Music in the Family Series Part VII – Bob Landry’s Life of Music

Surely you couldn’t think that I had finished my series of Music in the Family without shining the spotlight on my dad?  His whole life was practically about music.  His career, his hobbies, and interests were mostly centered around music.  It was the only “other woman” that my mom had to worry about!  It took more time away from her than she liked at times.

My dad was involved in choral music, band music, and barbershop singing.  If anybody was interested in music and had a question or needed help, Bob Landry was willing to help.  It didn’t matter about your heritage, race, sex, or social status, he gave his time freely, which sometimes bothered my mom.  At times she struggled to makes ends meet on the salary of a band teacher and some of those people he was helping could afford to be paying for private lessons!  But my dad couldn’t be bothered.  Music was the important thing!

Newspaper article circa Aug. 1963

I just came across this article from around August of 1963 when I was looking for photos for this post.  I didn’t even know it existed, but it has a lot of information in it that I was wanting to know.  It tells about the history of my dad’s musical experiences just prior to beginning work in the band and choral programs in Jefferson Davis Parish.  He taught for two years in Elton and then moved on to Jennings at Northside Junior High School where he would make his mark on so many people in Jennings through the years.

The article indicates that Daddy began learning band instruments his freshman year at Landry Memorial High School in Lake Charles under the direction of Eddie See.  This was around 1942 and the two of them would have a long history together.  (Such as creating the McNeese fight song “Jolie Blon”)  During high school my dad learned many various instruments and even taught other students during his senior year.

McNeese band circa 1947

After high school he went to McNeese and was in the band there.  This is a photo of the McNeese band in 1947.  Bob – or Pluto as he was known by many back then – can be seen on the far right of the photo with a baritone.

I know that about this same time is when my dad began to get involved with barbershop singing.  He was a member of the Society for the Preservation and Encouragement of Barber Shop Quartet Singing in America or SPEBSQSA for short.  Growing up in the Landry household meant that you knew these letters and what they stood for!

Bob and Betty Landry played baritone for McNeese. They can be seen in the upper left of the photo. Bob on the left, Betty in the middle, and third baritone on the right.

Daddy’s college career included stints at Lafayette and Baton Rouge.  It was in Baton Rouge that he met my mom when she visited the campus for a solo and ensemble festival in 1950.  He returned to McNeese when it became a four year school and my mom started college that same year.  My dad was the first student at McNeese to play a senior recital in 1951.  This photo is a photo I scanned from the McNeese yearbook that shows the band performing in the auditorium.  You can see mom and dad in the upper left part of the photo.  Who would have guessed that they’d be making music together for 65 more years after that?

Daddy was in the first graduating class from McNeese in 1952 and then went on to join the Air Force. While there, he was in the Air Force band. Shortly after that he and my mom were married and started a family. Jodie was born in California and Rob was born in Albuquerque while he was in the Air Force. They moved back to Lake Charles where Karen, Al, Van (me), and Jamie were born. Daddy continued his educational pursuits and earned his Master’s Degree from LSU in 1962

1966 summer band program at Northside

As I said earlier, he began teaching at Northside in 1965. I have so many memories from those early years of the band program.  He had the summer band program in the old Northside gym.  It was before there was air conditioning in the building, so it could get rather warm in there with all those little bodies running around and singing with their warm little breaths!  They had classrooms on the side of the gym and we would meet in there to sing and play as the big fan in front of the classroom would swing back and forth.  We young kids would play the ukulele and the older ones would graduate to guitar and bass.  And oh the songs we’d sing:  This Land is Your Land, Five Foot Two, Down in the Valley, Red Sails in the Sunset, The Ballad of the Green Beret, Cuando Calienta el Sol, Mobile, and many many more. (One of those songs was Swinging Shepherd Blues with my sister Jodie and her friend Stella Duvall playing a flute duet.)

Barbershop quartet The Crawdads – Bob Landry, Oran Richard, Steve Coco, and Nathan Avant circa 1968

During this time Daddy was also continuing his involvement with barbershop.  He would always have a barbershop quartet, plus he would work with the chorus in Lafayette or Jennings.  This photo is from around 1968 and includes Bob Landry, Oran Richard, Steve Coco, and Nathan Avant.  This group was called the Crawdads, and there were the BoBobAlNicks, the Pride of the Marsh, and many other quartets.  I should remember more and will recognize many of them that people mention to me from time to time.  And some of the people in the quartets should be mentioned: Al Cassidy, Rusty Cassidy, John McBurney, Bobby Henry, Nick Pizzolatto, Steven Comeaux, George Smith, Doc McGregor, and again many more that I should remember!

