Hackberry Ramblers
Encyclopedia
The Hackberry Ramblers a Grammy Award
-nominated Cajun music
band based in Hackberry, Louisiana
, formed in 1933. Since its heyday in the late 1930s it has become one of the most recognized names and influential groups in Cajun music. Its sound has come to be one of the genre
's most imitated, and its 1936 song "Jolie Blonde" — the group's most cover
ed song — ranks as the informal "Cajun national anthem."
The group, which continues to tour and perform, has one of the longest histories of a musical group in the United States of America, and while its lineup has changed many times since its conception, its founders — fiddler Luderin Darbone
and accordionist Edwin Duhon
— led the band until Duhon's death in 2006. (Darbone died November 21, 2008.) While the roots of the band lie in its Cajun music repertoire, the Ramblers perform a broad swath of American music, from Western swing
to blues
and rockabilly
, and much of their sound blends them all.
The Country Music Hall of Fame has honored the group; it holds enshrined many of the founding members' instruments.
James "Glen" Croker died at the age of 77 on August 23, 2011.
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-nominated Cajun music
Music of Louisiana
The music of Louisiana can be divided into four general regions. Southwest Louisiana, , Southern Louisiana, west of New Orleans the southeast, the region in and around Greater New Orleans has a unique musical heritage tied to Dixieland jazz, blues and Afro-Caribbean rhythms...
band based in Hackberry, Louisiana
Hackberry, Louisiana
Hackberry is a census-designated place in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 1,699 at the 2000 census. It is part of the Lake Charles Metropolitan Statistical Area.-Geography:Hackberry is located at ....
, formed in 1933. Since its heyday in the late 1930s it has become one of the most recognized names and influential groups in Cajun music. Its sound has come to be one of the genre
Genre
Genre , Greek: genos, γένος) is the term for any category of literature or other forms of art or culture, e.g. music, and in general, any type of discourse, whether written or spoken, audial or visual, based on some set of stylistic criteria. Genres are formed by conventions that change over time...
's most imitated, and its 1936 song "Jolie Blonde" — the group's most cover
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
ed song — ranks as the informal "Cajun national anthem."
The group, which continues to tour and perform, has one of the longest histories of a musical group in the United States of America, and while its lineup has changed many times since its conception, its founders — fiddler Luderin Darbone
Luderin Darbone
Luderin Lawrence Darbone was a Cajun-Western swing fiddle player for the band Hackberry Ramblers....
and accordionist Edwin Duhon
Edwin Duhon
Edwin Duhon was an American musician and co-founder of the Hackberry Ramblers, a band playing a combination of Cajun music, Western swing, and country music....
— led the band until Duhon's death in 2006. (Darbone died November 21, 2008.) While the roots of the band lie in its Cajun music repertoire, the Ramblers perform a broad swath of American music, from Western swing
Western swing
Western swing music 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...
to blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
and rockabilly
Rockabilly
Rockabilly is one of the earliest styles of rock and roll music, dating to the early 1950s.The term rockabilly is a portmanteau of rock and hillbilly, the latter a reference to the country music that contributed strongly to the style's development...
, and much of their sound blends them all.
The Country Music Hall of Fame has honored the group; it holds enshrined many of the founding members' instruments.
James "Glen" Croker died at the age of 77 on August 23, 2011.
Current members
- Edwin DuhonEdwin DuhonEdwin Duhon was an American musician and co-founder of the Hackberry Ramblers, a band playing a combination of Cajun music, Western swing, and country music....
- Cajun accordionCajun accordionA Cajun accordion also known as a squeezebox is single-row diatonic button accordion used for playing Cajun music.-History:Many different accordions were developed in Europe throughout the 19th century, and exported worldwide... - Glen Croker - Electric guitarElectric guitarAn electric guitar is a guitar that uses the principle of direct electromagnetic induction to convert vibrations of its metal strings into electric audio signals. The signal generated by an electric guitar is too weak to drive a loudspeaker, so it is amplified before sending it to a loudspeaker...
- Johnny Faulk - Upright bass
- Ben Sandmel - DrumDrumThe drum is a member of the percussion group of musical instruments, which is technically classified as the membranophones. Drums consist of at least one membrane, called a drumhead or drum skin, that is stretched over a shell and struck, either directly with the player's hands, or with a...
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