John Irvin Delafose (April 16, 1939 – September 18, 1994) was an American French-speaking Creole

Zydeco Zydeco ( or , french: Zarico) is a music genre that evolved in southwest Louisiana by French Creole speakers which blends blues, rhythm and blues, and music indigenous to the Louisiana Creoles and the Native American people of Louisiana. Al ...

accordionist Accordions (from 19th-century German ''Akkordeon'', from ''Akkord''—"musical chord, concord of sounds") are a family of box-shaped musical instruments of the bellows-driven free-reed aerophone type (producing sound as air flows past a reed ...

from

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a state in the Deep South and South Central regions of the United States. It is the 20th-smallest by area and the 25th most populous of the 50 U.S. states. Louisiana is borde ...

Early life

Delafose was born in the unincorporated village of Duralde,

Evangeline Parish Evangeline Parish (french: Paroisse d'Évangéline) is a parish located in the U.S. state of Louisiana. As of the 2010 census, the population was 33,984. The parish seat is Ville Platte. History The parish was created out of lands formerly be ...

, near

Mamou Mamou (Pular: 𞤃𞤢𞥄𞤥𞤵𞤲) is a city and sub-prefecture in a valley of the Fouta Djallon area of Guinea. Population 376,269 (2018 est),and the city is almost 98% Fulani tribe. sharecroppers Sharecropping is a legal arrangement with regard to agricultural land in which a landowner allows a tenant to use the land in return for a share of the crops produced on that land. Sharecropping has a long history and there are a wide range ...

. As a child, Delafose fashioned fiddles and guitars out of old boards and cigar boxes fitted with window-screen wire. The fiddle was his first instrument. He eventually took up the harmonica, and at the age of 18 learned the

button accordion A button accordion is a type of accordion on which the melody-side keyboard consists of a series of buttons. This differs from the piano accordion, which has piano-style keys. Erich von Hornbostel and Curt Sachs categorize it as a free reed ae ...

. However, he turned to farming and did not pursue music as a career until the early 1970s.

Career

He began as an accordionist and harmonicist with a variety of local Zydeco bands. In the mid-1970s, he formed the band The Eunice Playboys, with which he played until his death. Over its history, band members included three of his sons, as well as nephews and grandsons. The band continued under the direction of his son Geno Delafose. Delafose gained wider public recognition with albums such as ''Joe Pete Got Two Women'' ( Arhoolie, 1990) and ''Blues Stay Away from Me'' (

Rounder Rounder(s) or The Rounder(s) may refer to: Film and television * ''The Rounders'' (1914 film), a comedy short * ''The Rounder'' (1930 film), a comedy short * ''The Rounders'' (1965 film), a western comedy * ''Rounders'' (film), a 1998 poker f ...

, 1993). He was seen in performance footage and his music was featured on the soundtrack of the 1992

John Sayles John Thomas Sayles (born September 28, 1950) is an American independent film director, screenwriter, editor, actor, and novelist. He has twice been nominated for the Academy Award for Best Original Screenplay, for ''Passion Fish'' (1992) and '' ...

film ''

Passion Fish ''Passion Fish'' is a 1992 American drama film written and directed by John Sayles. The film stars Mary McDonnell, Alfre Woodard, Vondie Curtis-Hall, David Strathairn, Leo Burmester, and Angela Bassett. It tells the story of a soap opera star, ...

''. He was also a featured artist in the 1989 documentary film ''J'ai été au bal'' (I Went to the Dance).

Style

Delafose had a dynamic style and strong rural roots, with a strong staccato rhythm on the accordion, which has influenced almost all current Zydeco musicians.Herzhaft, Gérard: ''La gran enciclopedia del blues'', Ed. RobinBook, Barcelona, 2003, , p. 382 (''Encyclopedia of the Blues'',

University of Arkansas Press The University of Arkansas Press is a university press that is part of the University of Arkansas and has been a member of the Association of University Presses since 1984. Its mission is to publish peer-reviewed books and academic journals. It ...

)''This article incorporates information from the corresponding article in the

Spanish Wikipedia The Spanish Wikipedia ( es, Wikipedia en español) is a Spanish-language edition of Wikipedia, a free online encyclopedia. It has articles. Started in May 2001, it reached 100,000 articles on March 8, 2006 and 1,000,000 articles on May 16, 2013 ...

Unlike some of the younger performers at the time, Delafose sang in both English and French, and his repertoire featured two-steps and waltzes in addition to the highly percussive Afro-Caribbean rhythms of Zydeco. He occasionally played fiddle with the band, which was rare in Zydeco music. He and his band packed audiences into dance halls in southwest Louisiana, east Texas and New Orleans for more than 20 years. Delafose's hit version of the

Canray Fontenot Canray Fontenot (October 16, 1922 – July 29, 1995) was an American Creole fiddle player, who has been described as "the greatest Creole Louisiana French fiddler of our time." Early life Canray Fontenot was born in L'Anse aux Vaches, ne ...

song "Joe Pitre a Deux Femmes" brought the single-row accordion back into favor among Zydeco musicians.

Death

Delafose had a heart attack in 1993, while on the road headed toward a festival in

Rhode Island Rhode Island (, like ''road'') is a state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is the smallest U.S. state by area and the seventh-least populous, with slightly fewer than 1.1 million residents as of 2020, but it ...

. He later recovered, but experienced bouts of fatigue afterwards. Delafose died after a short illness in the early morning hours of September 18, 1994 at the Opelousas General Hospital. He was buried in the cemetery of St. Mathilda Catholic Church in

Eunice, Louisiana Eunice is a city in Acadia and St. Landry parishes in the U.S. state of Louisiana. The 2010 census placed the population at 10,398, a decrease of 1,101, or 9.5 percent, from the 2000 tabulation of 11,499. The St. Landry Parish portion of Eunic ...

Discography

Studio and live albums

Singles

Various artist compilation albums

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Delafose, John 1939 births 1994 deaths 20th-century American male musicians 20th-century accordionists 20th-century African-American musicians People from Evangeline Parish, Louisiana American accordionists Blues musicians from Louisiana Zydeco accordionists Arhoolie Records artists Rounder Records artists Maison de Soul Records artists African-American Catholics