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My Musical Autobiography

  • Jan 5, 2016
  • 2 min read

Most of my experience with non-Western Art music comes from learning about my family’s background as a young child. Both of my parents were raised in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, but I also have family in Breaux Bridge, basically, the embodiment of deep Cajun culture. I grew up around people with last names like Fontenot, Thibodeaux, and Boudreaux (half of those being my family). We spell “go” like “geaux,” we call our loved ones “cher,” our food groups mainly consist of crawfish, boudin, gumbo, and jambalaya, and if you’re not an LSU fan, then you’re basically disowned by the whole family.

My parents were huge country music geeks when I was younger. My dad even wore a Stetson cowboy hat to his own wedding reception. Dolly Parton, Hank Williams, Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson, Loretta Lynn, Merle Haggard, George Strait, and many others were common household names. I honestly think I’ve seen the movie Pure Country about a hundred times. The kind of Cajun music I grew up on is coincidentally very similar to old-timey country music with elements of Texas country music because of the frequent use of fiddles and the Cajun accordion. Cajun music’s influence was heaviest on me during Christmastime, since my parents would play the “Merry Cajun Christmas” album every year. It was tradition to listen to it all three hours of our trip from Mississippi to Louisiana to visit family for Christmas. When the songs aren’t in broken French, the album has everything in an extremely thick accent from the “Cajun Twelve Days of Christmas” to “Randolph, the Rouge Nosed Reindeer.” Yes, Randolph. On Christmas Eve, the family would all gather in the living room, and my dad would put on his very best accent and read Cajun Night Before Christmas, and he would successfully have everyone rolling on the ground with laughter with his calling out of the reindeer (in this case, alligators), “Ha, Gaston! Ha, Tiboy! Ha, Pierre an’ Alcee’! Gee, Ninette! Gee, Suzette! Celeste an’Renee’!”

I also grew up around Cajun music that wasn’t Christmas music. Songs such as “Jambalaya on the Bayou” by Hank Williams Sr. and “Don’t Mess With My Toot Toot” by Rockin’ Sidney were pretty popular requests in my household. This sort of music will always hold a special place in my heart, as it reminds me of my family and the rich culture I come from. With that, I leave you with the musical stylings of Hank Williams Sr.


 
 
 

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