Hackberry Ramblers, The

For nearly seven decades, The Hackberry Ramblers have played a toe-tapping blend of Cajun music and western swing, with a dash of Gulf Coast swamp-pop, rock & roll, and classic country. This exuberant sound burst's forth from the band's Grammy-nominated album Deep Water (The Hot Biscuits Recording Company, # HOTBI 5001.) Besides the core members of The Hackberry Ramblers, Deep Water features several distinguished guests. Marcia Ball shares lead vocals on "C. C. Rider" and "Les blues de Bosco," a Cajun classic that captures her debut recording in French. Rodney Crowell shares lead vocals on "Frankie and Johnny" and sings back-up on a truly unique version of "Proud Mary." Michael Doucet plays fiddle on several numbers including the aptly-entitled "Steppin' Fast." And Jimmie Dale Gilmore shares lead vocals on the title track, the Bob Wills classic "Deep Water." These guest performances are historic inter-generational collaborations with a band whose history dates back to 1933, when the group was founded by fiddler Luderin Darbone and accordionist Edwin Duhon, the spry gentlemen who still lead the band today. Beyond their appeal to dancers, The Hackberry Ramblers brought two important innovations to south Louisiana music. They blended the Cajun repertoire with Anglo-American western swing and country songs, and introduced electronic amplification to area dance-halls via a sound-system powered by the battery of Darbone's idling Model-T Ford. In 1935 The Hackberry Ramblers signed with RCA Bluebird. Their hits, released on 78 r.p.m. records, included "Jolie Blonde" and "Wondering." When Cajun music waned during the 1960s the Ramblers contemplated retirement. But cultural crusader Chris Strachwitz, the guiding force behind Arhoolie Records, encouraged the band to stay active, recording them anew in 1963 and reissuing some of their Bluebird classics. The pace picked up with the advent of the Cajun music and zydeco renaissance. Since 1988 The Hackberry Ramblers have performed annually at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival and appeared at diverse events nationwide including Superbowl '96, The Grand Ole Opry, and The Newport Folk Festival. The Ramblers also play weekly, at home, in Lake Charles, LA. Their string-band sound has evolved over the years as electric guitarist Glen Croker adds a swaggering honky-tonk tinge that includes blues, R & B, and rockabilly. The current line-up also includes bassist Johnny Faulk and drummer/producer Ben Sandmel. By the early 1990s The Hackberry Ramblers' rich history and undiminished vitality began to pique media interest. Cashbox stated flat out that "The Hackberry Ramblers has to be one of the coolest bands in the world," while the Dallas Morning News called the band "party animals" who "traffic in jubilation." The French journal Big Bear echoed such sentiments with "ils sont irrestisitibles." This groundswell inspired The Hackberry Ramblers to record their first album in thirty years. Cajun Boogie (released in 1993 by Flying Fish Records) generated national TV and radio profiles on Entertainment Tonight, Music City Tonight, NPR's Weekend Edition, Fresh Air, and World Café, plus acclaim from The New York Times, Rolling Stone, and Musician. New Country astutely commented that "the Ramblers rock like nobody's business" and Goldmine raved that "these guys just tear into it all with a fervor unmatched by few bands even half, or a third, their age!!" Deep Water, released in 1997 on Hot Biscuits, sparked equal enthusiasm. The Ramblers were featured on global television on CNN Showbiz Today, and The New Yorker succinctly described them with "One word: hot." The New York Times previewed a date at The Bottom Line by calling the Ramblers "expert purveyors of a good time." No Depression speculated that "Maybe Ponce de Leon was just a state too far east when he went looking for the fountain of youth." USA Today praised the band's ability to "still kick out the jams." "So joyous that it sounds like Bourbon Street after closing time on Saturday night," raved the Chicago Tribune, while Musician extolled Deep Water's "vitality and folksy charm," and CMJ echoed that "Sixty years of setting skirts a-twirling might make The Hackberry Ramblers the longest-running band in the country, but they're also one of the best, too." Men's Journal lauded Deep Water as "the definition of ragged-but-absolutely-right," and Gambit Weekly dubbed it "a raucous sampler, brimming with more energy than many recordings from today's young pop stars." 1998 was highlighted by the Grammy nomination and an appearance on MTV Live, a Memorial Day performance at The Kennedy Center in Washington, and a feature article in the annual Southern Music Issue of The Oxford American. 1999 saw The Hackberry Ramblers' long-awaited debut on The Grand Ole Opry, along with a ceremony celebrating the donation of historic instruments to The Country Music Hall of Fame. The new century began auspiciously with performances at Festival International de Louisiane, in Lafayette, LA; The Southern Foodways Symposium in Oxford, MS; a co-billing with The Flatlanders; and the Ramblers' appearance in the documentary film Rhythm' n' Bayous, directed by Robert Mugge. Highlights for 2001 included The Double Decker Festival in Oxford, MS; The Ft. Lauderdale Cajun/Zydeco Crawfish Festival; and Taste of Chicago. In 2002 the band debuted in Europe at The International Cajun & Zydeco Festival in Raamsdonksveer, Holland (with support from The Fund for U.S. Artists at International Festivals and Exhibitions); squeezed in an "Accordion Kings" concert in Houston, produced by Texas Folklife Resouces; returned to Europe for The Country Rendez-vous in Craponne-sur-Arzon, France; and debuted at The Newport Folk Festival, in Newport, R.I. (with support from The Southwest Louisiana Convention & Visitors Bureau.) On September 18th, Luderin Darbone and Edwin Duhon received a National Heritage Fellowship from The National Endowment for the Arts, in Washington, DC, followed by a full-band performance at a concert by the diverse assemblage of award recipients. The Ramblers finished this banner year by appearing at The Lake Eden Arts Festival in Black Mountain, NC. On Friday, February 21, 2003, NBC's Today Show broadcast a feature a story on The Hackberry Ramblers, shot on location in Louisiana, with a guest appearance by Marcia Ball. The Ramblers appear on the new CD anthology Thacker Mountain Radio, a live album recorded in the literary confines of Square Books, in Oxford, MS; such noted authors as Larry Brown and William Gay also appear on the compilation, reading from their work. Arhoolie Records has just released the CD Luderin Darbone's Hackberry Ramblers: Early Recordings, 1935 - 1950. In addition, the Ramblers contribute two songs to Boozoo Hoodoo, an upcoming tribute album to the late zydeco accordionist Boozoo Chavis, slated for release in February on the Fuel 2000 label. The Hackberry Ramblers will perform at The French Quarter Festival, in New Orleans, on Sat., April 12, at The New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival on Thursday, April 24, with additional dates TBA. 2003 will also see the debut of Make 'Em Dance, a full-length documentary about the Ramblers, directed by film-maker John Whitehead. And The Hackberry Ramblers' critically acclaimed Cajun Boogie has just been re-released on Hot Biscuits (HOTBI-5002-2). The Hackberry Ramblers are having big fun on Deep Water - so dive on in with them! (March, 2003)