Louisiana Folk Roots

When you become a member of Friends of Louisiana Folk Roots, you will receive this publication featuring stories, interviews, recipes, and other fascinating tidbits on Louisiana culture. We are very proud of our newsletter. Shown below are the table of contents and excerpts from the first two newsletters that were sent to all of our members.


volume 1, issue 1, august 2001
CONTENTS Bill Fontenot Interview Intro Letter Balfa Week Piece Balfa Week Evaluations Maude Ancelet Recipes Membership Info Fait à la Main Fuefollet Interview from the BILL FONTENOT INTERVIEW Dirk Powell: Did you have any specific mentors, as far as plantlife, in that scene? Did they start passing on that kind of knowledge to you? Bill Fontenot: Yeah. My dad had a whole bunch of friends and we would all hunt and fish together, and camp, and there was one particular man, Mr. Burke Veillon, who had taken it upon himself to learn the English names of all the plants. Of course, they all knew the French names, but not everyone could identify these plants. If you told my dad, for instance, "Bois Connu," he knew what that was but as far as walking around and being able to point them out in the woods, he may or may not have been of help then. But Mr. Burke Veillon knew them all. And Mr. Burke, in case any of the guys forgot, he could go and say, "Look, that’s it. Remember? The gray bark with the warts on it." And everybody would go, "Oh yeah, yeah, yeah..." So the way that would come up was when we would go hunting, Mr. Burke was always the best hunter. He’d always kill the most squirrels and when we’d come back we’d be cleaning the squirrels and talking about the hunt and he was the only one who’d say, "Yeah, they were in the hackberries today. Did y’all notice that?" And everybody was going, "Yeah, yeah..." But I was like, "Mr. Burke? What’s a hackberry?" "Ahhh. You mean to tell me you don’t know what a hackberry is? Come here!" And he’d go show me. So Mr. Burke gave me my introduction to wild plants. *more follows . . .*

	from the FUEFOLLET INTERVIEW The members of Feufollet have been answering a few questions lately. Specifically, they answered mine during a Lafayette interview, and the results follow. In a nonliteral sense, however, they’ve answered larger questions about the Cajun cultural revival that have been floating around for thirty years or so. Many have wondered whether the younger generations would take the music fully into their hearts. Some feared that it could end up preserved but not alive and breathing-- still played, but with the feeling of a period piece. Others worried the music would be sanitized and made so cute for the growing number of tourists that the soul would be lost completely. Still more were terrified of the outside world, denying young musicians the very influences that shaped Cajun music in the first place. Thankfully, Feufollet has made these questions irrelevant. They answer them all within the first few notes of any song they play-- not bad for a band whose average age is 13 (sorry, guys... I couldn’t resist). It was refreshing to talk to them. Like most musicians, they have music on the brain. They get excited about what moves them and opinionated about what doesn’t. They are Cajun and into that, American and into that too. The following are excerpts from a conversation held at the home of Chris and Michael Stafford in early 2001. La Bande Feufollet: Chris Stafford, accordion, fiddle, and vocals; Chris Segura, fiddle; Ashley Hayes, guitar and vocals; Brittany Polaski, triangle and vocals; Michael Stafford, drums; Matt Cormier, bass. *. . . and later on:* Dirk Powell: One other thing I wanted to ask is about how you perceive your parents’ role in your music. Do you have any thoughts on that? Ashley Hayes: My mom supported me by saying "keep going." If I was messing up on a song or something she would tell me to keep trying... and she drove me. Chris Stafford: My parents always encouraged me to play and supported me but it’s never like they pushed me into it or anything. It’s not like they forced me to play. I always thought it was fun. *more follows . . .*


volume 1, issue 2, december 2001
CONTENTS Herman Fuselier interview Letter from the Director Bill Fontenot, Cont’d D.L.Menard Fait à la Main New Carpenter’s Waltz Pat Mould Recipes DBCCHW 2002 Membership Info from THE NEW CARPENTER's WALTZ by Joshua Clegg Caffery I’ve always loved The Carpenter’s Waltz and thought it was one of the few traditional Cajun tunes I’ve heard that might work en anglais. I’ve only heard it as an instrumental and I’m not sure if any French words have been written for it. Some fiddlers play this tune with their high E tuned down a whole step and I do the same on the mandolin, which really lends it an old-timey sound. I wrote the words with the melody in mind to a waltz beat. As a poem, it ends up scanning loosely as dactylic dimeter. Well they’re done burning cane Down on Irish Bend Road, All the tractors are broken And the old mill is closed. And the rows in the fields, Like the waves in the gulf, Get deeper and darker As the days turn to dusk. Big house on the curve My father’s and his, The ceilings seem taller, The colder it gets. And the sweet words you whispered Turned out to be false, So I’ll sit here alone And play the Carpenter’s Waltz. *more follows . . .*

	from the HERMAN FUSELIER INTERVIEW Dirk Powell: You’ve been writing about local stuff for ten years or so here. Have you seen changes in the perception of local culture? Has it continued on that road towards being more popular with local people or is it getting touristy? What’s happening to it? Herman Fuselier: I guess I’ve seen a little bit of all of the above. I know one of the things that always made me feel good was when people who had lived here all their lives, who had grown up speaking French before they could speak English, who had stayed involved in the culture, and of course they were really just living their lives, started reading my column. They were telling me, "Thanks for what you do, for recognizing guys that should have been recognized a long time ago." Even better than that, sometimes they would tell me, "You’ve taught me something about my culture I didn’t even know." I always thought, "I really should be thanking you for keeping this culture here so that I could write about it. And here you are thanking me..." Many people have been brainwashed to think you were second class if you spoke French, you had to close the windows and pull the curtains if you ever listened to French music. People were so embarrassed. I remember one lady telling me that her parents were crying, telling her, "Get away from this, don’t speak French, don’t teach it to your kids, try to be like everyone else, because this is something that’s going to bring you down." So many people felt that way. They might not have said it publicly, but it was in their hearts and minds. Now, they can see that this is really something special. A couple of people have told me I helped them along that road, and if I did it’s all been worthwhile. It was totally unexpected on my part, but it feels so good to hear that. *more follows . . .*