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R E V I E W S

Goldman Thibodeaux and the Lawtell Playboys La Danse à St
Ann’s Nouveau Electric Records

Goldman Thibodeaux and the Lawtell Playboys play Creole La-la
music from the 1920-30s. The band was originally started in 1946
when brothers Bébé and Eraste Carriere combined their talents to
form The Lawtell Playboys. Goldman learned to play accordion in
his 50's, following a heart attack. Calvin Carriere (Goldman's

cousin) and Delton Broussard, the band’s accordion player, often
played with him to help him learn. When Delton became ill, he
passed the accordion position in the Playboys to Goldman. Calvin
and Goldman played for several years before recording their first
CD in 2001 titled 'Les Miseres Dans Le Coeur'. In 2002, the band recorded a second CD titled
'Gumbo at Goldman's’.

Today the Lawtell Playboys are : Goldman Thibodeaux (accordion, vocals); Louis Michot (fiddle);
Courtney Jeffries (guitar); Brock Thibodeaux (frottoir ie.,scrub-board); Lee Tedrow (bass); and,
Barry Cormier (drums). They still play the music of their roots with zest and enthusiasm. This
music is dance music, not intended for passive listening but for moving to. The titles of the tunes
send that message too. ‘Two-step de St. Ann’s’, ‘Allons Sur Le Plancher’ (‘Get On The Dance Floor’) ,

‘Allons Danser’ (‘Let’s Go and Dance’), there are waltzes, ‘Valse De Les Misere’ (‘The Waltz of
Misery’) and just fun dance pieces like, ‘Jongle à Moi’ (‘Think Of Me’) and ‘Watch That Dog’.
The music was recorded live at a Thibodeaux Family Reunion at St. Ann's Church, Mallett,
Louisiana on Nov. 30, 2019. The button accordion is not an easy instrument to listen to, especially
for our twenty-first century ears. But give it a try. Click here to listen.

The plan was to release ‘La Danse à St. Ann’s’ at the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival. When
the festival was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Thibodeaux chose to release the album
anyway to offer his fans and music lovers internationally something to keep their spirits up in these
trying times.

Wise move. I for one just love it. Encore! Une autre!

Ian K McKenzie

Various Artists Discover British Blues UMG Recordings
ASIN: B087NC56TW

Hot on the heels of the recent 'Crawling up a Hill’ compilation of
British blues from the late sixties/early seventies comes this
offering from the Decca/Deram labels. This has the advantage of

covering both British 'blues booms', the early sixties and the late
sixties, although curiously it doesn't include the Stones even
though they recorded for Decca at the time. Instead we have early
sixties tracks by Alexis Korner, both his skiffle group and Blues
Incorporated—the first British Blues Band—and also ex-Blues