Cajun Greats The Hackberry Ramblers Spice Up Hall of Fame
By Michael Gray
www.country.com - December 1999
  
The quiet library of the Country Music Hall of Fame in Nashville was recently transformed into a swinging, down-home Louisiana dancehall of sorts when the Hackberry Ramblers dropped by to donate historic instruments to the museum.

Original bandmembers Luderin Darbone, 86, and Edwin Duhon, 89, donated the fiddle and guitar they used when they formed the Hackberry Ramblers in 1933. The December 3rd private donation ceremony took place one day before the Hackberry Ramblers -- one of the longest-running bands in the country -- realized a lifelong dream by debuting on the Grand Ole Opry.

Fiddler Darbone, accordionist Duhon, electric guitarist Glen Croker, upright bassist Johnny Faulk and drummer Ben Sandmel performed their seamless blend of Cajun music, Western swing, blues and rockabilly during their afternoon visit to the Hall of Fame. Cajun dancers two-stepped as The Hackberry Ramblers swung their way through "Jolie Blon," "Old Pipeliner," "Proud Mary," "Whole Lotta Shakin' Goin' On," "Johnny B. Goode" and several other festive numbers in the library-turned-music joint.
  
The Lake Charles, LA based combo was joined by country star Rodney Crowell, who appears on both of the group's recent albums, Cajun Boogie from 1993 and the Grammy-nominated Deep Water from 1997.

"When I was asked to come and say something about the Hackberry Ramblers, all I had to do was think about my childhood," said Houston native Crowell. "The Texas and Louisiana coast is a culture all of its own. This music that the Hackberry Ramblers makes is really indicative of what that culture is and what it means. What it means is white cowboy hats that you're supposed to take off when you're in the house, it means white shirts rolled up three cuffs, it means clean black slacks and shined cowboy boots. Sometimes it means hangovers on Sunday morning, and you're in church anyway.

"I'm really grateful to the Hall of Fame for recognizing the crown jewel of that culture -- The Hackberry Ramblers." Darbone and Duhon started the group in the small oil field town of Hackberry, La., and began performing for dances and radio broadcasts. The Hackberry Ramblers were one of the first Cajun bands to incorporate Anglo-American country music, especially the then-new Western swing sounds of Bob Wills.

The Ramblers also introduced amplification to the dancehalls of southwest Louisiana. Few of these remote nightclubs had electricity, so Darbone powered his Sears-Roebuck P.A. from the engine of his Model-A Ford, which idled outside the club all evening.

In 1935 the Hackberry Ramblers began recording for RCA-Bluebird. Their output included the first version of the Cajun classic "Jolie Blon," under that title. (The song was first recorded in 1929 as "Ma Blonde Est Parti.")
  
The 1927 fiddle The Hackberry Ramblers presented to the Hall of Fame is the same one used on that seminal recording session. Darbone shared some of the instrument's long, interesting history with those in attendance. "My dad was working for an oil company near Beaumont, Texas, and for some reason they didn't find oil and the company ran short of funds, and they were unable to pay the employees," he began. "It so happened they owned a jewelry shop in Port Arthur, Texas. The fellow that owned the company came over to my dad and he said, 'We can't pay you in cash, but if you want to go to the jewelry store in Port Arthur and pick out what we owe you, we'll consider that as payment for working at the oil company.'

"Sure enough, one day my dad said, 'Let's go to Port Arthur -- I want to try to get you a new fiddle.' I walk in this store, and there was a fiddle hanging on the wall. I told my dad, 'That looks like a pretty good fiddle.' He said, 'OK, we're going to take it.' So, he asked the person behind the counter the cost of the fiddle, and it was $20. That was pretty expensive in those days -- with $20 you could buy a lot of groceries."

"In 1937 I bought the other fiddle that I'm using now," he continued, jumping ahead several years. "I put the (older) fiddle aside in the case and put it under the bed. I had a service station with a room in the back. I didn't check this fiddle at all, but after awhile I happened to open the case one day and it was all unglued. I guess the moisture on the concrete had caused it to come to pieces.

