Robert Bertrand and Jo El Sonnier- "Memphis"

Robert Bertrand was influenced growing up by his relatives playing music and started playing at a young age. He played with Iry Lejune and was a member of Nathan Abshire's Pinegrove Boys.  He soon joined Bobby Leger's group, The Lake Charles Playboys. After a while he started his own band called "The Louisiana Ramblers". They recorded for J.D. Miller's labels, Fais Do Do and Cajun Classics.

 Jo El was influenced by Iry Lejune growing up.  He won many  accordion contests before recording with Swallow at 13 years old. When he finished school, he moved to Lake Charles where he joined Bertrand's Louisiana Ramblers.

Miller started his record label after the success of Harry Choate's "Jole Blon". He started the Fais Do Do label in 1946 and continued it until 1949. He then recorded Cajun Music on Feature Records from 1950-1954.



In the late 50's, Miller started recording Cajun music again. Although he stopped using the Fais Do Do label in 1949, he mysteriously brought it back in 1959 for a Robert Bertrand release. He then used it once more in 1965 for a recording of Bertrand and Jo El Sonnier.










The 1965 recording with Jo El doing a cover of Chuck Berry's "Memphis"  backed with "Mother's Day Waltz" was more successful. This time around it was the new group; Robert Bertrand and His Louisiana Ramblers. Around this time, Rock and Roll and Swamp Pop dominated over Cajun Music. Some of the musicians mixed  Cajun music with Rock and Roll to create some truly interesting results. Just as Johnnie Allan mixed the accordion with Chuck Berry's "The Promised Land",  Sonnier and Bertrand added Cajun accordion and fiddle to compliment this unique cover.

On the 1965 recording of "Memphis" and "Mother's Day Waltz",  Jo El sang the lead backed by Bertrand, Hilrae Mott, Herman Rhodes, Dusty Rhodes, and  Garland Domingue. In 1966, Jo El would go on to record with Bertrand on Goldband after these recordings . Afterwards Jo-El would start his solo career on Goldband. Robert Bertrand would have a string of recordings on Goldband through the 70's.

Resources

John Broven- South To Louisiana

Lyle Ferbrache-Acadian All Star Special