Cajun music, an emblematic music of Louisiana played by the Cajuns, is rooted in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada. Although they are two separate genres, Cajun music is often mentioned in tandem with the Creole-based zydeco music. Both are from southwest Louisiana and share French and African origins. These French Louisiana sounds have influenced American popular music for many decades, especially country music, and have influenced pop culture through mass media, such as television commercials.
Amédé Ardoin was an American musician, known for his high singing voice and virtuosity on German-made one-row diatonic button accordions. He is credited by Louisiana music scholars with laying the groundwork for both Creole and Cajun music in the early 20th century, and wrote several songs now regarded as Cajun and zydeco standards. His music and playing greatly inspired post-war Cajun accordion builders like Marc Savoy.
Michael Louis Doucet is an American singer-songwriter and musician best known as the founder of the Cajun band BeauSoleil.
Edwin Duhon was an American musician and co-founder of the Hackberry Ramblers, a band playing a combination of Cajun music, Western swing, and country music.
Steve Riley and the Mamou Playboys are an American Cajun band from southern Louisiana. The band formed in 1988 and has since recorded 10 albums, nine of which are on Rounder Records.
Ginny Hawker and Tracy Schwarz are an American folk music duo known for performing traditional music from the early American canon of bluegrass, gospel, and old time music. The duo, however, on occasion does record original songs and music by contemporary songwriters. They live in the small village of Tanner, West Virginia. Tracy Schwarz was a member of the New Lost City Ramblers.
Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin was a Creole accordionist who specialized in the Creole music called "la la music" or "la musique Creole" and was influential in what became zydeco music.
Canray Fontenot was an American Creole fiddle player, who has been described as "the greatest Creole Louisiana French fiddler of our time."
Cajun music has its roots based in the ballads of the French-speaking Acadians of Canada, and in country music.
The Pine Leaf Boys is an American Cajun and Creole band from South Louisiana, United States. Members include Wilson Savoy, Chris Segura, Drew Simon, Jean Bertrand (guitars), and Thomas David (bass).
A Cajun accordion, also known as a squeezebox, is single-row diatonic button accordion used for playing Cajun and Creole music.
Leo Soileau was one of the most prolific Cajun recording artists of the 1930s and 1940s, recording over 100 songs, which was a substantial amount considering the reluctance to record the music during its early stages. He is known as the second person to record a Cajun record and the first to record this genre with a fiddle.
Wilson Allen Savoy is a Grammy winning accordionist, keyboard player, fiddler and singer with the Cajun bands Pine Leaf Boys and The Band Courtbouillon, as well as a local filmmaker in Lafayette, LA. His father Marc Savoy, famous accordion builder and musician, and his mother, Ann Savoy, musician, author and music producer, are well known ambassadors and supporters of preserving the Cajun culture.
Luderin Lawrence Darbone, was a Cajun-Western swing fiddle player for the band Hackberry Ramblers.
Breaux Frères or Breaux Brothers, were Cajun musicians. They were the earliest to record the song "Jolie Blonde", under the title of "Ma Blonde Est Partie".
Lawrence Walker was a Cajun accordionist. He is known for his original songs, including Reno Waltz, Evangeline Waltz, Bosco Stomp, and Mamou Two Step.
Cajun fiddle music is a part of the American fiddle music canon. It is derived from the music of southwest Louisiana and southeast Texas, as well as sharing repertoire from the Quebec and Cape Breton Island traditions. It is one of the few extant North American folk music traditions rooted in French chanson. According to Ron Yule, "Louisiana fiddling had its birth roots in Europe, with fiddling being noted as early as the 1400s in Scotland". Zydeco music is a geographically, culturally, and musically related style.
Oran "Doc" Guidry was an American Cajun and country music fiddler. Some of his best known recordings include "Wondering", "Colinda", "Crowley Two Step", and "Chere Cherie".
Joseph Edward Werner was a Cajun musician most remembered for his tune "Wondering" made famous by Webb Pierce. He played for many years with the group Hackberry Ramblers as they were known as Riverside Ramblers as well as in several Cajun groups of his own. Although his career spanned only two years, 1937 and 1938, his French and English tunes influenced many Cajun musicians in Louisiana for years.
