00:00 Hadley talks about learning fiddle from his uncle who played left handed; they only had one fiddle, so they had to keep re-stringing it; his brothers started playing, and his dad played accordion when he was younger; from Leonville in St. Landry Parish, but moved around with his sharecropping father to Leonville, Arnaudville, Port Barre and got to know other musicians 1:33 Learned from Uncle Cyprien Castille at about 8 or 9, and really started playing at 11; when he was young and going to house dances with his family, they would move all the furniture out of the living room and dance while the children were asleep in another room 2:40 Hadley couldn’t speak English, and was encouraged not to; his mother only spoke French and his father could speak English; when he started school in 1939 he was only allowed to speak English; earned a red, white, and blue “liberty” pencil for speaking such good English in first grade; had to write 200 lines for accidentally speaking French in second grade and used his three-point pencil to cheat the amount he had to write 05:25 1982, he was voted Louisiana’s Cajun Country entertainer of the year; spent a lot of time in Canada; went to Canada for a festival with his wife and was inspired by the audience to learn fiddle; CBC and other festivals have asked him to travel; performed “A Cajun Concerto” with the Acadiana Symphony Orchestra 07:27 Allison calls it a legendary band; Hadley starts with music from the traditional fiddle-based house dance music—two fiddles and triangle; this arrangement is one fiddle and one triangle; plays the shuffle beat style 09:25 Demonstration: “Port Arthur Blues” 11:40 Traditionally, first fiddle played melody and second played shuffle/rhythm; eventually the second fiddle started playing lead; fiddlers sat on the dining room table at house dances so that the music could be heard above the dancers; fiddle sound did not start in Nashville or Branson, Missouri, but in South Louisiana 13:44 1890, accordion was brought by Germans into South Louisiana and became part of the music; 1950s, Cajun music declined; 1945, master fiddler Harry Choates recorded “Jole Blon;” the band will first play Choates’ version of Jole Blon, and then will bring in the accordion; originally had a piano but do not have a pianist on stage 15:00 Demonstration: “Jole Blon,” by Harry Choates 18:50 Accordion was played in Cajun songs in the key of C and fiddle would tune down to accompany the accordion to get the “drone” sound of Cajun music; accordion players would often be the singers too, and sung in the key of C to be heard without microphones; now they have accordions tuned in other keys—B flat accordion matches G-tuned fiddle 21:30 Demonstration: traditional tune about a man who leaves the Cajun country and comes back to find his love has died; in key of F 26:20 1928, traditional Creole fiddler Amédé Ardoin recorded a couple songs and then teamed up with Dennis McGee 27:08 Demonstration: “Amédé Special” 29:34 Traditional to hand down the music through generations--Hadley’s son Jonathon Blake Castille learned this way and is playing guitar; neighbor George Olivier(?) on guitar and vocals; Doug Dugas from Lafayette on bass; Ron Cadie(?)from Lafayette on accordion; Charles David(?) on drums; Hadley would go see Clifton Chenier after working in the cotton fields, and his brother would play scrub board; son-in-law Ricky William on scrub board and triangle; young granddaughter learning fiddle from Suzuki method 33:12 Harry Choates had western swing influence, inspired many modern Cajun fiddlers; will play Choates’ style with a blues song; Hadley’s uncle Cyprien married a girl who did not want to live in the country so she moved to Opelousas, and the song is about broken love as Cyprien sits in the woods alone with his fiddle 34:25 Demonstration: “Cyprien and Marie,” written by Hadley about his uncle 39:50 Blake composes a lot of the band’s music and the feeling of the Cajun instrument is the most important; next song will broaden the spectrum—has a Caribbean beat after Blake visited Cancun 41:10 Demonstration: “Let the Good Old Times Stay in the Past,” about wanting to talk about the “good ol’ days,” but not relive them