Pam Jones, Bob Landry, and John McZeal at the band drive at Northside.

One of the big events at Northside over the years was the instrument drive in the new band room (with air conditioning!) with the help of Swicegood’s Music and Orville Kelly.  Bright, young students with an interest in band would show up to see where they might fit into this celebrated band program in Jennings.  Daddy would assess the interest of the kids and see what instrument might be the best fit for the individual.  Some people just didn’t have the right embouchure for certain instruments.  I remember that he also gave a music aptitude test to the students at some point.  I will now admit that I was always jealous of the fact that Damon Cormier made a 100 on that test and I didn’t.  Let’s not speak of this ever again.

1967 Northside band party – siblings Karen in foreground in front of Jodie, behind them is Rob in blue shirt, me (Van) with elbow covering my forehead, and Al in red block shirt next to me.

The other yearly event for the Northside band was the band party that was held at our house on Lucy Street. All the kids would come over to our house and wreak havoc. Thank goodness there was a large empty lot across the street for playing games like horseshoes and such in addition to the basketball goal we had in our driveway. My mom would always provide the refreshments for the party. My absolute favorite memory of those refreshments was when we made some special sugar cookies. We shaped them like snakes, put cross hatches on the bodies to look like scales, and gave them eyes made out of red hots! They were a big hit. I especially enjoyed the parties when I was younger because I got to hang out with the big kids likes Celia Joe Black.

1970s – Bob Landry playing upright bass with the MoodMasters

Then the mid 70s came around and there was lots of playing music for dances and such.  Not any of that “rock and roll trash” that was saturating the airways, but good music.  Needless to say, my dad was not a fan of rock and roll.  I remember even earlier when the Beatles were on the Ed Sullivan show and my dad had me turn down the volume on the TV so we would not have to listen to them.  (Yes, I was the remote for the TV at the time.  I’m that old!)

Landry Family Band circa 1977

Daddy played many different instruments and with many different people (Such as the Moodmasters shown in the above photo.  Bob Landry on bass.)  But then there came a great thought – let’s have a family band.  And with that the Landry Family Band came into being.  And of course our most recognizable gig was the five years we played at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Lake Charles.  Yes, you may remember us from the Food Fest at the Contraband Days or at the many receptions that we played, but we will be forever linked to pizzas (like the Bill’s special or Hawaiian Delight) and those famous spuds.  The glory never fades!  This photo is from Shakey’s.  Some of you may remember the infamous “Dueling Jugs” played by Bob and Jamie Landry.  Different instruments for sure!

1996 at the train station in Hammond, LA. The Landry family is always ready to sing a song or two.

Daddy retired from teaching in the mid 80s but continued to incorporate music in all aspects of his life.  He and mom sang at church, at ‘old folks homes’, and for many years they danced ’round dances’ to their favorite styles of music.  They also passed some of that musical knowledge on to their grandchildren.  When the family took a train to Chicago in 1996 for my brother Al’s wedding, we had a little time to wait at the station for the train to arrive.  We didn’t waste time doing nothing while we waited, we took out our song books and instruments and sang a few tunes!  Isn’t that what everyone does?  The picture is proof!

2015 – Bob and Betty introduced themselves to their new community at Brookdale by way of playing and singing a song or two.

Even into their golden years they were singing and playing everywhere they went.  During their last years in Jennings, they had a ukulele group that played at churches and nursing homes.  For many years they played at the War Vets home the first Wednesday of the month.  When they moved into Brookdale in August of 2015, one of the first things they did was go to the piano and play a few songs for their new neighbors.  As you can see, their love for music was a bright spot in people’s lives.  They continued sharing this as long as they could.

When my parents died in January of this year, my siblings and I decided to put together a fund that would help people to act on their interest in music.  It’s called the Bob Landry Life of Music Award and it will purchase band instruments for the school in Jennings where he taught.  The first purchase will be a flute, a trumpet, a clarinet, another trumpet, a trombone, and another flute – the instruments that the Landry kids played.  If you would like to contribute to this memorial fund, monies can be sent to the Jeff Davis Bank, P. O. Box 820, Jennings, LA  70546.

