Swamp pop
Encyclopedia
Swamp rock is a musical genre indigenous to the Acadiana
region of south Louisiana
and an adjoining section of southeast Texas
. Created in the 1950s and early 1960s by teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles
, it combines New Orleans-style rhythm and blues
, country and western, and traditional French Louisiana
musical influences. Although a fairly obscure genre, swamp pop maintains a large audience in its south Louisiana and southeast Texas homeland, and it has acquired a small but passionate cult following in the United Kingdom, northern Europe, and Japan.
The swamp pop sound is typified by highly emotional, lovelorn lyrics, tripleting honky-tonk pianos, undulating bass lines, bellowing horn sections and a strong rhythm and blues backbeat. It is exemplified by slow ballads like Cookie and the Cupcakes
’ “Mathilda” (recorded 1958), considered by many fans as the unofficial swamp pop “anthem.” But the genre has also produced many upbeat compositions, such as Bobby Charles
’ “Later Alligator” (1955), popularly covered by Bill Haley & His Comets
.
During the genre’s heyday (1958-1964), several swamp pop songs appeared on national U.S. record charts. These included Jimmy Clanton's
“Just A Dream” (1958), Warren Storm
’s “Prisoner’s Song” (1958), Phil Phillips
’ “Sea Of Love” (1959), Rod Bernard
’s “This Should Go On Forever
” (1959), Joe Barry
's “I’m A Fool To Care” (1960), and Dale and Grace's “I’m Leaving It Up To You” (1963).
In swamp pop’s south Louisiana-southeast Texas birthplace, fans regarded many songs that never became national hits as classics. These include Johnnie Allan
’s “Lonely Days, Lonely Nights” (1958), Buck Rogers
’ “Crazy Baby” (1959), Randy and the Rockets’ “Let’s Do The Cajun Twist” (1962), T. K. Hulin’s “I’m Not A Fool Anymore” (1963), and Clint West’s “Big Blue Diamonds” (1965), among numerous others.
and black Creole (zydeco
) music, as well as popular country and western (hillbilly
) songs by musicians like Bob Wills
and Hank Williams, Sr.
In the mid-1950s, however, like other American youths, they discovered the alluring new sounds of rock and roll
and rhythm and blues
artists like Elvis Presley
and Fats Domino
. As a result, these teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles stopped playing Louisiana French
folk compositions like “Jolie blonde,” “Allons à Lafayette,” and “Les flammes d’enfer” and instead began to sing rock and roll and rhythm and blues compositions in English. At the same time, they switched from folk
instruments like the accordion
, fiddle
, and iron triangle to modern instruments, such as the electric guitar
and bass, upright piano
, saxophone
, and drumming trap set.
By the late 1950s, swamp pop musicians had developed their own distinct sound and repertoires. They performed to receptive crowds in local dancehalls like the Southern Club in Opelousas
, Landry’s Palladium in Lafayette
, and the Green Lantern in Lawtell. In addition, they released recordings on local record labels, such as Floyd Soileau
’s Jin label of Ville Platte, Eddie Shuler’s Goldband
of Lake Charles
, Carol Rachou’s La Louisianne of Lafayette, Huey Meaux’s Crazy Cajun label of Houston, and a number of labels owned by J. D. Miller of Crowley, Louisiana
(who also recorded swamp pop tunes for larger national labels, such as Ernie Young’s Excello Records
label of Nashville
).
Swamp pop musicians often adopted Anglo-American stage names that masked their Cajun and black Creole surnames. John Allen Guillot, for example, became Johnnie Allan
; Robert Charles Guidry became Bobby Charles
; Joe Barrios became Joe Barry
; Elwood Dugas became Bobby Page; and Terry Gene DeRouen became Gene Terry. Some of these musicians changed their names because they were ashamed of their rural French heritage — a feeling shared at the time by a segment of the Cajun and black Creole populations. But economics motivated most swamp pop musicians: They wanted to sell records not only in southern Louisiana and southeast Texas, but beyond, where the pronunciation of ethnic surnames like Guillot, Barrios, and DeRouen eluded record promoters
, disc jockeys, and consumers.
