Joe Falcon - Cajun Music Pioneer (Arhoolie)

I live in accordion country. From local VFW halls to neighborhood Polish restaurants like Nye’s Polonaise Room where The World's Most Dangerous Polka Band, led by the dentition-challenged Ruth Adams, holds court three nights a week, squeezebox outfits still speckle the Midwestern topography. But as much as I dig live Polka; my favorite context for the instrument is Cajun and/or Zydeco music. Along with Amédé Ardoin and Boozoo Chavis, Joe Falcon completes a triumvirate of practitioners who never fail to get my feet tapping and my gums flapping. Recorded quite late in Falcon’s storied career- just two or so years before he found his heavenly home- this live date taped at The Triangle Club in Scott, LA still rivals (and in my mind surpasses) his legendary shellac sides cut for the Okeh label in the 30s with his first wife Cleoma. Tunes like “Joe’s Breakdown” cement a simple two-step template built on circular rhythmic motifs that chug along cheerfully. Even the waltzes carry an underlying insouciance. Emphasis rarely strays from loose ensemble interplay with few solos. Joe’s keening vocal style fits felicitously with vacillating tonalities of his accordion, creating an intoxicating harmonic push and pull, especially on songs like “Les Flambes D’Enfer” (“The Flames of Hell”). Theresa Falcon’s (Joe’s second wife) drums are rudimentary, but extremely effective in establishing an anchoring beat. Her crashing cymbal splashes cobble a surprisingly steady cadence around which fiddler Lionel Leleux and Falcon (both amplified) twirl and cavort. Guitarist Allen Richard usually steers the bass pulse, tugging at his bottom strings plugged through a fuzz-cranked amp. The resulting sound arrives unvarnished and raw. The juiced up atmosphere at the Triangle Club is akin to that of a Mississippi juke joint, jubilant and raucous with the audience frequently encroaching on the music. But far from a failing, this audio verité quality only accentuates the experience. Falcon was the real McCoy and this is some of the best his all too scant discography has to offer.