Gabriel Perrodin (August 17, 1937 – January 28, 2017), known as Guitar Gable, was an American Louisiana blues,

swamp blues Swamp blues is a type of Louisiana blues that developed in the Black communities of Southwest Louisiana in the 1950s.Malone, Evelyn Levingston, "Swamp Blues: Race And Vinyl From Southwest Louisiana" (2016). Publicly Accessible Penn Dissertation ...

and

swamp pop Swamp pop is a music genre indigenous to the Acadiana region of south Louisiana and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s by young Cajuns and Creoles, it combines New Orleans–style rhythm and blues, country and western ...

musician. He was best known for recording the original version of "

This Should Go On Forever "This Should Go On Forever" is a popular song of the south Louisiana rock and roll genre known as swamp pop. It was written by J. D. "Jay" Miller and Bernard Jolivette Background King Karl (real name Bernard Jolivette), a black Creole swamp p ...

", and his part in the vibrant swamp blues and pop scene in Louisiana in the 1950s and early 1960s.

Biography

Gable was born in Bellevue,

St. Landry Parish St. Landry Parish (french: Paroisse de Saint-Landry) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 Census, the population was 83,384. The parish seat is Opelousas. The parish was established in 1807. St. Landry Parish co ...

, Louisiana, United States. His father was Creole. Guitar Gable was influenced by the music of

Guitar Slim Eddie Jones (December 10, 1926 – February 7, 1959), better known as Guitar Slim, was an American guitarist in the 1940s and 1950s, best known for the million-selling song "The Things That I Used to Do", for Specialty Records. It is listed in th ...

, and was self-taught in playing the guitar by his mid-teens. He formed a group called the Swing Masters, and was later introduced to King Karl (born Bernard Jolivette). "Guitar Gable had been playing jobs with some little guy out of Lafayette," Karl recalled to swamp pop historian Shane K. Bernard. "Anyhow, there was this priest, Father Millet, and one day he said, 'I was told you was fixing to be in a band. I got a good boy. I would like for you to get together with him 'cause I don't like the company he's with'." King Karl met Guitar Gable at a Swing Masters concert, and afterwards Gable left them to join King Karl, Gable's brother Clinton "Fats" Perrodin on bass guitar, and drummer Clarence "Jockey" Etienne, to form the Musical Kings. Introduced to the

record producer A record producer is a recording project's creative and technical leader, commanding studio time and coaching artists, and in popular genres typically creates the song's very sound and structure.Virgil Moorefield"Introduction" ''The Producer as ...

J. D. "Jay" Miller, the Musical Kings eventually became the heart of Miller's preferred

studio A studio is an artist or worker's workroom. This can be for the purpose of acting, architecture, painting, pottery (ceramics), sculpture, origami, woodworking, scrapbooking, photography, graphic design, filmmaking, animation, industrial design ...

musical ensemble. They backed musicians such as

Lazy Lester Leslie Johnson (June 20, 1933 – August 22, 2018), better known as Lazy Lester, was an American blues musician who sang and played the harmonica and guitar. In a career spanning the 1950s to 2018, he pioneered swamp blues, and also played ha ...

, Classie Ballou, Skinny Dynamo,

Bobby Charles Robert Charles Guidry (February 21, 1938 – January 14, 2010), known as Bobby Charles, was an American singer-songwriter. Early life An ethnic Cajun, Charles was born in Abbeville, Louisiana, United States, and grew up listening to Cajun mus ...

and

Slim Harpo Slim Harpo (born James Isaac Moore; January 11, 1924 – January 31, 1970) was an American blues musician, a leading exponent of the swamp blues style, and "one of the most commercially successful blues artists of his day". He played guitar and w ...

. "

I'm a King Bee "I'm a King Bee" is a swamp blues song written and first recorded by Slim Harpo in 1957. It has been performed and recorded by numerous blues and other artists and in 2008, Slim Harpo's original received a Grammy Hall of Fame Award. Original song ...