Or you could just think of him from time to time when you are enjoying your favorite song.

Music in the Family Series Part VI – Fiddling With the Keys

As I have said previously, there have been a lot of musical members of our family/families.  My family was known as a musical family since before I was born.  If you have been reading my Music in the Family Series, you would also know that there were musical family members before my parents were born as well.  So this week I’ll take you back even further.  Further than all of my other postings in this series.  Let’s go back to the 1840s.

The musical information comes from the 1840s, but the individual I’m talking about was born in 1822.  That’s right!  Almost 200 years ago, my great great grandfather Henry Keys was born in Chipping Ongar, Essex, England, to George and Elizabeth Crouchman Keys.  The date was April 12th and he was not alone.  He had an identical twin brother named James.

April 11, 1840 – Apprenticeship contract for Henry Keys to tinman John Wright

The day before Henry became 18 years old (in 1840) he entered into a contract of apprenticeship with a tin plate worker (aka a tinman) named John Wright.  The contract was for a period of three years and was signed by Henry Keys, George Keys, and John Wright.  (Pretty cool to see the signature of my great, great, great grandfather.)

The day before Henry became 21 years old (1843) he completed his apprenticeship and became a Tinman.  (He did not have a friend named Oz.  At least there is no record of anyone by that name giving him anything!)  But the most relevant part of the completion of his apprenticeship is that he rewarded himself for the accomplishment.  He had saved up money during these three years and the cherished reward that he bought himself was a violin.  It shows you what was important to him.

As a bachelor for twenty-six years, he worked as a tin plate worker making gas meters.  I’m sure he was also playing his violin during this time, but there really isn’t much else written about this period in his life.  It was on November 8, 1869, that he married Martha Ann Cook on her 33rd birthday.  She herself was an independent person who had a business of her own making clothes and accessories for children.  She must have been a musical person as well, because the only portrait of her shows her standing next to a piano with her hands fiddling with the keys.

Henry Keys

I believe this is a photo of a portrait of Henry Keys. I estimated it to be from 1880, but it could be earlier.

By 1881 Henry and Martha had five children together.  Another sign that they were a musical family is the fact that the two boys Henry and Alfred sang in a boys choir in London.  On at least one occasion they sang with the choir for Queen Victoria.  Their daughter Daisy (my great grandmother) was known to play the piano, but I’m not sure when she learned.  From the portrait mentioned earlier it looks like there was a piano in the home, so she could have learned as a child in England.

Henry and Martha had family members who moved to America.  They decided that they would move the family to America also and began to save money for this new chapter in their life.  So again, this must have been something important to them.  But sadly, Henry suffered with bronchitis for four months and died at the age of 64 in 1886.  He never made it to America where his wife and children would eventually go.  But his violin did.

I’ve read accounts of the move to America and they always say “They sold everything they had.”  But they didn’t.  They held on to a few prized possessions.  One of those cherished items was the violin that Henry bought in 1843.  When they made it to Louisiana, at some point Martha gave the violin to her son Leonard with the proviso that he would learn to play it, as long as he practiced in the barn!  This makes me laugh.  It reminds me of my mom.  When I was in junior high, I learned how to play many different instruments.  My dad was the band director so I could taken them home with me.  The only thing my mom discouraged me from playing was the violin.  When a person is learning the violin, the notes can be rather screechy in a way that would give mom a headache.  I acquiesced.

Leonard James Keys with the violin his father bought in 1843.

And learned the violin Leonard did.  But he also learned to play the trombone and flute.  His older brother Henry played the violin, clarinet, and flute.  I’ve told you that Daisy played the piano.  Her husband Harry Phenice played the violin as well.  So did the husbands of Daisy’s sisters Ruth and Mabel.

When I was researching this information, I notice there are a lot of descendants who are musicians.  It could be that every family has a musician here and there, but it does seem like quite a few in my family.  The researching also made me wonder about that old violin from 1843.  Is it still around?  Does a family member have it?  I know that musical instruments can last a long time if taken care of properly.

