Born: June 27, 1913 Gueydan, Louisiana
Died: May 13, 1983 Basile, Louisiana
Cajun musician Nathan Abshire, a collaborator with the immortal Amédé Ardoin, never learned to read or sign his name. Abshire’s motto was short and bittersweet: “The good times are killing me.”
One of the most colorful and greatest Cajun musicians of all time was the late Nathan Abshire. Abshire’s unique style—best heard on the likes of “Pine Grove Blues,” “Mama Rosin,” “Shamrock Waltz,” and even Joe South’s “Games People Play”—came from blending traditional Cajun music with Louisiana Creole and blues music, music other early Cajun musicians largely disdained or ignored. He also ignited his performances with a spirit and joy for life that few musicians could match.
Nathan Abshire was born June 27, 1913, in the marshes near Gueydan, Louisiana, into a family with Cajun and native American heritage. Two brothers and an uncle played accordion. So why not Nathan? “I learned to play by myself,” Abshire told Barry Ancelet. “I would hear and see others playing. I was six-years-old. I started playing an accordion that cost $3.50. It wasn’t mine. It was one of my uncles. I can’t read. I can’t sign my name, but I make up songs in my head. I listen to them on accordion until they sound like they’re supposed to.”
Abshire was especially taken with the spirited playing and singing of Creole accordionist/singer Amédé Ardoin, and Ardoin often invited Abshire to play with him. “Every Saturday we used to go to John Foreman’s saloon. I’d see Amédé Ardoin coming down the way. He’d say, ‘Abshire, you’ve got to help me tonight.’ I’d say. ‘Amédé, I can’t help you.’ ‘Oh yeah,’ he’d say, ‘We’re both going to play. I’ll play for awhile, you play for awhile.’ I’d say, ‘I don’t feel much like going Amédé.’ But I’d go and we’d sure make some music. As far as that goes, we made some great music.”
Ardoin’s influence was especially evident on Abshire’s first recording in 1935 (with Happy Fats & the Rayne-Bo Ramblers), “French Blues.” Not long after, Abshire abandoned the accordion in favor of the fiddle, as the “squeeze box” fell into disfavor—even in Louisiana. Abshire switched to fiddle, playing in a succession of Western swing bands up until World War II. Abshire served briefly in the army, but his illiteracy and inability to speak English led to an early discharge. Back in Louisiana (married and living in Riceville), he began working in a sawmill. A serious injury at the sawmill earned him a $500 settlement and he began repairing odds and ends at home as a matter of survival.
In 1948, Abshire was approached by guitarist Ernest Thibodeaux who led a string band called the Pine Grove Boys. The band regularly performed at the Pine Grove Club in Jennings, Louisiana. One day, the club owner, Telesfar Eshte, asked Thibodeaux to find an accordion player for the group. Partly due to Iry LeJeune’s success, the accordion was again popular in Louisiana. Eshte felt the addition of an accordion would be good for business. Upon Thibodeaux’s father’s recommendation—who played fiddle with Amédé Ardoin briefly—he approached Abshire. Abshire said he’d love to start playing music again, but unfortunately he didn’t have an accordion, and he couldn’t afford to buy one. The Pine Grove Boys went into their own pockets and bought a broken single row Sterling accordion for $75. No one locally could repair it, so they drove to Houston, where the repairs cost them another $150.
With Abshire on board, the New Pine Grove Boys became one of the most popular Cajun bands in the area. The band, which also featured the great fiddler Will Kegley, began working six and seven nights a week around Lake Charles at the Broken Mirror and the Crystal Grill. At the time the oil business in the area was booming and there was plenty of work, and money to be made by Cajun bands. The Pine Grove Boys also performed daily on KPLC and came to the attention of local record man Eddie Shuler. Shuler introduced the band to Virgil Bozeman, who had started the OT label. On May 23, 1949, Bozeman convinced the Pine Grove Boys to record “Pine Grove Blues” and “Kaplan Waltz.” Unfortunately, Bozeman didn’t have the money to manufacture the records so in stepped Lake Charles businessman George Khoury, who assumed the pressing bills. “Pine Grove Blues” (based on Columbus Frugé’s 1929 “Tite negresse”) became Abshire’s signature, and it sold 3,200 copies. That sounds minuscule by today’s standards, but considering the limited Cajun market at the time, it was a certified hit and the band attracted even more bookings. Abshire, and the Pine Grove Boys, cut approximately ten 78s on OT including “Step It Fast” and “Pine Grove Boogie.” Abshire’s Creole and blues influences were heard throughout. Outside of “Pine Grove Blues,” Khoury never pressed more than 500 copies of any of the OT releases, making these 78s extremely rare.
LIFE IN BASILE
The following year, Abshire moved to Basile, located on the Louisiana prairie on Highway 190: “What brought me here to Basile was music. You see, I came to play seven nights a week at the Avalon Club here in Basile. So my wife and I took this little house, and we’ve lived here ever since. We know lots of people here, and lots of people come from all over to visit.”
