Your Daily Dose tonight is some music from a Zydeco band called Fernest and the Thunders, led by a button accordion player named Fernest Arceneaux. Mr Arceneaux is gone now, but I remember seeing him and his band live here in Toronto back in the 80s. It was really that show that got me interested in the button accordion, even though I didn’t so much as hold one until over 15 years later.
I think it was the Horseshoe they played at. I remember there was a good crowd and lots of dancing. Fernest stood off to one side with the vocal mic and his accordion and his frattoir (scrub-board) player stood centre stage, a really unusual set-up. Between sets, we enjoyed a beer with a couple of the guys in the band. I don’t remember their names. I do remember they were really fine players and they were really happy that people enjoyed their music up here in Canada.
I bought one of their records (the vinyl kind) at that show and got it autographed. My favourite cut on that record was a cover of Kansas City, nicely done in the Zydeco way.
27th Street 