So I asked my cousin Carolyn (daughter of Edith who provided me with the improved version of the photo/portrait of Henry Keys) if she knew of the whereabouts of that violin.  Her grandfather was Leonard Keys, so it is likely to be with her family group somewhere if at all.  She let me know that “Yes, indeed!” that violin is still in existence.  It is in the possession of her cousin Johnny and he still enjoys playing it!  How cool is that!?  She sent me this photo of her grandfather Leonard with the cherished violin.  A family keepsake that one day I’d like to see in person and photograph.

Here is a transcription of the apprenticeship contract of 1840 that came from Edith Keys Segraves’ book.

 

Music in the Family Part V – Jacko and Papi

Every week that I post something about music, my sock monkeys Jacko and Papi have been begging to include them in a post.  “After all,” Papi said, “I am the one that taught you how to sing.”  I always thought it was my mom and dad.  They did do a lot of singing when I was growing up.  But I also remember spending time with Papi when I was a kid.

Here is a photo of me with Papi when I was three years old.  It sure does look like he may have been singing in my ear!  He assured me that he was singing the “Yo! Ho!” song to me.  “What?” I asked, “That song wasn’t written until our Reunions Adventure.  This picture was taken way before that.”

“I know,” Papi said, “I started the song years ago when I taught Buddiloo to sing.”  So now he’s trying to take credit for teaching my mom to sing!  I know he was around back then, but I never really know when to trust what he is saying.

“Yes,” he explained, “It was around the time I was coaching Murder to sing for those old recordings you shared with everyone a few weeks ago.  I told you that!  You never listen to me.  Some sock monkey whisperer you are!  Hmmph!”

“You weren’t even there back then,” I started, but then I realized that he had been there.  I have a picture of him with Mama back in 1938.  Jacko shared it with y’all in the Sock Monkeys in the Past post.  And the recordings of Grandma (Myrtle Phenice Bucklin, not Murder as Papi incorrectly calls her) were done around 1944 “when those German Nasties were around,” as Papi likes to put it.  I’m sure he’s going to take credit for teaching her to play the baritone now.  “No,” he said, “She learned that at school.  I just sang along with her when we called the cows.”  That’s good to know.

So today I’m going to share with you “Papi and Jacko’s Traveling Song.”  According to Papi he started it in the 1940s, then he and Jacko added some more verses in 2007, and finally Jacko and I added the last part in that same year.  I’m sure some of you will recognize the melody from “The Lonely Goatherd” song from “The Sound of Music.”  It’s a rather catchy little song.  I hope you enjoy it.

Yo! Ho! Going on Adventures –
Jacko and Papi’s Traveling Song

 

Long, long ago lived a monkey sock

And a little girl that everyone called Betty Lou.

She played him a song on her baritone

Til the cows all came a-runnin’ with a moo.

They went to church with her Ma and Pa

And sang and gave their Glory Be’s to You Know Who.

She took along little Cyrus sock

Cuz he promised that he wouldn’t throw his poo!

After the service he told them tales

Of many of the places that he’d traveled to.

He made sure that they knew his skills

So they wouldn’t want to put him in a zoo.

Yo, ho! Going on adventures.

Yo, ho! Always on the move.

Yo, ho! Going on adventures.

That’s what I like to do.

Much later on in a different state,

He befriended a sock monkey who was very new.

His little friend took the name Jacko

And Cyrus then became his Papiloo.

 

Most of the time they stayed at home

With a family of several kids who grew and grew.

They looked forward to summertime

Cuz the fam’ly always went to somewhere new.

Yo, ho! Going on adventures.

Yo, ho! Always on the move.

Yo, ho! Going on adventures.

That’s what we like to do!

All of the kids grew up and left

and the house that they had lived in was too big for two.

The ma and pa got a smaller place

And they decided just one sock would do.

 

Poor little Jacko was sent away

and Jacko and his Papi had a big boo hoo!

They gave him a tag with an asking price.

At least they didn’t put him in a zoo.

He sat on a shelf with some other socks

as people walked right by with not much else to do.

Kids always grabbed them and pulled their tails

and some of them were taken home in twos.

 

A man by the name of Van came in,

And he journeyed from the same state as Papi Lou.

With help from above Van and Jacko met

And they became a trav’ling team of two.

Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.

Yo, Ho! Always on the move.

Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.

That’s what we like to do!

 

Not long ago Papi surfed the web

and came upon a story too good to be true.

Though he was old he still liked to see

the adventures of sock monkeys on the move.