Eventually, Khoury—who was also now recording rhythm and blues and country music—shifted Abshire to the Lyric and then the Khoury imprint. Abshire recorded for Khoury until 1956, cutting several classics including “La Valse de Holly Beach,” “Musical Five Special” “Lu Lu Boogie” and “Shamrock Waltz.” Abshire didn’t record in the late 1950s, but he and Pine Grove Boys stayed busy, working for several years at the infamous Shamrock Club in Lake Charles.
By the mid-1950s, many Cajuns had relocated from Southwestern Louisiana to points as remote as New Orleans, Baton Rouge, Morgan City, Houston, Beaumont and even California in search of employment. They enjoyed their newly found wealth, but they still loved their food, culture and music. As a result Abshire and the Pine Grove Boys started traveling to dances far from home.
In 1960, Abshire returned to the studio and cut several great tracks for J. D. Miller’s Crowley-based Kajun imprint. At the time, the Pine Grove Boys included Dewey and Rodney Balfa. Both Abshire and the Balfas became the early representatives of Cajun music on a national level, performing at the 1967 Newport Festival and Montreal’s World Fair. “When we first started going on trips, I was playing with the Balfa Brothers, Dewey, Will and Rodney,” said Abshire. “We liked it a lot. We had never seen things like that, thousands and thousands of people at once who were clapping and screaming at the top of their lungs, because they loved our music so much. It was strange, but you can imagine how much we appreciated that.”
The Balfas and Abshire had recorded a live album for Chris Strachwitz’s Arhoolie label at a club in Kaplan in 1966—Cajun Fais Do Do—which was aimed at the folk market. However, Abshire realized he needed to cut some 45s that would help with local bookings. Wisely, he approached Floyd Soileau in Ville Platte who was keen to sign Abshire to his Swallow label.
“That was when I had my first little studio,” said Soileau. “We did some things with the Balfas and some with other musicians Nathan rounded up. Dewey played on [the remake of] ‘Pine Grove Blues.’ That did real well. If you sold 1,500 copies of a Cajun single, then you jumped up and shouted ‘Hooray.’ Most of Nathan’s singles did 1,500 to 2,000, with a lot being sold to juke box operators. I did two albums on Nathan, but they were really just collections of his singles.
“He was a jolly old boy and I think it came through on his recordings. He didn’t drink anything but coffee when I recorded him. He was very creative. One day he came in the record shop and picked up a little Hohner accordion and started playing a melody I was familiar with, but couldn’t name. It was Joe South’s ‘The Games People Play.’ We recorded it and became one of his best sellers.”
Abshire stayed with Swallow until the mid-1970s when Soileau slowed down his recording activities. Fiddler Rufus Thibodeaux took Abshire to Carol Rachou and his recordings began appearing on the Lafayette-based La Lousiane label. However, Soileau kept in touch with Abshire.
“I went to see him when he was working at the Basile dump [as a security guard],” added Soileau. “People were starting to cover ‘Pine Grove Blues’ and I researched the song at BMI [Broadcast Music, Inc.] but couldn’t find it. Khoury never registered the song but Nathan had recorded it as ‘Pinegrove Blues’ for J.D. Miller. He registered it at BMI, but wasn’t paying Nathan royalties. I told Nathan that if he signed a publishing contract with me, I get him his writer’s royalties. I took him to a notary and he put his X on a contract. I cleared the song with BMI. J. D. contested it, but I had a contract. J.D. claimed his got burned in fire. But Dewey Balfa, who played on the Miller sessions, said nobody signed anything with J. D.”
Towards the end of his days, Abshire adopted the motto “The good times are killing me.” It was the title of his last Swallow LP and he had it spelt out in gold mail box letters on his accordion case. Abshire continued to perform festivals and clubs around Basile, and he was always animated and full of energy. He told Ancelet he didn’t want his music to outlive him: “When I die, I just wish my friends would come to my funeral and remember me the way I was and bury my music with me.” Eventually, the good times did catch up to Abshire and he died May 13, 1981.
Luckily for fans of down home Cajun music, and his family, his wishes weren’t adhered to. “After Nathan died his music got extremely popular,” said Soileau. “It wasn’t because he died, but it was around the time the popularity of Cajun music surged. I drove to Basile with a $5,000 check to give his widow. I told her, ‘This is a lot more money than Nathan made when he was alive.’ She folded the check and said, ‘I just wish Nathan was here to see it.”
The Abshires’ simple Cajun house is being restored and is going to be part of a heritage display Basile is planning.
Selected CDs
A Cajun Legend: The Best Of Nathan Abshire (Swallow)
Selected Book
Musiciens cadiens et créoles: The Makers of Cajun Music by Barry Jean Ancelet (University of Texas Press)
