Alcide "Blind Uncle" Gaspard was a blind vocalist and guitarist from Louisiana who alternated between string-band music (in a band with his brothers) and traditional Cajun balladry on his recordings for Vocalion. Born in Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana in 1880, he became blind when he was seven. Gaspard formed his first band with his brothers Victor and Amade. When he began recording in the late 1920s it was as a backing guitarist for fiddler Delma Lachney. He also recorded some solo selections during these sessions. Little else is known about Gaspard, though four of his sides (and a few of his appearances with Lachney) appear on the Yazoo compilation Early American Cajun Music released in 1999. Gaspard died in 1937.
Famous quotes containing the words blind and/or uncle:
“There is nothing more poetic and terrible than the skyscrapers’ battle with the heavens that cover them. Snow, rain, and mist highlight, drench, or conceal the vast towers, but those towers, hostile to mystery and blind to any sort of play, shear off the rain’s tresses and shine their three thousand swords through the soft swan of the fog.”
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