Despite its obvious rock and roll and rhythm & blues influences, swamp pop was not devoid of folk characteristics. For example, Bobby Page and the Riff Raffs recorded “Hippy-Ti-Yo,” a bilingual rock ‘n’ roll version of the traditional Cajun French
song “Hip et taïaut,” and Rod Bernard
did the same with “Allons danser Colinda,” another important folk composition. Joe Barry re-recorded his swamp pop hit “I’m A Fool To Care” in French under the title “Je suis bête pour t’aimer.” And Randy and the Rockets issued “Let’s Do The Cajun Twist,” an English remake of the Cajun French favorite “Allons à Lafayette.”
Hot 100. Five of these songs broke into the Top 10, and three of them reached number one. While swamp pop drew heavily on New Orleans rhythm and blues, it reciprocated by making a detectable impact on songs like Lloyd Price
’s “Just Because,” Earl King
’s “Those Lonely Lonely Nights,” Little Richard
’s “Can’t Believe You Want To Leave” and “Send Me Some Lovin’,” and Clarence "Frogman" Henry's "(I Don't Know Why) But I Do
" and “On Bended Knee” (both Bobby Charles compositions). Swamp pop also left its imprint on the related but distinct genre known as “swamp blues
,” including Slim Harpo
’s classic “Rainin’ In My Heart.”
Swamp pop’s impact on popular music is heard in the Rolling Stones’ cover of Barbara Lynn
’s “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” and “Oh Baby (We Got A Good Thing Goin’)”, the Honeydrippers’ rendition of Phil Phillips’ “Sea Of Love
,” Elvis Presley
’s remake of Johnny Ace
’s “Pledging My Love,” The Beatles
’ swamp-inspired “Oh! Darling
,” and in the work of Creedence Clearwater Revival
, sometimes referred to as swamp rock (the latter being a distinct genre that drew more on 1960s hard rock
than on the 1950s rhythm and blues sound that helped to define swamp pop). Swamp pop also influenced Tex-Mex music, particularly the recordings of Freddy Fender
(real name Baldemar Huerta), whose early 1970s swampy songs like “Before The Next Teardrop Falls” and “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights
.” (South Louisiana and southeast Texas audiences generally consider Fender a full-fledged swamp pop musician.)
Although the genre began a slow decline with the onslaught of the British Invasion
, swamp pop music continues to draw devoted fans to south Louisiana and southeast Texas festivals and nightclubs. Only a few younger swamp pop musicians, such as Don Rich, are replacing the original generation of swamp pop pioneers, most now in their sixties. Some younger non-swamp musicians, such as Cajun musician Zachary Richard
and rockers Marc Broussard
and C. C. Adcock
, have acknowledged a strong swamp pop influence. (Adcock co-produced a documentary, released in 2009, titled Promised Land: A Swamp Pop Journey, which focused on his swamp pop supergroup Lil' Band o' Gold; this group features swamp pop pioneer Warren Storm
on drums and guest vocals by Tommy McLain
.) A sizeable catalog of swamp pop recordings, both vintage and new, are on compact disk, guaranteeing that future audiences will be able to enjoy this distinctive American sound.
Acadiana
Acadiana, or The Heart of Acadiana, is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that is home to a large Francophone population. Of the 64 parishes that make up Louisiana, 22 named parishes and other parishes of similar cultural environment, make up the intrastate...
region of south Louisiana
Louisiana
Louisiana is a state located in the southern region of the United States of America. Its capital is Baton Rouge and largest city is New Orleans. Louisiana is the only state in the U.S. with political subdivisions termed parishes, which are local governments equivalent to counties...
and an adjoining section of southeast Texas
Southeast Texas
Southeast Texas is a subregion of East Texas located in the southeast corner of the U.S. state of Texas. The subregion is geographically centered around the Houston–Sugar Land–Baytown and Beaumont–Port Arthur metropolitan areas...
. Created in the 1950s and early 1960s by teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles
Louisiana Creole people
Louisiana Creole people refers to those who are descended from the colonial settlers in Louisiana, especially those of French and Spanish descent. The term was first used during colonial times by the settlers to refer to those who were born in the colony, as opposed to those born in the Old World...
, it combines New Orleans-style rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
, country and western, and traditional French Louisiana
French Louisiana
The term French Louisiana refers to two distinct regions:* first, to colonial French Louisiana, comprising the massive, middle section of North America claimed by France; and,...
musical influences. Although a fairly obscure genre, swamp pop maintains a large audience in its south Louisiana and southeast Texas homeland, and it has acquired a small but passionate cult following in the United Kingdom, northern Europe, and Japan.
