September 2001, I asked Marc Savoy if he had any
suggestions. He said that I should contact Dick Spottswood in Washington, D.C.
Marc did not tell me why I should call Dick; but when I returned to Maryland, I
called him. Our first conversation was rather abrupt. He told me that he had
only one copy and did not know where I might find another one. Another dead end!
Several weeks later, however, I happened to be reading an old copy of the Times
of Acadiana that had a hilarious interview with D.L. Menard in which he
recounted an effort in the 1970's by Dick Spottswood to get D.L. and his band to
come to Washington. I made a copy and mailed it to Dick. He thanked me; and this
time, told me to contact Richard Nevins, the President of Shanachie
Entertainment and Yazoo Records. He also told me how to contact him.
Richard Nevins has released many classic recordings of Old-Time Appalachian
music on his Yazoo label. He has also released superb CD compilations by Dennis
McGee and Leo Soileau. Several months earlier, I had tried unsuccessfully to
contact him, but this time I could tell him that Dick Spottswood suggested that
I contact him. I sent him an email asking if he had any suggestions for finding
the #16001 album. He answered and said that he had copies somewhere, but did not
know where they were. He told me to contact him every three months or so to see
if he had been able to find a copy. That was encouraging, but not encouraging
enough. I could not understand why someone who had released this historic album
could not find copies of it.
About that time, I had also become interested in old-time Appalachian music and
had begun buying Old-Time CDs of Appalachian music from County Records (countysales.com).
I knew that David Freeman, President of County Records, periodically offered
closed auctions of old LPs and that some of them were recordings of Cajun music.
I decided to ask him if he had any suggestions for finding the Morning Star
#16001 album. He answered and said that he had recently obtained a copy of the
album from an estate sale in Alabama and that he would be willing to sell it to
me. I sent him a check the next day - finally - success! I believed the story
was complete, but that turned out not to be correct.
It was not until I received the album that I realized that it had been recorded
at Joe Bussard's house. Dick Spottswood had hosted the appearance by Dennis and
Sady at the National Folk Festival in Washington, D.C., and had made
arrangements for a recording session the day following their appearance. I asked
Dick how he was able to get Dennis and Sady to go to Joe's house. He said,
"Getting McGee & Courville to Bussard's house was no particular achievement. I
do remember Bussard going nuts at having them there, and calling them a pair of
"walking Vocalions," after the label they first recorded for in 1929."
The album has twelve tunes, most of which had not previously appeared on record.
The only musical instruments are fiddles - no bass, accordion, or rhythm guitar.
The album is superb. The music is as Roger Weiss described their playing style -
"a "less-beautiful" form of music…raw…impassioned…"
In January of this year, I was reading an interesting website on Cajun music (npmusic.org)
when I noticed a section about Dennis McGee and Sady Courville that refers to
the 1972 recording session at Joe Bussard's house. I contacted Neal Pomea, the
owner of the site, and asked if the sample of songs on his site came from the
Morning Star #16001 album. Much to my surprise, he said that they came from
tapes that Joe had made of the recording session and that Joe was offering them
for sale. How could it be that these tapes had existed for nearly 31 years and
no one had ever mentioned them? I had the end product and now I could learn what
happened at the recording session from which the record was produced! I was
excited.
I also learned that Neal lives in Colesville, Maryland, less than 30 minutes
from my house. He told me that he was going to visit Joe the following weekend
and offered to buy me a copy of the tapes. The following week, Neal brought me
three cassette tapes that cover more than four hours of the recording session.
As mentioned earlier, Joe Bussard, Dick Spottswood, Charles Faurot, Dennis and
Sady were present. The fidelity of the music and the spoken words by Sady and
Dennis are terrific. The microphones were placed in front of Dennis and Sady.
Words from the others who were further from the microphones are more difficult
to understand. I found that I could hear all of the conversation better with
headphones. That was important because Dick, Charles, and Joe prompted much of
the conversation by asking questions and making the musicians comfortable. And
comfortable they were! Dennis and Sady loved to talk. They talked about growing
up in Louisiana; about musicians with whom they played; about the songs that
they were playing; about their first recordings. Sady wanted to answer every
question. Dennis was more impatient. Often in the middle of the conversation,
Dennis would say, "Let's play!" and then you would hear his "bow biting into the
strings." On the tapes, there are also approximately fifteen additional tunes
that are not on the record.
Coupled with the completed album, the additional tunes and the conversation,
the tapes are the Dead Sea Scrolls of Cajun music! When listening to the tapes,
I stepped back in time to hear "live" conversation between two Cajun legends and
three icons of old-time music. Thirty-one years later, I was in the room with
them participating in a historic recording session!
