Complete Early Recordings 1929-1930

Dennis McGee | Format: Audio CD

Product Details

• Audio CD (September 25, 1994)
• Number of Discs: 1
• Label: Yazoo
• ASIN: B000000G8O
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #79,849 in Music (See Top 100 in Music)
  • #30 in Music > Indie Music > World Music > Cajun & Zydeco
  • #56 in Music > Indie Music > World Music > North America

Track Listings

1. Mon Chere Bebe Creole

2. Madame Young

3. Two-Step De La Ville Platte

4. Allons A Tassone

5. Blues De Texas

6. Happy One Step

7. La Valse A Pop

8. La Valse De Vacher

9. One Step De Mamon

10. Courville And McGee Waltz

11. La Danse Carree

12. La Valse Penitentiaire

13. Lanse Des Belaires

14. Jeunes Gens De La Campagne

15. Vous M'avez Donne Votre Parole

16. One Step De Chupic

17. Two-Step De Grand Marquis

18. Myself

19. La Valse De Lance Au Paille

20. La Valse Des Reids

See all 26 tracks on this disc

Editorial Reviews

Amazon.com

Simply put: the real thing. These 26 tracks (remastered from nostalgically scratchy 78s) document Cajun music's greatest fiddler performing duets on the so-called devil's instrument with either Ernest Fruge or Sady Courville during the era just prior to when guitar and accordion became intrinsic parts of the Cajun sound. Dennis McGee (1893-1989) played strong and forcefully, with a style uninfluenced by other sources. "I play French!" he once told Will Spires, who, along with Cajun musicologist Ann Savoy, supplies elaborate liner notes here. "I play my tunes plain. I don't mix them up with nothing." With his own fiddle, a droning accompanist, and his high, no-nonsense voice the only instrumentation for dances, McGee conveys hardscrabble rhythmic insistence in French-language standards concerning love and its loss, one- and two-steps, waltzes, reels, and the occasional square dance. --Richard Gehr

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

2 of 2 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An Essential Classic, November 26, 2007

By 

Pin Caouenne - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Early Recordings 1929-1930 (Audio CD)

This disc should have a million reviews, and they should all give it 5 stars. It's not Cajun music as it's played today, and that threw me when I first heard it. After a few listens the complexity made more and more sense to me, and the seamless and perfect musicianship and the beauty of the songs began to emerge.

Dennis McGee deserves to be mentioned among the greats of American music alongside the likes of Robert Johnson. Whatever your tastes, if you know what good music really is, you should try this.

Listen to the samples!

4 of 9 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A MONUMENTAL ALBUM FOR CAJUN MUSIC, April 10, 2000

By 

Carla Fruge (Sacramento California USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Complete Early Recordings 1929-1930 (Audio CD)

Never before did I think I would hear such a wonderful sound as the music in this album. Ernest Fruge did a outstanding job,the harmony was like being home again.Now I know where I get my musical ability from. May God Be with You Grandpa.