The sound
Cookie and the Cupcakes
Cookie and the Cupcakes are an American swamp pop band from south Louisiana, best known for their 1959 hit "Mathilda".The band originally started as The Boogie Ramblers, led by Shelton Dunaway. Huey "Cookie" Thierry joined the band in 1952, and shared lead vocals and tenor sax with Dunaway...
’ “Mathilda” (recorded 1958), considered by many fans as the unofficial swamp pop “anthem.” But the genre has also produced many upbeat compositions, such as Bobby Charles
Bobby Charles
Bobby Charles was an American singer-songwriter.An ethnic Cajun, Charles was born as Robert Charles Guidry in Abbeville, Louisiana and grew up listening to Cajun music and the country and western music of Hank Williams...
’ “Later Alligator” (1955), popularly covered by Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets
Bill Haley & His Comets was an American rock and roll band that was founded in 1952 and continued until Haley's death in 1981. The band, also known by the names Bill Haley and The Comets and Bill Haley's Comets , was the earliest group of white musicians to bring rock and roll to the attention of...
.
During the genre’s heyday (1958-1964), several swamp pop songs appeared on national U.S. record charts. These included Jimmy Clanton's
Jimmy Clanton
Jimmy Clanton is an American singer who became known as the "swamp pop R&B teenage idol". His band recorded a hit song "Just A Dream" which Clanton had written in 1958 for the Ace Records label. It reached number four on the Billboard chart and sold a million copies...
“Just A Dream” (1958), Warren Storm
Warren Storm
A talented drummer and vocalist, Warren Storm is a pioneer of the musical genre known as swamp pop, a combination of rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun music and black Creole music.-Background and career:...
’s “Prisoner’s Song” (1958), Phil Phillips
Phil Phillips
Phil Phillips is an American singer and songwriter, best known for his 1959 hit, "Sea of Love".-Biography:...
’ “Sea Of Love” (1959), Rod Bernard
Rod Bernard
Rod Bernard is an American singer who helped to pioneer the musical genre known as "swamp pop", which combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun and black Creole music...
’s “This Should Go On Forever
This Should Go On Forever
This Should Go On Forever is a popular song of the south Louisiana rock and roll genre known as swamp pop.King Karl , a black Creole swamp pop musician, composed the song around 1958. This Should Go On Forever is a popular song of the south Louisiana rock and roll genre known as swamp pop.King...
” (1959), Joe Barry
Joe Barry (singer)
Joe Barry was an American swamp pop singer active on the early rock and roll scene.-Biography:...
's “I’m A Fool To Care” (1960), and Dale and Grace's “I’m Leaving It Up To You” (1963).
In swamp pop’s south Louisiana-southeast Texas birthplace, fans regarded many songs that never became national hits as classics. These include Johnnie Allan
Johnnie Allan
Johnnie Allan, real name John Allen Guillot, is a pioneer of the swamp pop musical genre.Born March 10, 1938, in Rayne, Louisiana, Allan, a Cajun, grew up in a musical family, and at age six obtained his first guitar. By age thirteen he was playing with Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys, a...
’s “Lonely Days, Lonely Nights” (1958), Buck Rogers
Buck Rogers
Anthony Rogers is a fictional character that first appeared in Armageddon 2419 A.D. by Philip Francis Nowlan in the August 1928 issue of the pulp magazine Amazing Stories. A sequel, The Airlords of Han, was published in the March 1929 issue....
’ “Crazy Baby” (1959), Randy and the Rockets’ “Let’s Do The Cajun Twist” (1962), T. K. Hulin’s “I’m Not A Fool Anymore” (1963), and Clint West’s “Big Blue Diamonds” (1965), among numerous others.
Roots and early history
As children, swamp pop musicians listened to (and often performed) traditional Cajun musicCajun music
Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based, Cajun-influenced zydeco form, both of Acadiana origin...
and black Creole (zydeco
Zydeco
Zydeco is a form of uniquely American roots or folk music. It evolved in southwest Louisiana in the early 19th century from forms of "la la" Creole music...
) music, as well as popular country and western (hillbilly
Hillbilly
Hillbilly is a term referring to certain people who dwell in rural, mountainous areas of the United States, primarily Appalachia but also the Ozarks. Owing to its strongly stereotypical connotations, the term is frequently considered derogatory, and so is usually offensive to those Americans of...
