Luderin Lawrence Darbone (January 14, 1913 Cajun Music a Reflection of the People 1984 – November 21, 2008), was a

Cajun The Cajuns (; French: ''les Cadjins'' or ''les Cadiens'' ), also known as Louisiana ''Acadians'' (French: ''les Acadiens''), are a Louisiana French ethnicity mainly found in the US state of Louisiana and surrounding Gulf Coast states. Whi ...

Western swing Western swing, country jazz or smooth country is a subgenre of American country music that originated in the late 1920s in the West and South among the region's Western string bands. It is dance music, often with an up-tempo beat, which att ...

fiddle A fiddle is a Bow (music), bowed String instrument, string musical instrument, most often a violin or a bass. It is a colloquial term for the violin, used by players in all genres, including European classical music, classical music. Althou ...

player for the band

Hackberry Ramblers The Hackberry Ramblers (also known as the Riverside Ramblers) is a Grammy Award-nominated Cajun music band based in Hackberry, Louisiana and formed in 1933. Since its heyday in the late 1930s it has become one of the most recognized names and in ...

Early life

Darbone was born in

Evangeline Parish, Louisiana Evangeline Parish () is a Parish (subnational entity), parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. the population was 32,350. The parish seat is Ville Platte, Louisiana, Ville Platte. History The parish was created out of lands formerly b ...

. He was the son of Edvard "Eddie" Darbone. He credited his longevity and inspiration to his wife Mary Lou. Savoy 1984, p. 119. He was born in Evangeline and raised in

Orangefield, Texas Orangefield is an unincorporated community located in the Beaumont-Port Arthur metropolitan area, approximately twelve miles east of Beaumont in Orange County, Texas, United States. In 1913, the town began to develop around the oilfield just ...

. His parents gave him his first fiddle at the age of 12 and he learned to play through a correspondence course.

Career

In 1930 he met guitarist

Edwin Duhon Edwin Duhon (11 June 1910 – 26 February 2006) was an American musician and co-founder of the Hackberry Ramblers, a band playing a combination of Cajun music, Western swing, and country music. Duhon was born in Broussard, Louisiana. He for ...

and together they formed the nucleus of a band they named the

in honor of their hometown. By 1933 they were on the radio and signed with

RCA RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded in 1919 as the Radio Corporation of America. It was initially a patent pool, patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse Electric Corporation, Westinghou ...

Bluebird Records Bluebird Records is an American record label best known for its low-cost releases, primarily of children's music, blues, jazz and swing in the 1930s and 1940s. Bluebird was founded in 1932 as a lower-priced subsidiary label of RCA Victor. Bluebi ...

. In 1936, they recorded " Jolie Blonde", "Oh Josephine, Ma Josephine", "One Step De L'Amour" and "Faux Pas Tu Bray Cherie". Darbone and Duhon were the first musicians to bring electronic amplification to area dance halls, running a public address system off the idling engine of Darbone's Model-A Ford. They were also the first Cajun music group to perform while standing as opposed to sitting. Their eclectic repertoire included

Cajun music Cajun music (), an emblematic music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Although they are two separate genres, Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based ...

country music Country (also called country and western) is a popular music, music genre originating in the southern regions of the United States, both the American South and American southwest, the Southwest. First produced in the 1920s, country music is p ...

and

, jazz music, and

blues music Blues is a music genre and musical form that originated among African Americans in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues has incorporated spiritual (music), spirituals, work songs, field hollers, Ring shout, shouts, cha ...

, in both English and French. Due to a sponsorship deal with

Montgomery Ward Montgomery Ward is the name of two successive U.S. retail corporations. The original Montgomery Ward & Co. was a mail-order business and later a department store chain that operated between 1872 and 2001; its common nickname was "Monkey Wards". ...

, the band adopted the name "The Riverside Ramblers". In 2002, Darbone and Duhon received a prestigious

National Heritage Fellowship The National Heritage Fellowship is a lifetime honor presented to master folk and traditional artists by the National Endowment for the Arts. Similar to Japan's Living National Treasure award, the Fellowship is the United States government's h ...

from the Folk Arts Program of the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

. Darbone died on November 21, 2008, in

Sulphur, Louisiana Sulphur () is a city in Calcasieu Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 21,809 in 2020. Sulphur is part of the Lake Charles metropolitan statistical area. History Sulphur is named for the sulfur mines that were operated in th ...

References

External links

*
Luderin Darbone recordings
at the

Discography of American Historical Recordings The Discography of American Historical Recordings (DAHR) is a database catalog of master recordings made by American record companies during the 78rpm era. The 78rpm era was the time period in which any flat disc records were being played at ...

. 1913 births 2008 deaths Cajun fiddlers People from Evangeline Parish, Louisiana 20th-century American violinists National Heritage Fellowship winners {{US-violinist-stub

Early life

Career

See also

References

External links