Edwin Duhon, 95, Accordionist, Founder of the Hackberry Ramblers
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Edwin Duhon, who died February 26 at 95, was co-founder of the Hackberry Ramblers, a good-times Cajun and western swing band that made lively dance music for 70 years.
Duhon played his accordian with the band as recently as November, and in 2003, he flew to France to perform at a Cajun/zydeco festival in Burgundy.
Over the decades, dozens of sidemen have come and gone from the band, but Duhon, a multi-instrumentalist who sang in both French and English, and Luderin Darbone, the band’s fiddler, who remained the historic core of the Hackberry Ramblers.
After not recording for 30 years, the Hackberry Ramblers recorded the 1993 album “Cajun Boogie.” In 1997, the band garnered a Grammy nomination for best traditional folk album for “Deep Water.”
In 1999, Duhon and Darbone realized a lifelong dream when the band performed on the stage of the Grand Old Opry.
Duhon and Darbone received a National Heritage Fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington, D.C., in 2002.
In 2003, Arhoolie Records released an anthology of some of the band’s music recorded between 1935 and 1950. The group also was spotlighted in filmmaker John Whitehead’s documentary “Make ‘Em Dance: The Hackberry Ramblers’ Story,” which aired on PBS stations in 2004.