) songs by musicians like Bob Wills
Bob Wills
James Robert Wills , better known as Bob Wills, was an American Western Swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader, considered by music authorities as the co-founder of Western Swing and universally known as the pioneering King of Western Swing.Bob Wills' name will forever be associated with...
and Hank Williams, Sr.
Hank Williams, Sr.
Hank Williams , born Hiram King Williams, was an American singer-songwriter and musician regarded as one of the most important country music artists of all time...
In the mid-1950s, however, like other American youths, they discovered the alluring new sounds of rock and roll
Rock and roll
Rock and roll is a genre of popular music that originated and evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s, primarily from a combination of African American blues, country, jazz, and gospel music...
and rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues
Rhythm and blues, often abbreviated to R&B, is a genre of popular African American music that originated in the 1940s. The term was originally used by record companies to describe recordings marketed predominantly to urban African Americans, at a time when "urbane, rocking, jazz based music with a...
artists like Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
and Fats Domino
Fats Domino
Antoine Dominique "Fats" Domino, Jr. is an American R&B and rock and roll pianist and singer-songwriter. He was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, and Creole was his first language....
. As a result, these teenaged Cajuns and black Creoles stopped playing Louisiana French
Louisiana French
Louisiana French is the regional variety of the French language spoken throughout contemporary Louisiana in the south-eastern USA by individuals who today identify ethno-racially as Creole, French Creole, Spanish Creole, Mississippi Creole, Alabama Creole, Texas Creole, California Creole,...
folk compositions like “Jolie blonde,” “Allons à Lafayette,” and “Les flammes d’enfer” and instead began to sing rock and roll and rhythm and blues compositions in English. At the same time, they switched from folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
instruments like the accordion
Accordion
The accordion is a box-shaped musical instrument of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone family, sometimes referred to as a squeezebox. A person who plays the accordion is called an accordionist....
, fiddle
Fiddle
The term fiddle may refer to any bowed string musical instrument, most often the violin. It is also a colloquial term for the instrument used by players in all genres, including classical music...
, and iron triangle to modern instruments, such as the electric guitar
Electric guitar
An 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...
and bass, upright piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, saxophone
Saxophone
The saxophone is a conical-bore transposing musical instrument that is a member of the woodwind family. Saxophones are usually made of brass and played with a single-reed mouthpiece similar to that of the clarinet. The saxophone was invented by the Belgian instrument maker Adolphe Sax in 1846...
, and drumming trap set.
Opelousas, Louisiana
Opelousas is a city in and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. It lies at the junction of Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190. The population was 22,860 at the 2000 census. Although the 2006 population estimate was 23,222, a 2004 annexation should put the city's...
, Landry’s Palladium in Lafayette
Lafayette, Louisiana
Lafayette is a city in and the parish seat of Lafayette Parish, Louisiana, United States, on the Vermilion River. The population was 120,623 at the 2010 census...
, and the Green Lantern in Lawtell. In addition, they released recordings on local record labels, such as Floyd Soileau
Floyd Soileau
James Floyd Soileau is an American record producer.Soileau was born November 2, 1938, in Faubourg, a small community between Ville Platte and Washington, Louisiana. He grew up speaking Cajun French and did not speak English until attending school at the age of 6 years...
’s Jin label of Ville Platte, Eddie Shuler’s Goldband
Goldband Records
Goldband Records is an American record company based in Lake Charles, Louisiana, founded in 1945 and best known for its Cajun and R&B recordings in the 1950s and 1960s....
of Lake Charles
Lake Charles, Louisiana
Lake Charles is the fifth-largest incorporated city in the U.S. state of Louisiana, located on Lake Charles, Prien Lake, and the Calcasieu River. Located in Calcasieu Parish, a major cultural, industrial, and educational center in the southwest region of the state, and one of the most important in...
, Carol Rachou’s La Louisianne of Lafayette, Huey Meaux’s Crazy Cajun label of Houston, and a number of labels owned by J. D. Miller of Crowley, Louisiana
Crowley, Louisiana
Crowley is a city in and the parish seat of Acadia Parish, Louisiana, United States. The population was 14,225 at the 2000 census. The city is noted for its annual International Rice Festival. Crowley has the nickname of "Rice Capital of America", because at one time it was a major center for...
