Swamp pop is a music genre indigenous to the

Acadiana Acadiana (French and Louisiana French: ''L'Acadiane''), also known as the Cajun Country ( Louisiana French: ''Le Pays Cadjin'', es, País Cajún), is the official name given to the French Louisiana region that has historically contained ...

region of south

Louisiana Louisiana , group=pronunciation (French: ''La Louisiane'') is a U.S. state, state in the Deep South and South Central United States, South Central regions of the United States. It is the List of U.S. states and territories by area, 20th-smal ...

and an adjoining section of southeast Texas. Created in the 1950s by young Cajuns and Creoles, it combines

New Orleans New Orleans ( , ,New Orleans

rhythm and blues,

country and western A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

, and traditional French Louisiana musical influences. Although a fairly obscure genre, swamp pop maintains a large audience in its south Louisiana and southeast Texas homeland, and it has acquired a small but passionate cult following in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...

, and Northern Europe

Characteristics

The swamp pop sound is typified by highly emotional, lovelorn lyrics, tripleting honky-tonk pianos, undulating bass lines, bellowing horn sections, and a strong rhythm and blues backbeat. It is exemplified by slow ballads like Cookie and the Cupcakes' "Mathilda" (recorded 1958), considered by many fans as the unofficial swamp pop "anthem". But the genre has also produced many upbeat compositions, such as Bobby Charles' " Later Alligator" (1955), popularly covered by Bill Haley & His Comets. During the genre's heyday (1958–1964), several swamp pop songs appeared on national U.S. record charts. These included Jimmy Clanton's "Just A Dream" (1958), Warren Storm's " Prisoner's Song" (1958), Phil Phillips' " Sea Of Love" (1959),

Rod Bernard Rod Bernard () was an American 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 Creole music. He is generally considered one of th ...

's " This Should Go On Forever" (1959),

Joe Barry Joe Barry (born July 5, 1970) is an American football coach who is the defensive coordinator for the Green Bay Packers of the National Football League (NFL). He previously served as the assistant head coach and linebackers coach for the Los Ang ...

's "I'm a Fool to Care" (1960), and

Dale and Grace Dale Houston (April 23, 1940 – September 27, 2007) was an American singer who, along with his performing partner, Grace Broussard, hit the Billboard chart as Dale & Grace with two rock and roll singles. The first was the No. 1 gold reco ...

's "I'm Leaving It Up to You" (1963). In swamp pop's south Louisiana–southeast Texas birthplace, fans regarded many songs that never became national hits as classics. These include

Johnnie Allan Johnnie Allan (born John Allen Guillot, March 10, 1938) is an American pioneer of the swamp pop musical genre. Career Born in Rayne, Louisiana, United States, Allan, a Cajun, grew up in a musical family, and at age six obtained his first gui ...

's "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" (1958), Buck Rogers' "Crazy Baby" (1959), Randy and the Rockets' "Let's Do the Cajun Twist" (1962), T. K. Hulin's "I'm Not a Fool Anymore" (1963), and Clint West's "Big Blue Diamond" (1965), among numerous others.

Roots and early history

The musicians who went on to birth swamp pop listened to (and often performed) traditional Cajun music and Creole music (which later developed into

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. ...

) as children, as well as popular country and western ( hillbilly) songs by musicians like

Bob Wills James Robert Wills (March 6, 1905 – May 13, 1975) was an American Western swing musician, songwriter, and bandleader. Considered by music authorities as the founder of Western swing, he was known widely as the King of Western Swing (although ...

, Moon Mullican, and Hank Williams. However, like other American youth in the mid-1950s, they discovered the alluring new sounds of

rock and roll Rock and roll (often written as rock & roll, rock 'n' roll, or rock 'n roll) is a genre of popular music that evolved in the United States during the late 1940s and early 1950s. It originated from African-American music such as jazz, rhythm an ...

and rhythm and blues musicians like

Elvis Presley Elvis Aaron Presley (January 8, 1935 – August 16, 1977), or simply Elvis, was an American singer and actor. Dubbed the "Honorific nicknames in popular music, King of Rock and Roll", he is regarded as Cultural impact of Elvis Presley, one ...

, Little Richard and Fats Domino. As a result, these teenaged Cajuns and Creoles shifted away from Louisiana French folk compositions like "''

Jolie Blonde Jole Blon or Jolie Blonde is a traditional Cajun waltz, often called "the Cajun national anthem" because of the popularity it has in Cajun culture. The song was popularized on a nationwide scale by a series of renditions and references in late 194 ...

''", "'' Allons a Lafayette''", and "''Les flammes d'enfer''" in favor of singing rock and roll and rhythm and blues compositions in English. At the same time, they switched from folk instruments like the accordion, fiddle, and iron triangle to modern ones such as the

electric guitar An electric guitar is a guitar that requires external amplification in order to be heard at typical performance volumes, unlike a standard acoustic guitar (however combinations of the two - a semi-acoustic guitar and an electric acoustic gu ...

and bass, upright

piano The piano is a stringed keyboard instrument in which the strings are struck by wooden hammers that are coated with a softer material (modern hammers are covered with dense wool felt; some early pianos used leather). It is played using a musica ...

saxophone The saxophone (often referred to colloquially as the sax) is a type of Single-reed instrument, single-reed woodwind instrument with a conical body, usually made of brass. As with all single-reed instruments, sound is produced when a reed (mouthpi ...

, and drumming trap set. Swamp pop duo Dale & Grace, c

By the late 1950s, swamp pop musicians had developed their own distinct sound and repertoires. They performed to receptive crowds in local dancehalls like the Southern Club in Opelousas, Landry's Palladium in Lafayette, the OST Club in Rayne, and the Green Lantern in Lawtell. In addition, they released recordings on local record labels, such as Floyd Soileau's Jin label of Ville Platte, Eddie Shuler's Goldband of Lake Charles, Carol Rachou's La Louisianne of Lafayette, Huey Meaux's Crazy Cajun label of

Houston Houston (; ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in Texas, the Southern United States#Major cities, most populous city in the Southern United States, the List of United States cities by population, fourth-most pop ...

