archives@tulane.edu / The Hackberry Ramblers are best known as an historic southwest Louisiana band that pioneered the synthesis of Cajun music with various English-language genres, especially country music, and also as a group which pioneered the performance of this blend via the then-new technology of electronic amplification. These innovations had profound effects upon the evolution of Cajun music, and exerted a significant degree of influence on country music, too. But closer consideration of the Hackberry Ramblers’ entire oeuvre reveals that the band’s eclecticism far surpassed the presumed limits of its Cajun/country dual identity. During the Ramblers’ seventy-five years in existence, much of the group’s repertoire did consist of Cajun material, both archaic and contemporary, along with old-time country music, the country-jazz hybrid known as western swing, and mid-century honky-tonk country. In addition, however, at various times, the Hackberry Ramblers delved into traditional jazz; nineteenth-century parlor music; popular songs and vaudeville material; blues; rhythm & blues (henceforth referred to here as R&B;) swamp-pop; the occasional zydeco song; 1950s rock à la Chuck Berry, and 1950s rockabilly à la Jerry Lee Lewis; and more. Such considerable variety achieved seamless unification due to the band’s dedicated raison d'être of keeping happy couples out on full dancefloors. In addition, at the behest of the RCA-Bluebird record label, to which the Hackberry Ramblers were signed in the 1930s, the band recorded some unlikely and incongruous songs that were not dance-oriented. This thesis examines the Hackberry Ramblers’ recordings, from 1935 through 2004, and how these recordings established the band’s lasting legacy in both Cajun music, and country; the cultural/socio-economic changes that shaped the Ramblers’ continually evolving sound; and the broader musical contexts of the years during which they were active. This writer played with, managed, and produced the band, beginning in 1987, and thus there will be some discussion, both analytical and anecdotal, of those hands-on roles in the band’s late-career phase, and my de facto function as a participant-observer. / 1 / Ben Sandmel
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TULANE/oai:http://digitallibrary.tulane.edu/:tulane_122480 |
| Date | January 2021 |
| Contributors | Sandmel, Ben (author), Sakakeeny, Matt (Thesis advisor), School of Liberal Arts Music (Degree granting institution) |
| Publisher | Tulane University |
| Source Sets | Tulane University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Text |
| Format | electronic, pages: 143 |
| Rights | No embargo, Copyright is in accordance with U.S. Copyright law. |
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