(who also recorded swamp pop tunes for larger national labels, such as Ernie Young’s Excello Records
Excello Records
Excello Records was an American blues record label, started by Ernie Young in Nashville, Tennessee in 1953 as a subsidiary of Nashboro, a gospel label...
label of Nashville
Nashville, Tennessee
Nashville is the capital of the U.S. state of Tennessee and the county seat of Davidson County. It is located on the Cumberland River in Davidson County, in the north-central part of the state. The city is a center for the health care, publishing, banking and transportation industries, and is home...
).
Swamp pop musicians often adopted Anglo-American stage names that masked their Cajun and black Creole surnames. John Allen Guillot, for example, became Johnnie Allan
Johnnie Allan
Johnnie Allan, real name John Allen Guillot, is a pioneer of the swamp pop musical genre.Born March 10, 1938, in Rayne, Louisiana, Allan, a Cajun, grew up in a musical family, and at age six obtained his first guitar. By age thirteen he was playing with Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys, a...
; Robert Charles Guidry became Bobby Charles
Bobby Charles
Bobby Charles was an American singer-songwriter.An ethnic Cajun, Charles was born as Robert Charles Guidry in Abbeville, Louisiana and grew up listening to Cajun music and the country and western music of Hank Williams...
; Joe Barrios became Joe Barry
Joe Barry (singer)
Joe Barry was an American swamp pop singer active on the early rock and roll scene.-Biography:...
; Elwood Dugas became Bobby Page; and Terry Gene DeRouen became Gene Terry. Some of these musicians changed their names because they were ashamed of their rural French heritage — a feeling shared at the time by a segment of the Cajun and black Creole populations. But economics motivated most swamp pop musicians: They wanted to sell records not only in southern Louisiana and southeast Texas, but beyond, where the pronunciation of ethnic surnames like Guillot, Barrios, and DeRouen eluded record promoters
A&R
Artists and repertoire is the division of a record label that is responsible for talent scouting and overseeing the artistic development of recording artists. It also acts as a liaison between artists and the record label.- Finding talent :...
, disc jockeys, and consumers.
Despite its obvious rock and roll and rhythm & blues influences, swamp pop was not devoid of folk characteristics. For example, Bobby Page and the Riff Raffs recorded “Hippy-Ti-Yo,” a bilingual rock ‘n’ roll version of the traditional 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....
song “Hip et taïaut,” and Rod Bernard
Rod Bernard
Rod Bernard is an American singer who helped to pioneer the musical genre known as "swamp pop", which combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun and black Creole music...
did the same with “Allons danser Colinda,” another important folk composition. Joe Barry re-recorded his swamp pop hit “I’m A Fool To Care” in French under the title “Je suis bête pour t’aimer.” And Randy and the Rockets issued “Let’s Do The Cajun Twist,” an English remake of the Cajun French favorite “Allons à Lafayette.”
Legacy
Since the genre’s origin in the mid-1950s, over twenty swamp pop songs have appeared in the BillboardBillboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Hot 100. Five of these songs broke into the Top 10, and three of them reached number one. While swamp pop drew heavily on New Orleans rhythm and blues, it reciprocated by making a detectable impact on songs like Lloyd Price
Lloyd Price
Lloyd Price is an American R&B vocalist. Known as "Mr. Personality", after the name of one of his biggest million-selling hits...
’s “Just Because,” Earl King
Earl King
This article is about the musical artist. For the Earl King convicted of murdering a ship's officer, see Earl King, Ernest Ramsay, and Frank Conner...
’s “Those Lonely Lonely Nights,” Little Richard
Little Richard
Richard Wayne Penniman , known by the stage name Little Richard, is an American singer, songwriter, musician, recording artist, and actor, considered key in the transition from rhythm and blues to rock and roll in the 1950s. He was also the first artist to put the funk in the rock and roll beat and...
’s “Can’t Believe You Want To Leave” and “Send Me Some Lovin’,” and Clarence "Frogman" Henry's "(I Don't Know Why) But I Do
(I Don't Know Why) But I Do
" But I Do" is an R&B song written by Paul Gayten and Bobby Charles , and performed by Clarence "Frogman" Henry. It was Henry's biggest U.S. hit, reaching #4 in early 1961. The B-side on the single release was "Just My Baby and Me".The song appears in the 1994 film Forrest Gump, and the 1999 film...