 

There on the screen was his friend Jacko

and he traveled with a man that Papi thought he knew.

When he heard that his name was Van,

he knew it was the son of Buddiloo!

 

He sent off a note to his friend Jacko

to see about returning to the place he knew.

Jacko and Van came to pick him up

and their reunion was a big todo.

 

They met up with friends on their way back home,

and Papi hugged and kissed the girls of Rue Cou Cou.

Though Jacko and Van begged to take him home,

Papi went to live with Betty Lou.

 

Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.

Yo, Ho! Always on the move.

Yo, Ho! Going on Adventures.

That’s what we like to do!

Music in the Family Part IV – Patureau Keepsake

I thought I should have a Keepsake version of Music in the Family.  Especially since I was wanting to showcase this instrument for a while.  I tried to find photos or audio files of it in action, but no such luck.  I do have a few photos of it though.  So here you go.

1928 Vega tenor banjo

This was my dad’s banjo for many years.  He played it at Shakey’s sometimes with the family band in the 1970s, but it has a longer history than that.   Daddy left me a document about the banjo that he wrote on January 15, 2005.

Besides playing it with the family band, he also stated that he played it with some Dixieland bands in Lake Charles.  He also played it in the orchestra pit with a ‘pit band’ for Lake Charles Little Theater productions.  But he wasn’t the first owner of this Vega Four string Tenor banjo.

Vincent Maximilian Patureau, Jr. circa 1922

Daddy inherited it in 1956 when his uncle Vincent Maximilian Patureau, Jr. passed away.  Daddy was 27 years old at the time and Uncle Vincent died at the age of 54.  He was my Mee Maw’s youngest brother.  Uncle Vincent had it for many years and played it with a band in Baton Rouge.  That’s about all I know.  I’m not sure when he lived in Baton Rouge.  Probably in the 1920s and 30s when he was in his twenties and thirties.

Maybe at the age he is in this photo.  I got this photo recently from my dad’s cousin.  (Thanks again, Sis!)  He may have honed his craft for a few years, then decided to buy himself a nice Vega banjo.  That would fit with the timeline of when this banjo was produced.  According to Daddy the serial number places it as being put together in 1928.

I got the banjo in August of 2015 when we moved my mom and dad into Assisted Living in Lake Charles.  I encouraged him to keep it because there was room for it in the apartment that he had, but he wanted me to take it.  So I did.  I’ve always thought it was a beautiful instrument.  And now it’s back in Baton Rouge, where it first came into our family.

1928 Vega tenor banjo

1928 Vega tenor banjo

Music in the Family Part III – Listen to Myrtle Sing

The more I look into my family history for references to music, the more I realize how much it plays a part of the family.  I had thought at first that the series would be a month long, but now I’m thinking it will probably be close to two months long.  And since last week we looked at my dad’s side of the family, this week will be looking at my mom’s side.  In particular, the focus will be on my mom’s mom Myrtle Phenice Bucklin.  My Grandma.

Myrtle Phenice Bucklin

Myrtle Phenice Bucklin circa 1949

When I was a kid I never really cared for Grandma’s singing.  She sang kinda loud with a vibrato that seemed operatic to me.  I’ve never been a fan of the opera.  Different strokes for different folks.  But music was always very important to her.  She was singing til the day she died.  I mean that literally.  When she was 79 years old she was still singing at nursing homes for the “old folks.”  On May 6, 1986, she was singing and playing the piano for her peeps when she had a stroke and fell off the piano bench.  She ended up dying the following morning at 6:01 am.

Not only was she singing at the end of her own life, she sang at the end of her husband’s life too.  (You know this already if you’ve read all of my other posts.)  She sang his favorite song to him – “Amazing Grace” – and as she wrote in a letter to her childhood friend, “I’d finished singing, he looked up at me, smiled and died.”  Music was definitely an important part of her life.  But music wasn’t just a part of the end of her life, it was part of her early life, too.

Her father was Harry Clifton Phenice and her mother was Daisy Keys Phenice.  Both of them were musical people.  HC played the fiddle and he like to play by ear.  According to writings of Grandma’s sister Marguerite, he played a “homey” style that everyone liked.  He would play at community dances along with other extended family members.  He entered a fiddle contest in Jennings once and lost because he played a slow tune.  Daisy was beside herself because he didn’t play a showstopper like his usual upbeat songs like “Turkey in the Straw” or “Irish Washerwoman.” (or even “Soldier’s Joy”)  This allowed Daisy’s brother Leonard to win the contest when clearly HC was the better fiddler. (No bias there.)

