8 Comments
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Nolan Voight's avatar

A tour de force of memory and connection.

Patricia Tan's avatar

🌻 Thank you for this wonderfully enjoyable article. Esp. Cléoma Breaux and the back story of Jolie Blonde, since I am read James Lee Burke at the moment 😺🌻❤️🌻

Neko Case's avatar

Beautiful.

Steve Ledbetter's avatar

Great writing. Loved the tie in of all three artists with the byline “Song is existence, existence is song”

Mark McGuire's avatar

Terrific post.

Song and story are closely related.

I’m reminded of the CBC Massey Lectures given by Thomas King in 2003—"The Truth about Stories: A Native Narrative". As he says, “The truth about stories is that’s all we are.”

https://www.cbc.ca/radio/ideas/the-2003-cbc-massey-lectures-the-truth-about-stories-a-native-narrative-1.2946870

Wade Falcon's avatar

A few things of note. There's more to the story of Jolie Blonde than Cleoma writing the lyrics for her brother. The photo of the Breaux Brothers, commonly found online and in CD liners and LP covers, is not the Breauxs. In fact, i can tell you the story behind that photo you have there. She did get dragged, but not in 1937 to a session in Dallas. In fact, she died much later for another reason. If you have any questions about my family, feel free to contact me.

www.wadefalcon.com

Mark Parchment's avatar

Just want to say thank you for this education and reflection. I found it enlightening and sincerely moving. Thank you.