" and “On Bended Knee” (both Bobby Charles compositions). Swamp pop also left its imprint on the related but distinct genre known as “swamp blues
Swamp blues
Swamp blues, sometimes the Excello sound, is a sub-genre of blues music and a variation of Louisiana blues that developed around Baton Rouge in the 1950s and which reached a peak of popularity in the 1960s. It generally has a slow tempo and incorporates influences from other genres of music,...
,” including Slim Harpo
Slim Harpo
Slim Harpo was an American blues musician. He was known as a master of the blues harmonica; the name "Slim Harpo" was derived from "harp," the popular nickname for the harmonica in blues circles.-Early life:...
’s classic “Rainin’ In My Heart.”
Swamp pop’s impact on popular music is heard in the Rolling Stones’ cover of Barbara Lynn
Barbara Lynn
Barbara Lynn is an American rhythm and blues and electric blues guitarist and singer. She is best known for her R&B chart-topping hit, "You'll Lose A Good Thing" .-Life and career:She played piano as a child, but switched to guitar...
’s “You’ll Lose A Good Thing” and “Oh Baby (We Got A Good Thing Goin’)”, the Honeydrippers’ rendition of Phil Phillips’ “Sea Of Love
Sea of Love (song)
"Sea of Love" is a song written by John Phillip Baptiste and George Khoury. Phillips' 1959 recording of the song peaked at #1 on the U.S. Billboard R&B chart and #2 on the Billboard Hot 100. In the UK, Marty Wilde covered the song, and Phillips' version failed to chart there...
,” Elvis Presley
Elvis Presley
Elvis Aaron Presley was one of the most popular American singers of the 20th century. A cultural icon, he is widely known by the single name Elvis. He is often referred to as the "King of Rock and Roll" or simply "the King"....
’s remake of Johnny Ace
Johnny Ace
Johnny Ace , born John Marshall Alexander, Jr. in Memphis, Tennessee, was an American rhythm and blues singer. He scored a string of hit singles in the mid-1950s before dying of an accidental self-inflicted gunshot wound....
’s “Pledging My Love,” The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
’ swamp-inspired “Oh! Darling
Oh! Darling
"Oh! Darling" is a song by The Beatles composed by Paul McCartney and appearing as the fourth song on the album, Abbey Road, in 1969. Its working title was "Oh! Darling "...
,” and in the work of Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival
Creedence Clearwater Revival was an American rock band that gained popularity in the late 1960s and early 1970s with a number of successful singles drawn from various albums....
, sometimes referred to as swamp rock (the latter being a distinct genre that drew more on 1960s hard rock
Hard rock
Hard rock is a loosely defined genre of rock music which has its earliest roots in mid-1960s garage rock, blues rock and psychedelic rock...
than on the 1950s rhythm and blues sound that helped to define swamp pop). Swamp pop also influenced Tex-Mex music, particularly the recordings of Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender
Freddy Fender , born Baldemar Garza Huerta in San Benito, Texas, United States, was a Mexican-American Tejano, country and rock and roll musician, known for his work as a solo artist and in the groups Los Super Seven and the Texas Tornados...
(real name Baldemar Huerta), whose early 1970s swampy songs like “Before The Next Teardrop Falls” and “Wasted Days and Wasted Nights
Wasted Days and Wasted Nights
"Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" is an American country and pop song recorded by Freddy Fender. It is considered by many to belong to the swamp pop idiom of south Louisiana and southeast Texas that had such a major musical impact on Fender.-Song history:...
.” (South Louisiana and southeast Texas audiences generally consider Fender a full-fledged swamp pop musician.)
Although the genre began a slow decline with the onslaught of the British Invasion
British Invasion
The British Invasion is a term used to describe the large number of rock and roll, beat, rock, and pop performers from the United Kingdom who became popular in the United States during the time period from 1964 through 1966.- Background :...
, swamp pop music continues to draw devoted fans to south Louisiana and southeast Texas festivals and nightclubs. Only a few younger swamp pop musicians, such as Don Rich, are replacing the original generation of swamp pop pioneers, most now in their sixties. Some younger non-swamp musicians, such as Cajun musician Zachary Richard
Zachary Richard
Zachary Richard is a Cajun singer/songwriter and poet. His music is an innovative combination of Cajun and Zydeco musical styles.-Biography:...
and rockers Marc Broussard
Marc Broussard
Marc Broussard is an American singer/songwriter. His style is best described as "Bayou Soul," a mix of funk, blues, R&B, rock, and pop, matched with distinct Southern roots...
and C. C. Adcock
C. C. Adcock
C. C. Adcock is a rock and roll musician, noted for his cajun, zydeco, electric blues and swamp pop-influenced sound, and for his efforts to preserve and promote swamp pop music...
