Canray Fontenot
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[edit] Early life
Canray Fontenot was born in L'anse Aux Vachesla, Louisiana (or l'Anse des Rougeaux, Louisiana, an unincorporated community outside Eunice, Louisiana) however his family was from Duralde, Louisiana. [1] Fontenot, who grew up working on a family farm, inherited his musical skills from his parents, who played accordion. He first played a cigar-box fiddle that had strings taken off the screen door of his home. His bow was made from the branches of pear trees and sewing thread. [2]
- Canray stated "So, we took some cigar boxes," he said. "In those days, cigar boxes were made of wood. So, we worked at it and finally made ourselves a fiddle. For our strings, we had no real strings ... we took strands off the screen door. We made fiddles out of that stuff, and then we started practicing." Fontenot visited a neighbor "to see how he tuned his fiddle. He would sound a string, and then I would try mine, but I couldn't go as high as his fiddle; every time I tried to match his pitch, I'd break a string.... But then when he would break a string, I would take the longest end. Then my fiddle sounded pretty good. And that's how I learned. It's just a matter of having music on your mind." [3]
[edit] Music career
In 1937, Fontenot was invited by Amedee Ardoin to travel to New York and play on his recording of "Les Portes de la Prison." Fontenot and Ardoin made their debut outside of Louisiana in 1966, performing at the Newport Folk Festival. [4] He also played with Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin, an accordionist from nearby Duralde. His most well-known original songs are "Joe Pitre a Deux Femmes," "Les Barres de la prison" and "Bonsoir Moreau", which have become standards in the Cajun music and Zydeco music repertoires. [5] He was awarded the NEA National Heritage Fellowship in 1986. Canray died in 1995 after a long bout with cancer.
Canray's music can be found on Arhoolie Records, CD 381, “Canray Fontenot: Louisiana Hot Sauce, Creole Style”, 1993; also on Arhoolie Records, "Les Blues de Bayou", 1970; and also on Arhoolie Records, "La Musique Creole", 1983. Canray was also featured in the 1989 film "J'ai Ete au Bal" as well as PBS's American Patchwork "Don't Drop the Potato".
