Warren Storm (
né
The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...
Schexnider; February 18, 1937 – September 7, 2021) was an American drummer and vocalist, known as a pioneer of the musical genre
swamp pop
Swamp pop is a music genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s by young Cajuns and Creoles, it combines New Orleans–style rhythm and blues, Country music, countr ...
; a combination of
rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, frequently abbreviated as R&B or R'n'B, is a genre of popular music that originated within African American communities in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predomina ...
,
country and western
A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. When referring to a specific polity, the term "country" may refer to a sovereign state, state with limited recognition, constituent country, or d ...
, and
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 ...
music and black
Creole music.
Background and career
Born Warren Schexnider on February 18, 1937, in Leroy, Louisiana,
he moved to nearby
Abbeville, Louisiana
Abbeville is a city in, and the parish seat of, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, Vermilion Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 12,257 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census. At the 2020 Population Estimates Program, populat ...
, to attend first grade. Storm learned to play drums and guitar from his father, a Cajun musician. In the early 1950s, he began to perform publicly with Larry Brasso and the Rhythmaires.
Around this time he befriended fellow Abbeville musician
Bobby Charles, and the two would travel to
New Orleans
New Orleans (commonly known as NOLA or The Big Easy among other nicknames) is a Consolidated city-county, consolidated city-parish located along the Mississippi River in the U.S. state of Louisiana. With a population of 383,997 at the 2020 ...
to hear black rhythm and blues artists in the local nightclubs, particularly
Fats Domino
Antoine Caliste Domino Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017), known as Fats Domino, was an American singer-songwriter and pianist. One of the pioneers of rock and roll music, Domino sold more than 65 million records. Born in New Orl ...
and drummers
Earl Palmer
Earl Cyril Palmer (October 25, 1924 – September 19, 2008) was an American drummer. Considered one of the inventors of rock and roll, he is a member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.
Palmer was one of the most prolific studio musicians of al ...
and
Charles "Hungry" Williams.
These visits to New Orleans greatly influenced Storm's musical tastes and his own drumming style. Storm cites
New Orleans rhythm and blues musician Charles "Hungry" Williams as a major drumming influence.
In 1956, Storm founded his own rhythm and blues/early
rock and roll
Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock-n-roll, and rock 'n' roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from African ...
group, and in 1958 he began recording for
Crowley, Louisiana
Crowley (Local pronunciation: ) is a city in, and the parish seat of, Acadia Parish, Louisiana, Acadia Parish in the U.S. state of Louisiana. At the 2020 United States census, Crowley had a population of 11,710. Crowley is the principal city of ...
, record producer
J. D. "Jay" Miller. Miller convinced Nasco records of
Nashville
Nashville, often known as Music City, is the capital and List of municipalities in Tennessee, most populous city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the county seat, seat of Davidson County, Tennessee, Davidson County in Middle Tennessee, locat ...
to release a
45 RPM record
In music, a single is a type of release of a song recording of fewer tracks than an album ( LP), typically one or two tracks. A single can be released for sale to the public in a variety of physical or digital formats. Singles may be standal ...
of Storm's version of the old country composition "
Prisoner's Song"; the flip side was "Mama Mama Mama (Look What Your Little Boy's Done)." The release broke into the
''Billboard'' Hot 100 and both songs became lifelong standards for Storm. Storm also served as a session drummer for Miller in the late 1950s and 1960s and appeared on dozens of
swamp blues sessions for
Excello by artists such as
Lazy Lester,
Lightnin' Slim,
Katie Webster
Katie Webster (January 11, 1936 – September 5, 1999), born Kathryn Jewel Thorne, was an American boogie-woogie pianist.
Career
Webster was initially best known as a session musician behind Louisiana musicians on the Excello and Goldband re ...
, and
Lonesome Sundown.
Over the following years Storm recorded swamp pop music for numerous labels, including Rocko, Zynn, American Pla-Boy, Top Rank, and
Dot. In the early 1960s he teamed up with fellow swamp pop musicians
Rod Bernard and Skip Stewart to form The Shondells, performing with the group and cutting tracks on the La Louisianne label until The Shondells disbanded around 1970.
Meanwhile, Storm released songs on several more labels, including
ATCO Atco or ATCO may refer to:
Businesses
* ATCO, a Canadian diversified company involved in manufacturing, utilities, energy and technologies
** ATCO Electric, a subsidiary of the above company
* Atco (British mower company), a mower manufacturing com ...
, Sincere, and Teardrop, and, later, Premier, Showtime, Starflite, and Jin, among others. It was during this period that Storm recorded two more regional favorites, "Lord I Need Somebody Bad Tonight" and "My House of Memories".
During the 1980s and '90s, Storm appeared as a regular house musician at several south Louisiana danceclubs, and in 1989 recorded the ''Cajun Born''
LP for La Louisianne with fellow south Louisiana musicians
Rufus Thibodeaux, Johnnie Allan, and Clint West.
Resurgence of popularity
Around 2000, Storm experienced a resurgence in popularity when he joined the Lil' Band of Gold, an all-star south Louisiana band that included, among others, guitarist
C. C. Adcock, accordionist Steve Riley of the
Mamou Playboys; fiddler
David Greely; Richard Comeaux of River Road; and pianist
David Egan of Filé.
On September 5, 2010, during his performance at the "Boogie for the Bayou" fundraiser event at Paragon Casino in
Marksville, Louisiana
Marksville is a small city in and the parish seat of Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, Avoyelles Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 5,702 at the 2010 United States Census, 2010 census, an increase of 165 over the 2000 tabulation of ...
, Storm was inducted into The
Louisiana Music Hall of Fame
The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame (LMHOF) is a non-profit hall of fame based in Baton Rouge, the capital of the U.S. state of Louisiana, that seeks to honor and preserve the state's music culture and heritage and to promote education about the sta ...
.
Storm died on September 7, 2021, at the age of 84.
Abbeville native, Swamp Pop legend Warren Storm dies
Katc.com
References
* Shane K. Bernard, ''Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues'' (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996)
* John Broven, ''South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous'' (Gretna, La.: Pelican, 1983)
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Storm, Warren
1937 births
2021 deaths
People from Abbeville, Louisiana
American country singer-songwriters
American male singer-songwriters
American people of French descent
American male pop singers
American rock singers
Cajun musicians
Singer-songwriters from Louisiana
Swamp pop music
Tear Drop Records artists
20th-century American drummers
American male drummers
Country musicians from Louisiana
20th-century American male musicians
Drummers from Louisiana