I’ll confess, I’m a massive fan of the swamp pop of Louisiana. I’m also a bit of a vinyl junkie. Consequently finding anything issued on any of the Swallow, Jin or Crazy Cajun record labels is likely to reduce me to a quivering wreck. Artists including the likes of Tommy McLain, Charles Mann, Van Broussard and er … Clint West are amongst the key performers within the genre. The undisputed king of swamp pop though is Johnnie Allan. Born John Allan Guillot in Rayne, Louisiana in 1938, Allan was a Cajun from a musical family and started playing guitar at the age of six. He became influenced by rock ‘n’ roll after seeing Elvis Presley on TV in 1956 and began the process of merging this new sound with the cajun music that he was brought up with. His wonderful debut album ‘South to Louisiana’ was released by Jin Records (oh yes!) in 1964. Whilst a star in his home state he didn’t really break out beyond that until his cover of Chuck Berry’s ‘The Promised Land’ became a minor hit in 1983. Here he is performing it in German TV in that year.
My absolute 100% gold plated party starter. Served me well in numerous gatherings over the last 40 years.
Sounds like my kinda parties!