"So, instead of throwing it away, I put it up in my attic, and it stayed there until 1982. There was a fellow I knew who had just retired, and he was learning to make fiddles. He was a friend of Edwin Duhon, also, and they had talked about this fiddle being unglued. He told Edwin to bring the fiddle to him, and he would try to put it back together. Now it looks like a brand new factory-made fiddle."

"Jolie Blon" and many other historic Hackberry Rambler recordings have been reissued on CD by the Hall of Fame as part of a three-volume Cajun anthology including Le Gran Mamou (1990), Raise Your Window (1993) and Gran Prairie (1993). "We came here about 15 years ago to be interviewed," said Darbone. "We sort of became attached to the Hall of Fame, but never thinking we would be honored like we've been honored today."




Let the good times roll and roll and roll
By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY
September 18, 2002

The Hackberry Ramblers, immune to music industry tenets limiting longevity and relevance, hit their prime when they hit their 80s. Luderin Darbone, 89, and Edwin Duhon, 92, founded the Louisiana band in 1933 with fantasies of playing Nashville's venerable Grand Ole Opry. They got there 64 years later.

"People were hollering," Duhon recalls. "Some of them heavyset big-breasted women almost choked me to death! We sold enough records so that I got $26 and Darbone got $26 in royalties in one night."

Today, the pair is in Washington, D.C., to collect Heritage Fellowships for folk and traditional arts from the National Endowment for the Arts, capping a late-career winning streak sparked by 1993's Cajun Boogie, the band's first album in 30 years. The Grammy-nominated Deep Water followed in 1997, netting an MTV appearance with Hanson.

This year brought more milestones, including their first excursions to Europe for shows in Holland and France, a debut at the Newport Folk Festival and center stage in John Whitehead's upcoming documentary, Make 'Em Dance!

"We are the oldest band in the country," Darbone says. "We're too old to retire." Darbone was playing fiddle in Hackberry, La., when Duhon moved in across the street with an accordion, guitar and violin. They formed a string band in 1933, predating not only computers, CDs and Velcro but also color TV, vinyl LPs and nylon.

"We didn't think we'd play big dance halls, just house parties," Darbone says. "In those days, you'd pass the hat and pick up a few dollars." The players, earning $3 a night, built a strong regional following after landing a Monday morning radio show and scoring a hit in 1936 with Jolie Blonde, one of 82 songs they recorded for RCA.

As the venues grew, Darbone worried that listeners at the back couldn't hear. So in 1934 he ordered a $50 public-address system from a catalog and introduced electronic amplification to the region. In halls without electricity, the PA was rigged to run off Darbone's idling 1931 Model A Ford.

"People came from all over to hear the sound system," he says. "I retired it after two years. It was hard on the car." They nearly disbanded in 1963 after 10 years of steady work at the Silver Star Club near Lake Charles. "We'd been there so long they got tired of our music, and the crowd started dropping off," Darbone says. "The owner closed shop and put us out of a job."

The band kept playing at parties, reunions and nursing homes and got a second wind when Arhoolie Records released fresh recordings and RCA classics. During a career that has spanned 13 presidents, Darbone and Duhon survived everything from the Depression to disco to each other. "Luderin claims he organized the Hackberry Ramblers, but I'm the one that started it," says Duhon, who also takes credit for inventing zydeco. "I taught him the French numbers, but he'll say different. He's like a brother, so I don't want to take him to court."

Guitarist Glen Croker, a relative youngster at 68, says, "The two old ones are really a trip." He joined in 1959. "It's the ability to play music that keeps us going. We use the KISS principle: 'Keep it simple, stupid.' I'm playing strictly melody, where a guy can hum. Another secret to our success is we surprise you. We'll play a French waltz, then turn around and do Proud Mary."

Croker, who says he is amazed that the band draws fans under 35, especially to annual slots at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival, was apprehensive about playing at that city's rock-leaning Mermaid Lounge. "I saw the green hair, so I knew they'd boo us," he says. "Shoot, they followed us outside, wanted autographs, wanted to hear the whole history."