" was written by Slim Harpo under his real name of James Moore. The song was recorded in March 1957 and was originally released that year as the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

to his debut solo single, "I Got Love if You Want It". Its popularity led to

Excello Records Excello Records was an American blues independent record label, started by Ernie Young in Nashville, Tennessee, United States, in 1953 as a subsidiary of Nashboro, a gospel label. History It recorded such artists as Lonnie Brooks, Lightnin' Slim, ...

swapping the sides over. The other musicians on the recording were Gable (guitar); Fats Perrodin (bass); and Jockey Etienne (drums). Guitar Gable and the Musical Kings had earlier recorded their own debut single for Excello in 1956. His first track was the pacy

instrumental An instrumental is a recording normally without any vocals, although it might include some inarticulate vocals, such as shouted backup vocals in a big band setting. Through semantic widening, a broader sense of the word song may refer to instru ...

"Congo Mombo", which relied on the melody of " Frankie and Johnny". The A-side of the single was "Life Problem", which featured King Karl's vocals. The follow-up release included the swamp pop classic, "Irene", which later influenced

Jimmy Clanton Jimmy Clanton (born September 2, 1938) is an American singer who became known as the " swamp pop R&B teenage idol". His band recorded a hit song "Just a Dream" which Clanton had written in 1958 for the Ace Records label. It reached number fou ...

's " Just A Dream". Subsequent releases followed a similar pattern with Gable's Caribbean-laced instrumentals such as "Congo Mombo," "Guitar Rhumbo" and "Gumbo Mombo," pitched against

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a Genre (music), genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It Origins of rock and roll, originated from Africa ...

tracks including "Cool, Calm, Collected" and "Walking in the Park." It was the blues influenced ballads including "Irene," "Life Problem" and "

" that caused most interest. The latter track was recorded by Gable and his band in 1958, but did not find favour with Miller. A

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

was recorded by

Rod Bernard Rod Bernard () was an American singing, singer who helped to pioneer the musical genre known as "swamp pop", which combined New Orleans-style rhythm and blues, country and western, and Cajun and black Louisiana Creole people, Creole music. He ...

, and it reached the Top 20 of the US ''

Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...

'' R&B

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can represent tabu ...

. Gable's original was finally released in February 1959, but failed to match the success of Bernard's cover. Gable and Karl left Miller and Excello in disgust, and were reduced to issuing work on the much smaller labels of La Louisianne and Tamm into the early 1960s. Gable served in the armed forces but later continued with his own band, maintaining a following in local clubs until 1968. In the 1970s, Gable performed regularly with Lil' Bob and the Lollipops, before he initially retired from performing in the 1980s. In 1990 Gable appeared on Lil' Bob's CD ''Back Again'' for the Vidrine label. In the 1990s, Guitar Gable was tempted back to the performing stage by

C.C. Adcock C. C. Adcock (born Charles Clinton Adcock, 1971) is an American singer, songwriter, guitarist and blues rock musician, noted for his cajun, zydeco, electric blues and swamp pop-influenced sound and for his efforts to preserve and promote swa ...

. Gable's guitar work featured on Slim Harpo's 2011

compilation album A compilation album comprises Album#Tracks, tracks, which may be previously released or unreleased, usually from several separate recordings by either one or several Performing arts#Performers, performers. If by one artist, then generally the tr ...

, ''Rocks''. Gable died in hospital at

Opelousas, Louisiana :''Opelousas is also a common name of the flathead catfish.'' Opelousas (french: Les Opélousas; Spanish: ''Los Opeluzás'') is a small city and the parish seat of St. Landry Parish, Louisiana, United States. Interstate 49 and U.S. Route 190 were ...

, on January 28, 2017, at the age of 79.

Discography

Singles

Albums

Selected compilation albums

References

External links

Allmusic credits
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gable, Guitar 1937 births 2017 deaths American blues guitarists American male guitarists Blues musicians from Louisiana American blues singers American male singers Songwriters from Louisiana Louisiana blues musicians Swamp blues musicians People from Bossier Parish, Louisiana Singers from Louisiana Guitarists from Louisiana 20th-century American guitarists 20th-century American male musicians American male songwriters