Jimmie Choates and His Fiddle- "Little Petite"

Jimmy Choates was born November 23, 1921 not far from Abbeville. Growing up had three brothers: Joseph, John and Charles. All four of them started playing music at a early age. Being a distant cousin of Harry Choates, he used the same style as his cousin. He wasn't shy about using the Choates name and used it to his advantage.

One of his first jobs was playing with the Abbeville Playboys on KVOL in 1948. Soon he had his own band where he played fiddle and guitar. They played Cajun fiddle music, country and western, western swing and the occasional pop hit of the day. The band had no trouble finding work and they first recorded for J.D. Miller's Fais Do Do label in 1948. In the 1950's they recorded 2 records for the Khoury's label.

By 1961, the music was changing. Jimmy and his band recorded one side for Eddie Shuler's Goldband label in Lake Charles. They recorded two songs; "Little Petite" and "The Last Waltz". On "Little Petite", Jimmy's fiddle playing is in fine shape on the recording. Sadly, there's no steel guitar on the recording and is replaced with a over dubbed piano. 




When the music business slowed down, Jimmy and his brother would take their families and head to Houston for work outside of the music business. Outside of agriculture, jobs around Abbeville were hard to come by. Jimmy and his brother would keep busy, working day jobs and booking dates around Beaumont, Houston and Port Arthur. 

He continued recording after the Goldband in 1961. In the 60's he made two more records, one for Miller's Cajun Classics and finally in 1967 for the O'Day label. It is said that he also recorded for Gold Star, like Harry before him, but those recordings seem to have gone unissued. He passed away March 29, 1990.


Resources
Acadian All Star Special- Lyle Ferbrache
Cajun Records 1946-1989- Nick Leigh
Early Cajun Music Blog