Ben Sandmel, the baby at 50, spied the Ramblers at the 1984 World's Fair in New Orleans and booked them in Baton Rouge in 1987. When they arrived without a drummer, he sat in and never left. Bassist Johnny Faulk, 77, completes the quintet. Sandmel, author of Zydeco!, formed garage bands in the Beatles era and later played with such blues greats as pianist Sunnyland Slim, harmonica player Big Walter Horton and guitarist Jimmy Johnson. He recorded Drinkin' and Stinkin' with Boogie Bill Webb before joining the Ramblers.

"I pulled the plug on Boogie Bill's last Jazzfest gig because he was really ill and didn't know his music anymore," Sandmel says. "I've seen elderly musicians dragged out on stage when they were way past it, and it's sad. The Ramblers are a bit of a novelty attraction because of their age, but the appeal isn't the fact that they're technically still breathing. While there's some obvious decline of skills, they've still got a strong groove and a solid level of musicianship. The novelty factor helps get publicity, but these aren't fossils."

Sandmel, who also functions as the Ramblers' producer, publicist, booking agent, road manager and referee, says their jaunty Cajun two-step isn't far removed from British Invasion beats he grew up on. "It's dance music. That's why we get the 20-year-olds with body piercings as well as the older folks who want their 78s autographed. If people don't dance, the guys get a little uncomfortable. We're not the slickest band in the world, but we fulfill our basic function to make people feel good."

While Duhon grouses constantly ("Glen plays so damn loud, he drowns us out. Don't tell him that."), he's a Rambler for life. "I ain't ever retiring," says the father of 12. "I asked a doctor in Houston if I should stop doing music. He said, 'Keep playing; it works your mind.' He knew I couldn't stop seeing women. I date two nurses. I'm hot-natured that way; I got my daddy's gene."

Darbone, a widower living in Sulphur, La., says the band is his lifeline. The childhood violin lessons he got by mail for $8 a month "really paid off," he says. "It would be a dull life without music."



 
2002 National Heritage Fellowships
LUDERIN DARBONE and EDWIN DUHON
www.arts.gov/endownews/news02/Heritage2002.html - June 6, 2002

Luderin Darbone and Edwin Duhon co-founded the legendary Cajun band, The Hackberry Ramblers, in 1933 and have been leading the band ever since. This long-lived ensemble has combined its native Louisiana French repertoire with string band, Western Swing, and popular ingredients to produce a unique but continually appealing musical program. The group became widely popular in southwestern Louisiana and East Texas by the end of the 1930s, appearing on live radio broadcasts and recording for RCA's Bluebird label, cutting over 100 titles by the end of the 1940s.

Darbone and Duhon were the first musicians to bring electronic amplification to area dancehalls, running a P.A. system off the idling engine of Darbone's Model-A Ford. The remarkable careers of Darbone and Duhon have seen several revivals of popularity and many different bandmates through the years. In 1993, they released their first album in 30 years, called Cajun Boogie. Their 1997 recording Deep Water earned The Hackberry Ramblers a Grammy nomination and an appearance on MTV. "I guess everybody enjoys their life," Darbone reflected at the time. "But being able to play music has added to mine. My life as an ordinary citizen has been good. But if you add the music, it doubles it." In 1999, they fulfilled a lifelong dream by playing at the Grand Ole Opry and in 2002 they made their European debut.

Photos courtesy of Louisiana State University at Eunice




Dylan-free Newport still a Delight
Music Review/by Daniel Gewertz Boston Herald
Monday, August 5, 2002

Newport Folk Festival, Fort Adams State Park, Newport, R.I., yesterday. What a difference a day makes. Bob Dylan may not have been at Newport yesterday, but the vibe was far more pleasant and the music was superior.

Think Dylan's return to Newport after 37 years was historic? For pure musical joy, it couldn't compare to the Hackberry Ramblers' first appearance at Newport in their 69-year history. Yes, that's how long these rollicking old-time and Cajun musicians have been together. The oldest, fiddler Luderin Darborne, is 91. The rambunctious band rocked with ``Proud Mary'' and ``Johnny B. Goode,'' before getting rowdy and rhythmic with Cajun favorites.

