Swamp Pop - Roots and Early History

Roots and Early History

As children, swamp pop musicians listened to (and often performed) traditional Cajun music and black Creole (zydeco) music, as well as popular country and western (hillbilly) songs by musicians like Bob Wills, Moon Mullican and Hank Williams, Sr. In the mid-1950s, however, like other American youths, they discovered the alluring new sounds of rock and roll and rhythm and blues artists like Elvis Presley and Fats Domino. As a result, these teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles stopped playing Louisiana French folk compositions like “Jolie blonde,” “Allons à Lafayette,” and “Les flammes d’enfer” and instead began to sing rock and roll and rhythm and blues compositions in English. At the same time, they switched from folk instruments like the accordion, fiddle, and iron triangle to modern instruments, such as the electric guitar and bass, upright piano, saxophone, and drumming trap set.

By the late 1950s, swamp pop musicians had developed their own distinct sound and repertoires. They performed to receptive crowds in local dancehalls like the Southern Club in Opelousas, Landry’s Palladium in Lafayette, and the Green Lantern in Lawtell. In addition, they released recordings on local record labels, such as Floyd Soileau’s Jin label of Ville Platte, Eddie Shuler’s Goldband of Lake Charles, Carol Rachou’s La Louisianne of Lafayette, Huey Meaux’s Crazy Cajun label of Houston, and a number of labels owned by J. D. Miller of Crowley, Louisiana (who also recorded swamp pop tunes for larger national labels, such as Ernie Young’s Excello Records label of Nashville).

Swamp pop musicians often adopted Anglo-American stage names that masked their Cajun and black Creole surnames. John Allen Guillot, for example, became Johnnie Allan; Robert Charles Guidry became Bobby Charles; Joe Barrios became Joe Barry; Elwood Dugas became Bobby Page; and Terry Gene DeRouen became Gene Terry. Some of these musicians changed their names because they were ashamed of their rural French heritage — a feeling shared at the time by a segment of the Cajun and black Creole populations. But economics motivated most swamp pop musicians: They wanted to sell records not only in southern Louisiana and southeast Texas, but beyond, where the pronunciation of ethnic surnames like Guillot, Barrios, and DeRouen eluded record promoters, disc jockeys, and consumers.

Despite its obvious rock and roll and rhythm & blues influences, swamp pop was not devoid of folk characteristics. For example, Bobby Page and the Riff Raffs recorded “Hippy-Ti-Yo,” a bilingual rock ‘n’ roll version of the traditional Cajun French song “Hip et taïaut,” and Rod Bernard did the same with “Allons danser Colinda,” another important folk composition. Joe Barry re-recorded his swamp pop hit “I’m A Fool To Care” in French under the title “Je suis bête pour t’aimer.” And Randy and the Rockets issued “Let’s Do The Cajun Twist,” an English remake of the Cajun French favorite “Allons à Lafayette.”