Early life

Castille was born to a Cajun French

Cajun French

Cajun French is a variety or dialects of the French language spoken primarily in Louisiana, specifically in the southern and southwestern parishes....

 speaking family. His father was named François Castille. He learned to play the fiddle from his Uncle Cyprien Castille at around the age of 9. After moving around for a while, he ended up in Pecaniere - a small community near Leonville, LA. Here, he first heard "Jole Blon" by Harry Choates

Harry Choates

Harry Choates was an American Cajun music fiddler....

 during a trip to the The Silver Slipper, a grocery store and bar. The song inspired him to take up a new style of playing. In the early 1950s, he started playing at Roy's Bar in Port Barre, LA and local house parties. Also, they played on the KSLO "Amateur Hour" segments on Saturday mornings. After graduating, Castille moved to New Orleans to play in a country band. However, after four to five months he moved back to Leonville, and eventually enlisted in the US Army. The Korean War

Korean War

The Korean War was a conventional war between South Korea, supported by the United Nations, and North Korea, supported by the People's Republic of China , with military material aid from the Soviet Union...

 ended soon after arriving in Fort Hood, Texas

Fort Hood, Texas

Fort Hood is a United States military post located outside of Killeen, Texas. The post is named after Confederate General John Bell Hood. It islocated halfway between Austin and Waco, about from each, within the U.S. state of Texas....

. He spent his entire service in Killeen, Texas

Killeen, Texas

Killeen is a city in Bell County, Texas, The United States. The population was 86,911 at the 2000 census. As of 2009, Killeen had 119,510 people. In 2010 Killeen's population shot to 127,921...

, where he played in an on base band. After service, he backed off from music to focus on family and his plumbing business.

Saskatchewan Festival

In the early 1980s, Castille was invited to perform in Canada at a Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan

Saskatchewan is a prairie province in Canada, which has an area of . Saskatchewan is bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, and on the south by the U.S. states of Montana and North Dakota....

 music festival. This experience caused him to relearn old Cajun tunes and focus on sharpening his skills. He returned to the festival for the next 18 years. He started to recording music and playing many festivals during this time.

Later life

Castille continues to perform with his sharecropper band, and also leads many workshops at festivals.

Legacy

Castille's has played Cajun music most his life. This has earned Castille has earned many awards over the years. He has been inducted into the Louisiana Hall of Fame. Also, he has received the Acadiana Folk Heritage Award from the Acadiana Arts Council. He has been inducted into the Northwestern University Hall of Master Folk Artists. His work with "200 Lines: I Must Not Speak French" has earned him a Cajun French Music Association Heritage Award. He received an honorable discharge from the United States Army having served during the Korean War. Also, his music has been heard in films, such as A Perfect World

A Perfect World

A Perfect World is a 1993 drama film directed by Clint Eastwood, and starring Kevin Costner as an escaped convict who befriends a young boy , and ends up embarking on a road trip with the child...

 with Clint Eastwood

Clint Eastwood

Clinton "Clint" Eastwood, Jr. is an American film actor, director, producer, composer and politician. Eastwood first came to prominence as a supporting cast member in the TV series Rawhide...

.

Discography

• 200 Lines: I Must Not Speak French Swallow 6088 (1991)
• Cajun Swamp Fiddler Swallow 6112 (1993)
• Musique de Castille Swallow 6123 (1995)
• Along the Bayou Teche Swallow 6078 (1997)
• Cajun Christmas Delta Records (1997)
• Quarante Acres et Deux Mulés (40 Acres and 2 Mules) MTE 5070-2 (2000)
• Refrait Swallow 6191 (2005)
• Hadley's Dream (Le Reve' a Hadley) Acadiana Sounds