For the first time since 1969, Newport had more than two stages, and, except for some occasional sound bleed, the concept worked wonderfully. The fun new Roots Stage attracted as many as 200. And when the prepubescent Cottars fiddled and burned, the Family Stage was the happiest place in Rhode Island. The Cottars, from Cape Breton, are so good, and so young, they seem both a miracle and a pure jubilation.

John Gorka hosted a superb circle with New York's David Massengill, Boston's Kris Delmhorst, and two veterans who deserve far higher profiles: Canada's Lynn Miles and Georgia's Jack Williams. William's eloquent guitar playing, both flat- and finger-picking, was a consistent pleasure. Miles' songs were beautifully plaintive, yet far from mellow. Massengill scored with a lovely, little tribute to Dave Van Ronk.

At the Fort Stage, Mark Erelli began the already broiling day with a short set of rootsy grace. The Blind Boys of Alabama were stupendous. Wearing tan suits on the hot stage, the Boys' gospel power and fine arrangements easily galvanized the crowd. A dynamic Natalie MacMaster fiddled, step-danced and moon-walked.

The big, sunny, distracted Newport atmosphere can dissipate the energy of some very gifted singer-songwriters. But Bruce Cockburn, with his intense, vital guitar patterns and his innately soulful voice, captured the crowd's full attention.

Dar Williams was far more mellow, and her sound can be wispy. But Newport has remained her crowd since she debuted there in 1994. Her nine-song set was confident and clearly appreciated. Newport - which drew 6,500 people yesterday - remains a most modern fest, yet some elders were remembered. Laurie Lewis dove into Bob Wills' styled fiddle. Shawn Colvin, in fine voice, did Merle Haggard's ``Sing Me Back Home.'' A compelling Richard Shindell sang the ancient ``Sittin' On Top Of The World.''

In a mellow, funny, appropriately sentimental closing set, Arlo Guthrie interpreted Leadbelly (``Goodnight Irene''), Steve Goodman (``City of New Orleans'') and his dad (``This Land''). He also sang Dylan's ``When The Ship Comes In'' with more warmth than Bob would've mustered. And, unlike Dylan's, Guthrie's ponytail and beard were real.




Hackberry Ramblers: making music since 1933
November 11, 1997
Web posted at: 11:33 a.m. EST (1633 GMT)
CNN Showbiz Today
NEW YORK (CNN) -- Many baby boomers are impressed that Mick Jagger and the Rolling Stones are still performing now that they're in their 50s. But those grizzled veterans have nothing on the Hackberry Ramblers.
The Ramblers describe themselves as a Cajun/country/rockabilly band. If you haven't heard of them, it can't be because they're too new to have caught your attention. After all, some of their members were making music before Jagger was even born.

"The Hackberry Ramblers were founded in 1933 by Mr. Luderin Darbone, this gentlemen over here," said band member Ben Sandmel. "They were living in the small oilfield town of Hackberry, Louisiana. That's where the band gets its name."

Since the band started nearly 65 years ago, they have played everything from local dance halls and nursing homes to music festivals around the United States. A few years shy of 50, Ben, the drummer, is the baby of the band. The other Ramblers range in age from their 60s to their 80s, including the two founding members.

Darbone, one of the founding members, is 84 years old. But as his bandmates and audiences agree, he doesn't play like an old man. Neither do any of the other musicians in the band. They say that what keeps them going is the same thing that keeps audiences coming -- the music.

"They enjoy it, and we enjoy playing for them," said Johnny Faulk. Bandmate Glen Croker agreed. "We're a band that's versatile enough that we can give different people different songs, and we can probably satisfy the entire crowd," Croker said. "If we play out in the country for an older crowd," Sandmel said, "they might be line-dancing. We play a place in New Orleans where everybody's got dyed hair and body-piercing and tattoos, then we do a lot of rockabilly stuff."

"Deep Water," the Ramblers' most recent release, is on compact disc. While formats have changed over the years, the band recorded their first release on a disk as well, back in 1935. "At that time, we'd record with one microphone, and we'd surround the microphone -- four players. And they used a wax disk," Darbone said. The Ramblers' Croker says they will continue recording and touring, "As long as God lets us."