, have acknowledged a strong swamp pop influence. (Adcock co-produced a documentary, released in 2009, titled Promised Land: A Swamp Pop Journey, which focused on his swamp pop supergroup Lil' Band o' Gold; this group features swamp pop pioneer Warren Storm
Warren Storm
A talented drummer and vocalist, Warren Storm is a pioneer of the musical genre known as swamp pop, a combination of rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun music and black Creole music.-Background and career:...
on drums and guest vocals by Tommy McLain
Tommy McLain
Tommy McLain is an American swamp pop musician, best known as a singer but who also plays keyboards, drums, bass guitar, and fiddle.-Career:...
.) A sizeable catalog of swamp pop recordings, both vintage and new, are on compact disk, guaranteeing that future audiences will be able to enjoy this distinctive American sound.
Selected discography
- Johnnie AllanJohnnie AllanJohnnie Allan, real name John Allen Guillot, is a pioneer of the swamp pop musical genre.Born March 10, 1938, in Rayne, Louisiana, Allan, a Cajun, grew up in a musical family, and at age six obtained his first guitar. By age thirteen he was playing with Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys, a...
, Promised Land, Ace 380, 1992 [UK]. - Johnnie Allan, Swamp Pop Legend: Johnnie Allan – The Essential Collection, Jin 9044, 1995.
- Rod BernardRod BernardRod Bernard is an American singer who helped to pioneer the musical genre known as "swamp pop", which combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun and black Creole music...
, Swamp Pop Legend: Rod Bernard – The Essential Collection, Jin 9056, 1998. - Rod Bernard, Swamp Rock 'n' Roller, Ace 488, 1994 [UK].
- The Boogie KingsThe Boogie KingsThe Boogie Kings are an American Cajun swamp pop and blue-eyed soul group.-History:The band formulated in Eunice, Louisiana in 1955 as teenagers first consisting members Doug Ardoin, Skip Morris, Bert Miller, Bryan Leger, and Harris Miller...
, Swamp Boogie Blues, Jin 9045, 1995. - Van Broussard, The Early Years, CSP 1007, 1993.
- Cookie & The Cupcakes, By Request, Jin 9037, 1993.
- Charles MannCharles MannCharles Mann may refer to:* Charles Cornwallis, 1st Marquess Cornwallis , British colonial administrator in America* Charles Mann , British born administrator in South Australia* Charles C...
, Swamp Pop Legend: Charles Mann – The Essential Collection, Jin 9060, 1998. - Randy & The Rockets, A Blast From the Past – The Essential Collection, Jin 9059, 1998.
- Warren StormWarren StormA talented drummer and vocalist, Warren Storm is a pioneer of the musical genre known as swamp pop, a combination of rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun music and black Creole music.-Background and career:...
, Night After Night, Jin 9039, 1995. - Tommy McLainTommy McLainTommy McLain is an American swamp pop musician, best known as a singer but who also plays keyboards, drums, bass guitar, and fiddle.-Career:...
, Swamp Pop Legend: Tommy McLain – The Essential Collection, Jin 9054, 1997. - Various Artists, Eddie’s House of Hits: The Story of Goldband Records, Ace 424, 1992 [UK].
- Various Artists, Louisiana Saturday Night, Ace 490, 1993 [UK].
- Various Artists, Sea of Love: Louisiana Bayou Hits, 1950s to 1960s, Blues Interactions, 1990 [Japan].
- Various Artists, Swamp Gold, Vol. 1, Jin 106, 1991; Vol. 2, Jin 107, 1991; Vol. 3, Jin 108, 1994; Vol. 4, Jin 109, 1994; Vol. 5, Jin 9053, 1997; Vol. 6, Jin 9064, 2005; Vol. 7, Jin 9073, 2002; Vol. 8, Jin 9081, 2006.
- Clint West, Swamp Pop Legend: Clint West – The Essential Collection, Jin 9055, 1997.