Rusty Kershaw, also known as Russell, never achieved comparable solo recognition after parting from the duo he formed in the early 1960s with his older brother Doug Kershaw. Nevertheless, his recordings offered thoughtfully assembled collections of Cajun two-steps and country ballads supported by skilled session players. The 1970 album Cajun in Blues Country included fiddle work from Charlie Daniels, whereas the 1992 release Now & Then stood out for its performances by Art Neville of the Neville Brothers on piano together with Ben Keith’s contributions on dobro, flute, piano, pedal steel, and background vocals. Multi-instrumentalist Doug first acquainted his sibling with Cajun and country sounds, prompting ten-year-old Rusty to join Doug and Peewee in the Continental Playboys. The positive audience reaction eased the distress Rusty had carried since their father, an alligator hunter, took his own life five years earlier. Once Peewee exited in the early 1950s, the remaining brothers sustained the act as a duo. Their first single, “So Lovely, Baby,” reached the country Top Five in August 1955. Shortly thereafter they joined the cast of the Louisiana Hayride, the Shreveport-based country radio program, and in 1957 they became members of the Grand Ole Opry. The Kershaws enlisted together in the U.S. Army in 1958 and spent the next three years in military service. After their 1961 discharge they cut their biggest success, Doug’s autobiographical “Louisiana Man,” whose follow-up “Diggy Diggy Lo” fared almost as well. Although the brothers issued their debut album, Rusty and Doug, in July 1964, they had already disbanded, allowing Doug to attain worldwide fame while Rusty pursued a quieter career.