, and a number of labels owned by J. D. Miller of Crowley, Louisiana (who also recorded swamp pop tunes for larger national labels, such as Ernie Young's Excello Records label of Nashville). Swamp pop musicians often adopted Anglo-American stage names that masked their Cajun surnames. John Allen Guillot, for example, became

, Robert Charles Guidry became Bobby Charles, Joe Barrios became

, Elwood Dugas became Bobby Page, and Terry Gene DeRouen became Gene Terry. Some of these musicians changed their names because they were ashamed of their rural French heritage—a feeling shared at the time by a segment of the Cajun population. But economics motivated most swamp pop musicians: They wanted to sell records not only in southern Louisiana and southeast Texas, but beyond, where the pronunciation of

ethnic An ethnic group or an ethnicity is a grouping of people who identify with each other on the basis of shared attributes that distinguish them from other groups. Those attributes can include common sets of traditions, ancestry, language, history, ...

surnames like Guillot, Barrios, and DeRouen eluded record promoters,

disc jockey A disc jockey, more commonly abbreviated as DJ, is a person who plays recorded music for an audience. Types of DJs include Radio personality, radio DJs (who host programs on music radio stations), club DJs (who work at a nightclub or music f ...

s, and consumers. Despite its obvious rock and roll and rhythm & blues influences, swamp pop was not devoid of folk characteristics. For example, Bobby Page and the Riff Raffs recorded "

Hippy-Ti-Yo Hippy Ti Yo (also spelled Hippy To Yo, Hip Et Taiau, Les Huppes Taiauts, Hippy-Ty-Yo, Hippy-Tai-Yo, Hippitiyo, Tayeaux Dog Tayeaux) is a traditional melody that was first recorded as ''Ils La Volet Mon Trancas'', sung by Cajun musician Cleoma Breaux ...

", a bilingual rock and roll version of the traditional Cajun French song "'' Hip et Taiaut''" and

did the same with "''Allons danser Colinda''", another important folk composition. Joe Barry re-recorded his swamp pop hit "I'm A Fool To Care" in French under the title "''Je suis bête pour t'aimer''". And Randy and the Rockets issued "Let's Do The Cajun Twist", an English remake of the Cajun French favorite "''Allons a Lafayette''".

Legacy

From 1950s to 1960s, swamp pop songs have appeared in the '' Billboard'' TOP 40. While swamp pop drew heavily on New Orleans rhythm and blues, it reciprocated by making a detectable impact on songs like Lloyd Price's "Stagger Lee"(#1, 1959), and Clarence "Frogman" Henry's "

(I Don't Know Why) But I Do "(I Don't Know Why) But I Do" is an R&B song written by Paul Gayten and Bobby Charles (as Robert Guidry), and performed by Clarence "Frogman" Henry. Original version It was Henry's biggest U.S. hit, reaching No. 4 in early 1961. The B-side on t ...

"(#4, 1961) (Bobby Charles compositions). Swamp pop also left its imprint on the related but distinct genre known as " swamp blues", including Slim Harpo's classic " Rainin' in My Heart". Bobby Charles released album "Bobby Charles"(1972) include Small Town Talk". Leon Russell, Delaney & Bonnie, Dale Hawkins, Tony Joe White, John Fogerty and C.C.R were influenced by swamp pop. Swamp pop's impact on popular music is heard in

the Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

' cover of Barbara Lynn's "You'll Lose a Good Thing" and "Oh Baby (We Got A Good Thing Goin')", the Honeydrippers' rendition of Phil Phillips' " Sea of Love",

's cover of Lloyd Price's " Lawdy Miss Clawdy", and even

The Beatles The Beatles were an English rock band, formed in Liverpool in 1960, that comprised John Lennon, Paul McCartney, George Harrison and Ringo Starr. They are regarded as the most influential band of all time and were integral to the developm ...

' swamp-inspired " Oh! Darling". Swamp pop influenced

Tejano music Tejano music ( es, música tejana), also known as Tex-Mex music, is a popular music style fusing Mexican and US influences. Typically, Tejano combines Mexican Spanish vocal styles with dance rhythms from Czech and German genres – particular ...

, particularly the recordings of Freddy Fender's early swampy songs like " Before The Next Teardrop Falls" and " Wasted Days and Wasted Nights" in 1975. (South Louisiana and southeast Texas audiences generally consider Fender a full-fledged swamp pop musician.) Although swamp pop began a slow decline with the onslaught of the mid-'60s

British Invasion The British Invasion was a cultural phenomenon of the mid-1960s, when rock and pop music acts from the United Kingdom and other aspects of British culture became popular in the United States and significant to the rising "counterculture" on ...

, the genre continues to draw devoted fans to south Louisiana and southeast Texas festivals and nightclubs. Some younger non-swamp musicians, such as Cajun artist Zachary Richard and

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 swamp ...

, have acknowledged a strong swamp pop influence.Adcock co-produced a 2009 documentary, ''Promised Land: A Swamp Pop Journey'', on his swamp pop group Lil' Band o' Gold, which featured swamp pop pioneer Warren Storm on drums and guest vocals by

Tommy McLain Tommy McLain (born March 15, 1940) is an American swamp pop musician, best known as a singer but who also plays keyboards, drums, bass guitar, and fiddle. Career McLain first began performing in the 1950s, along with country singer Clint West ...

Characteristics

Roots and early history

Legacy

See also

Notes and references

Further reading