Surely, these "musical pictographs" should be preserved. Just as the pictographs
and petroglyphs on canyon walls in southern Utah are treasured, all of the
recorded works of Dennis McGee and Sady Courville should be preserved and made
available to the public. People like Edward Abbey have contributed to an
understanding that the canyon country of southern Utah is precious and should be
preserved. People like Dick Spottswood, Richard Nevins, David Freeman, Ken
Irwin, Joe Bussard, and Charles Faurot have made major contributions to the
preservation of old-time music by finding and releasing numerous recordings of
old-time music on CDs. Who is interested in doing the same thing for Cajun
music?
Alas, I have had no luck in getting anyone interested in remastering the album
and adding the unreleased songs for a new CD. True, for the tapes of the
recording session to have the most entertainment and historical value, someone
would have to apply some technology to make the conversation more audible; but
that could be done. Richard Nevins said, "When I say we cannot issue it, I mean
because of costs and inability to market such specialized items effectively."
Chris Strachwitz said, "…but this music is really pretty awful - they were not
at their best…"
I was angry at the comments by Chris Strachwitz. Here was someone who has
probably released more terrific recordings of older Cajun music than anyone, and
he is unable to recognize the beauty of these musical pictographs! Unforgivable!
I agree with comments made by Dick Spottswood during the recording session: "You
are playing the best I have heard you…I didn't know that two fiddles could make
that much music!"
After reflection, I remembered something that Richard Nevins told me. Last year,
in relation to my interest in Dennis McGee, I tried to interest Richard Nevins
in recording Eric and Clay Chapman on his label. Because he had released several
recordings of Dennis and Sady, I suggested that he should record two terrific
contemporary fiddlers who play in their style. With the help of a number of
people, I was able to send him a sample of their music. His response was:
"Thanks very much for the CD of Eric and Clay - I enjoyed it and it is
certainly nice to see young folks keeping alive old traditions!! I hate to
convey bad news to you, but it will be very hard to get a record company to
issue a CD of these young folks, as it would be near impossible to get record
stores to carry it…The criteria for record companies to record an artist have
very little to do with how good (or bad) the musician's playing is, but a great
deal to do with what demand there is by the public for the artist's music. Yes,
this is even true of smaller independent labels now, as they too wish to
survive. 20 years ago it was a lot easier to just put out something because you
liked it - costs were next to nothing back then!!…'
In a related exchange, Richard further said: " They (music stores) don't want
traditional Cajun records because their customers don't want them …" Maybe Chris
is just tired of fighting the battle.
What to do? I have not succeeded in my pet endeavors. I have not found anyone
interested in working with the Dennis McGee/Sady Courville album and recording
session to release one or more CDs of their work. I was not able to help or even
convince Eric and Clay Chapman to make a recording. After humbling reflection, I
understand that I cannot do those things alone. There are, however, some little
things that each of us can do. The musicians and the music that they have
preserved on recordings can use our help:
1. Do everything that we can to learn about recorded Cajun music, both new and
old. A terrific place to begin is Neal Pomea's website at npmusic.org. Listen to
Pete Bergeron's radio program on KRVS from 6:00 to 8:00 Eastern Time am every
weekday. Read the inserts and booklets on recordings that you already own. If
you can find it, read the entertaining book titled "Let the Good Times Roll - A
Guide to Cajun & Zydeco music by Pat Nyhan, Brian Rollins, and David Babb.
2. Purchase Cajun recordings wherever you can find them. I have long thought
that there is a pressing need for a single place to purchase Cajun music like
countysales.com. Buying recordings from countysales.com is a pleasure. They have
the most comprehensive catalogue anywhere for Old-Time, Bluegrass, and old
Country music. They even have several terrific Cajun recordings. Some company
should establish a comparable site for Cajun recordings. True, Cajun music is
best when played "live," but the recordings are a nice complement to "live"
appearances. And they portray a colorful and entertaining culture (Besides, have
you ever watched older Cajun musicians light up and get twenty years younger
when they play before people who respond to their music? - a powerful youth
potion possible for all of us.)
3. Whenever you have an opportunity to see "live" Cajun music in person, attend.
Dance! Let the musicians know that you love their music.
4. Encourage your friends and acquaintances to experience first-hand your own
Cajun experiences.
5. Have a good "plate lunch" whenever you have the opportunity.
Those are just a few modest suggestions. We can help to preserve the music and
support those who need our help to be able to continue to playing it - a truly
worthy cause!
Jack Bond
rjbond@aol.com