The family also would have other families come over for a ‘sing-a-long.’  Daisy would bake peanuts or popcorn, and sometimes she would go all out and make popcorn balls with caramel and nuts.  (A treat that my mom would make for us from time to time.)  HC would play the fiddle, Myrtle (Grandma) or Daisy would play the piano, her brother Henry would play the violin, and Warren and the others would all sing along.  So Grandma grew up around music and was used to playing and singing in front of people.

That is a good thing, because otherwise she wouldn’t have been a willing participant when her older brother Sylvan suggested that he would record her singing some of her favorite songs in 1944.  Sylvan was into radio and sound systems from a young age.  This led to the Bucklin family being one of the early adopters for radio in the early days.  It also led to Sylvan making recordings of his family conversations and singing.  I am particularly thankful to him for that.

When I ‘rediscovered’ these recordings last year, I wasn’t sure who it was singing on them.  I thought it sounded like Grandma, but they were in a style that I liked.  I checked with mom and she assured me that they were Grandma.  The recordings were from around 1944.  It was after that time that she started taking singing lessons and adopted the more operatic style that I heard when growing up.  She even sings the old Irish song “Mother McCree” with a brogue and rolls her Rs.  I love it. (The titles of the songs are linked to the recordings.)

The recordings are in really good shape.  I did edit them to make it easier to listen to them.  When she sang “Smiles” she went straight into “Perfect Day” and I wasn’t sure it was a new song. I separated them into two separate files. Then on “There’s an Old Spinning Wheel in the Parlor” the song was cut off before the ending.  Fortunately for us, she had perfect pitch which made the editing easy.  Otherwise the beginning of the song would be out of tune with the end.

So enjoy listing to Grandma sing these old songs from bygone days.  I always find that listening to them in my car has the best effect.  If you have a smart phone that is linked to your sound system, that is.  And do it when you’re not driving!  I’m sure that thought never crossed her mind when those songs were recorded.  Mercy me!

After Grandma and Grandpa moved to Jennings in the 1970s, Grandma sang many solos at the Trinity United Methodist Church.

Music in the Family Part II – Patureau

When I was young I thought I knew everything.  Understood everything.  What is it about the innocence of youth that makes people think this?  Is it innocence?  Yes, I guess it is.  Maybe a little bit of ignorance thrown in with it, though.  The older I get, the more I realize that I don’t know everything.  Not even close.  When you are young, you know your immediate family and you kinda know your place in it.  When you start looking into family history, you realize that your family is much bigger and spread out.

This is particularly true for the idea of music in my family.  When my family had the Landry Family Band in the 70s and 80s, we (maybe I should say I) thought we were so innovative and different.  People would even say that it was “special” or “extraordinary.”  We weren’t famous or anything, but we did play together every week at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Lake Charles.  We’d also play for events or parties.  It was pretty special, but it wasn’t the first time that family members performed music together.

Kelly's String Band

Kelly’s String Band circa 1900 performed in the Plaquemine, Louisiana, area.

Just look at this photo from 1900.  The name of the band was Kelly’s String Band and there were some family members in it from my Patureau family line.  In the front with the funny looking trumpet (not a string) is my great great uncle Alcide Patureau (my father was Bob Landry, his mother was Erie Patureau, her father was Max Patureau, and Max & Alcides’s father was Ferdinand Patureau who was originally from France).  Alcide’s (& Max’s) brother Omer is the one in the middle with the banjo.  The guy on the right with the mandolin is Alcide and Omer’s (& Max’s) nephew Ferdinand Hebert (son of Aline Patureau Hebert).  The two guys standing up are Nick Manola and Wade Landry.  I don’t know of any relation to them.

So at least 70 years before our Shakey’s day, there were family members performing for other people’s entertainment.  And I’m sure there were probably more before that in the unknown history of the family.  This is the earliest photographic record of a band in my family.  I’d love to know what they sounded like and what kinds of music they played.

