Biography
When Joseph "Bebe" Carriere died from a heart attack in 2001, many regarded the event as the close of a distinct musical period. Masters of the vintage "la la" idiom, Bebe and his brother Eraste Carriere served, through their work as the Carriere Brothers, as a link between longstanding Creole approaches and the later rural variant of zydeco. No subsequent fiddler ever replicated the player's singular tone, possibly because no one else possessed the identical window screen. As a boy this Creole fiddler assembled his first instrument from a wooden cigar box and fitted it with wire pulled from a broken window screen; although he adopted a conventional fiddle at age 15, the improvised box still conveys the piercing force of Cajun fiddle tone, an intensity known to send faint-hearted listeners fleeing into the darkness in panic.
Eraste Carriere, born in 1900, belonged with his sibling to a share-cropping household descended from slaves; the family, including the two musicians, remained lifelong residents of Lawtell, LA. In the early 1920s Bebe began performing with the celebrated black French accordionist Amadie Ardoin, a major influence, though his older brother remained an equally steady partner. The Carriere Brothers opened their career at house dances called "bals de maison," where furniture was pushed aside to clear space for dancing. This pattern continued for decades until the arrival of "le honky tonk" after the Second World War. Bebe's fiddling attracted a major-label talent scout who offered a recording session in New Orleans, yet the date never occurred because, as Bebe later recalled, "...it just kinda slipped my mind." Recordings did appear, though the brothers participated more typically in projects such as Rounder's anthology Zodico: Louisiana Creole Music, for which engineers recorded the tracks inside their own living rooms. Until Bebe withdrew from performing in the 1960s the siblings appeared regularly with the Lawtell Playboys at venues including Slim's Y-Ki-Ki in Opelousas, LA. The band name passed to later members that included cousin Calvin Carriere, who sometimes adopted the English spelling Carrier. Andrew Carrier, Bebe's son and a San Francisco resident who plays accordion and rub-board, continues the same lineage in groups such as the Cajun Orchestra while using the anglicized surname.
Of the two siblings Eraste remained the more conservative player, consistent with both his seniority and his given name. His younger brother occasionally coaxed him beyond that stance, even prompting a performance of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," a number that seemed natural enough given the undiscovered oil beneath their feet. Eraste played diatonic button accordion in the style learned from his father beginning at age 15; this method, maintained intact and untouched by later Cajun currents, reached back at least to the late 1800s, when the elder Carriere performed at the same sort of informal house parties and festive gatherings. Bebe mixed with hillbilly musicians and added country pieces such as "Kentucky Waltz" to his own repertoire.
Eraste Carriere, born in 1900, belonged with his sibling to a share-cropping household descended from slaves; the family, including the two musicians, remained lifelong residents of Lawtell, LA. In the early 1920s Bebe began performing with the celebrated black French accordionist Amadie Ardoin, a major influence, though his older brother remained an equally steady partner. The Carriere Brothers opened their career at house dances called "bals de maison," where furniture was pushed aside to clear space for dancing. This pattern continued for decades until the arrival of "le honky tonk" after the Second World War. Bebe's fiddling attracted a major-label talent scout who offered a recording session in New Orleans, yet the date never occurred because, as Bebe later recalled, "...it just kinda slipped my mind." Recordings did appear, though the brothers participated more typically in projects such as Rounder's anthology Zodico: Louisiana Creole Music, for which engineers recorded the tracks inside their own living rooms. Until Bebe withdrew from performing in the 1960s the siblings appeared regularly with the Lawtell Playboys at venues including Slim's Y-Ki-Ki in Opelousas, LA. The band name passed to later members that included cousin Calvin Carriere, who sometimes adopted the English spelling Carrier. Andrew Carrier, Bebe's son and a San Francisco resident who plays accordion and rub-board, continues the same lineage in groups such as the Cajun Orchestra while using the anglicized surname.
Of the two siblings Eraste remained the more conservative player, consistent with both his seniority and his given name. His younger brother occasionally coaxed him beyond that stance, even prompting a performance of "The Ballad of Jed Clampett," a number that seemed natural enough given the undiscovered oil beneath their feet. Eraste played diatonic button accordion in the style learned from his father beginning at age 15; this method, maintained intact and untouched by later Cajun currents, reached back at least to the late 1800s, when the elder Carriere performed at the same sort of informal house parties and festive gatherings. Bebe mixed with hillbilly musicians and added country pieces such as "Kentucky Waltz" to his own repertoire.
Albums
