After Hours

D.L. Menard & the Louisiana Aces. The Back Door

Here's my all-time fave Cajun musician, D.L. Menard (the "D" stands for Doris, I kid you not), playing an old hit for a 1988 documentary made by the Scottish fiddle-guy, Aly Bain. This is just fantastic. You get to hear D.L.'s krazy accent and then try to wrap your mind around his even-krazier French. And they're just sitting in somebody's back yard bein' Cajuns. How charmingly informal!

I was in Erath, LA, Menard's hometown, this February. I just wanted to see the place, not meet the man himself or anything. Erath is west of New Iberia and north of Avery Island, and like a lot of towns in the South, railroad tracks cut the town in half. The downtown area is kind of weird; it's right next to the tracks and every commercial building looks like it's been repurposed at least a dozen times. That's about all I can tell you about Erath. New Iberia was a lot more fun. One of the things I like most about Cajun country is that the farther south you go, the less "southern" it gets. Here I was, this guy from Washington State, driving all over the place, and it was like being in another country. I absolutely loved it. Of course, it was February, so the temperatures were only in the low 70s. This time of year is pretty murderously hot and muggy. I might have a different opinion of it now.

I have several CDs by D.L. and his various groups. My favorite is No Matter Where You At, There You Are on Rounder. It's absolute genius stuff. Menard is still around and playing, but he's getting up there in years. Funny thing, though, his voice still sounds the same. It's always sounded like that.