Plaquemine, Louisiana, in 1894 - Patureau family

Omer Patureau and Ferdinand Hebert

I have this other photo of two of these members who must have performed on their own with their dueling banjos.  This is Omer Patureau and Ferdinand Hebert in a photo dated 1894.  Both photos show that they were taken in Plaquemine.

As I’ve said before, people in the past did not have as readily available access to entertainment and information as we do now.  Maybe when people came from their homes and listened to them entertain, they heard things like people saying they were “special” or “extraordinary.”  And maybe they were.

As I get older and particularly with the passing of both of my parents, I do look back at those times playing music with my family and they are special to me.  And they will become more special as time goes by.  This I do know.


Feb. 17, 2022 – Update

I received a better version of the Kelly’s String Band photo.  I also figured out how I am related to Wade Landry.  In addition to that, I’ve learned more about his life.  So check out my new post to see it all – Patureau and Landry Musicians Circa 1900.

Music in the Family Part I

I promised last week that I would post something about music.  I shared a post on Facebook this morning.  It was a video from two years ago of our Landry Family Band reprising an old Dixieland song “Jada.”  It was me, my sisters Karen and Jamie and my mom and dad playing at Villa Maria Retirement Center in Lake Charles.  We were all in town to find an assisted living home for my parents.  I didn’t realize at the time that it would be the last “performance” I would have with them.  A bittersweet video to watch.

Most people knew us as a musical family, but there have been many musicians in the family through the years on both sides of the family.  That made it difficult for me to decide where I would start this musical series.  But then that little video popped up today as a jumping off point.  So I’ll start the series by going back some years before the video I mentioned.  Some of you may be thinking of the Shakey’s days where the Landry Family Band had their heyday, but I’ve already shared that before.

Bucklin siblings in Hathaway with musical instruments

Betty Lou on baritone, Loris on trombone, and Austin with the uke in 1950 or so.

I’m taking it a little further back than that.  Shakey’s was 40 years ago and I’m going back 26 years before that when my mom Betty Lou Bucklin was a girl in high school.  This is a photo of her with her younger sister Loris and their brother Austin.  Mama played the baritone and aunt Loris played the trombone.  I’m not sure what Austin is doing with that ukelele.  He doesn’t seem to be very pleased with it.  Maybe it was out of tune or missing a string.  Maybe he didn’t think it went along with the baritone and trombone too well.  Whatever the case may be, he doesn’t seem happy in the photo.

But I’m happy that I found this photo.  I don’t ever remember seeing it when growing up.  I found the negative last year when I was going through some stuff that mom gave me.  The photo was taken around 1950, which was around the time that Mama met Daddy.  Young Betty Lou visited LSU in Baton Rouge on April 27, 1950, to compete in the State Music Festival Clinic where she earned a Superior rating on her performance on that baritone.

My mom was never good with directions.  I don’t know how many times she got lost when trying to get somewhere.  Most of the time it was a hindrance, but in this situation it proved to be beneficial.  She was at LSU and she needed help with directions.  The person she found to help was none other than a college student by the name of Bob Landry.  The other interesting thing about that meeting is that it was five years to the day prior to the birth of their second child, my brother Rob.

It was rather appropriate that their first meeting was centered around music.  My mom liked to tell that story about their encounter.  She kept the certificate she won that day and wrote a little bit about it on the back of it in 2013: “He’s been leading me around for over 60 years.”  Together til the end.

The Cows All Come a Runnin’ With a Moo!

1949 - Betty Lou charming the cows with Papi

1949 – Betty Lou charming the cows with Papi

For several years now, I’ve been sharing stories of the Adventures of Jacko.  As everyone knows, they are stories about the travels of me and my wonderfully charming sock monkey Jacko.  In the travelling song that Jacko and his mentor/grandfather Papi wrote, it mentions my mom and the fact that she used to play her baritone out in the fields of Hathaway until the cows would come.

I didn’t know that she had a photo of this until quite recently.  She has talked about her serenading activity for as long as I can remember.  I don’t know why she didn’t mention this photo or show it to me.  I mentioned this to Papi and he said he couldn’t imagine why his old Buddiloo never showed me this photo.

“Of course,” he said, “back then we didn’t see photos as soon as we took them.  But I do remember seeing it once.  I titled it ‘Nature Girl.'”

“‘Nature Girl’?” I asked, “Why did you call it that?”

