00:50 D.L. Menard was born and raised in Erath, LA; started by singing Hank Williams songs in English, not in Cajun French. Menard met Hank Williams in 1951 at the Old Teche Club in New Iberia where Grand Ol’ Opry stars would often play; he talked to Williams for about 10 minutes; Menard was 19 at the time, so didn’t realize how important this meeting was at the time. 2:07 Paul Daigle is bandleader of D.L. Menard’s band; born near Church Point, LA about 30 miles west of Lafayette. Daigle started playing accordion when he was about 10 years old; won his first contest in Church Point in 1973 at 13 years old; he kept competing as a young teenager, but stopped playing from 17-26 years old. Pierre Varman Daigle approached Paul to record a 45 record with Dewey Balfa and later with Michael Doucet and Beausoleil; this project snowballed into the band Cajun Gold. 4:30 Allison Miner introduces D.L. Menard’s famous song “La Porte d’en Arrière” (The Backdoor); she reads a translation of the song from Barry Ancelet’s book “The Makers of Cajun Music.” Plays “La Porte d’en Arrière” from the cassette tape of the same name. 7:30 Menard got inspiration for the song from watching other artists; a lot of people can relate to the concept of going through the back door. The first song D.L. Menard sang publicly was “If You’ve Got the Money, I’ve Got the Time” by Lefty Frizzell in English; Menard wrote a song about money himself and plans to record it. 8:30 Menard is from small-town Louisiana, but the state department has sent him all around the world; honored to be recognized, but it’s not a dream come true, because he never could have dreamed it would happen. Some places in the world don’t dance to his music, they just listen. 9:32 Plays Hank Williams’ “A House of Gold” from Menard’s album Cajun Saturday Night, produced in Nashville by Dobro player Jerry Douglas; shows why some people call D.L. Menard the “Cajun Hank Williams.” 12:18 Hank Williams told Menard in 1951 that the best way to record the song is to live the song on stage, and that will come through on the record. 12:37 Paul Daigle talks about his group Cajun Gold and their song “Valse a Jonglemont” written by Pierre Varman Daigle about a man’s regret over a broken relationship. Paul and Pierre are not directly related, but Pierre wrote all of the music for Cajun Gold. Menard was told that the two Daigles were related: “some people talk like they walk, and other people walk like they talk.” 15:15 Plays recording of “Valse a Jonglemont” from Bee Records. 16:50 Allison announces that sometimes Menard does a workshop at Jazz Fest; also notes that Menard is one of the greatest chair builders in the county—straight back and rocking chairs; rocking chairs are on a spring so that they don’t roll across the carpet. 17:43 Q&A from audience; Q: How long is the waiting list for a chair? Menard: he’s about three months behind because he can’t stay in the shop: “almost too busy to work, lady.” Menard has a recent record out No Matter Where You At, There You Are.
