Born: March 20, 1927, Grand Louis, LA

Death: June 17, 1992, Basile, LA

It’s hard to imagine what Cajun music would be like today if Dewey Balfa hadn’t been championing its cause beginning in the ’60s. With the current proliferation of Cajun bands and the swelling numbers of youth embracing their cultural music in Acadiana, thankfully we’ll never know. But it stands to reason that a Balfa-less Cajun music would have resulted in a profoundly different gen...