“Well,” he said, “it was around the same time that Nat King Cole’s song ‘Nature Boy’ was playing on the radio.  That was really exciting.  Radio was one of the rare conveniences that we had out in the country.  There certainly wasn’t any air conditioner, so when Buddiloo would practice her horn, she liked to go outside.  She played all kinds of songs, but the one that the cows liked best was ‘Nature Boy.’  And every time they showed up, they said the same thing.”

“Of course they did,” I said.  “Mama always said they would moo at her when they showed up and it made her laugh.”

“Yes, sometimes she could be a silly girl.  It’s what I love the most about her.  But those cows kept trying to tell her something and she never listened.  I, of course, listened to them attentively.  I am a cow whisperer,” he said with more than a little pride.

“So what was it that they said?” I asked. “Were they making requests for different songs?  Or maybe for a different instrument?  Like a trombone?   Surely not a clarinet?!”

“No, no, none of that,” he said with a scowl.  “I see you inherited more than a little bit of silliness from your mom.”

“Whatever,” I said, “Just tell me what the cows said.”

“Okay, but it would be better if I sang it for you.  Since ‘Nature Boy’ was the song that they were drawn to, I decided to put the message into my own words for the song,” he explained.  “I call it ‘Nature Girl,’ hence the title of the photo.  It goes like this.”

He then started singing the song with a haunting melody.  It really was quite moving.  Here are the words:

Nature Girl

There was a girl, a very sweet and charming girl.

She liked to play her baritone all alone in the fields each day.

Her monkey friend would give a grin.

When she’d start to play.

And then one morn, a magic morn she played that horn.

And all the cows they gathered round.  Stood their ground.

This they said to her:

“The greatest thing you’ll ever learn

is grass tastes great, but when brown it can burn.”

After sitting a while stunned by his performance, I shook myself back to alertness and asked,”Wait, does that mean that brown grass burns in the stomach or that it can catch fire?”

“Silly boy,” he said, “what is hay?”

“Oh, yeah,” I said sheepishly.

“If there are still any doubts in your mind about the answer to your question,” he continued, “just mention the words ‘grass fire’ to a herd of cattle.  It’s the quickest way to start a stampede.  When they would say the same thing over and over to Buddiloo, there was always a look of fear in their eyes.

“Now if there are any more questions, they can wait.  Jacko and I are going to the other room to watch a movie.  You can join us if you like…as long as you bring popcorn.”  At that he was off.

So that, my friends, is the story of this week’s photo.  Straight from the monkey’s mouth.

A Shakey’s Remembrance

June 17, 1976 - MountainMusic with the Landry Family Band

The Landry Family Band on the evening of June 17, 1976. We were playing the song “Mountain Music” with Bob on the guitar, Karen on the ukelele, Van on the bass, Al on the guitar, Jamie on the jug, and Betty on the piano.

Our family started playing at Shakey’s Pizza Parlor in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Wednesday June 16, 1976.  We called ourselves the Landry Family Band.  This photo was taken on our second night of playing on June 17 – before we had the uniforms that show up in the later photos of our performances.

The anniversary almost slipped by me!  I had intended for the 40th Anniversary of playing at Shakey’s to be the main story for my Throwback Thursday series for today.  I didn’t think about it when I started my Wednesday evening preparations.  I’m kind of glad that I forgot, because I really like the feel that the story about my mom and her grandfather evokes.  But if I had remembered, that story would not have been written.  So we have an extra installment today.  More for everyone!

Van Landry at Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Jan. 7, 1978.

Van Landry singing at Shakey’s on Jan. 7, 1978.

Dec. 23, 1978 at Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Lake Charles, LA

Bob on the trombone, Jodie on the bass, and Rob on the trumpet were all part of the Landry Family Band. This photo was taken December 23, 1978.

1978-12-23 - Karen

Karen was at Shakey’s the most. Besides singing there with the family, she also worked there while she was in college. Here she is on Dec. 23, 1978.

Jamie singing at Shakey’s on April 21, 1978.

The Landry Family Band at Shakey's Pizza Parlor in Lake Charles, Louisiana, on Dec. 23, 1978.

This was one of the few times that the whole family was there. It was just before Christmas in 1978. There’s Bob on the bass, Jamie, Van with trombone, Karen, Rob singing, Jodie with flute, Al with guitar, and Betty on the piano.

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