Hackberry Ramblers

{{short description|American musical group}} {{Use mdy dates|date=April 2025}} {{Infobox musical artist | background = group_or_band | name = Hackberry Ramblers | origin = Hackberry, Louisiana | alias = Riverside Ramblers | genre = Cajun, country, Western swing, jazz, blues | years_active = {{Start date|1930}}–{{End date|2005}}<ref name="sandmel">{{cite web |last1=Sandmel |first1=Ben |title=Hackberry Ramblers |url=https://musicrising.tulane.edu/discover/people/hackberry-ramblers/ |website=Music Rising at Tulane |publisher=Tulane University}}</ref> | label = Bluebird, Montgomery Ward, De Luxe, Arhoolie, Goldband | past_members = * Luderin Darbone * Edwin Duhon * Alvin Ellander<ref name=":0" /> * Joe Werner * John Parker * Glen Croker * Johnny Faulk * Ben Sandmel }} The '''Hackberry Ramblers''', also known as the Riverside Ramblers, were a Cajun music band based in Hackberry, Louisiana. Formed in 1933, the group performed for over 70 years.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

The band was active from 1933 until 2005, with some appearances after that date. The lineup changed several times, but the founders—fiddler Luderin Darbone (1913–2008) and accordionist Edwin Duhon (1910–2006)—led the group until Duhon died in 2006. While they focused on Cajun music, the Ramblers also played other American styles, including Western swing, blues, and rockabilly.

==Early years== In 1930, fiddler Luderin Darbone and guitarist Edwin Duhon met in Hackberry, Louisiana, and started playing music together. Duhon played the accordion at first. However, his instrument broke, and he could not replace it. Also, the popular country music coming from Nashville radio did not use accordions. Because of this, Duhon switched to the guitar. The first version of the band had one fiddle and two guitars.<ref name=":0">{{Cite book |title=Cajun music: a reflection of a people |date=1984 |publisher=Bluebird Press |isbn=978-0-930169-00-8 |editor-last=Savoy |editor-first=Ann Allen |location=Eunice, La}}</ref>

By 1933, the band was on the radio and had signed with RCA's Bluebird Records. Darbone and Duhon chose the name "Hackberry Ramblers" around this time. Darbone said in an interview that they wanted a catchy name for the radio. He noted they were the first Cajun band to use a group name instead of their own names.<ref name=":0" /> They broadcast from the Majestic Hotel in Lake Charles, Louisiana on station KFBL. In 1936, the group recorded "Jolie Blonde", "Oh Josephine, Ma Josephine", "One Step De L'Amour", and "Faux Pas Tu Bray Cherie".<ref>[https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/luderin-darbone-fiddle-player-and-bandleader-at-the-forefront-of-cajun-music-1042759.html "Luderin Darbone: Fiddle player and bandleader at the forefront of Cajun music" www.independent.co.uk]</ref> Darbone and Duhon were among the first musicians to use electronic amplification in local dance halls. Around 1932, they ran a public address system using the engine of Darbone's Model-A Ford.<ref name=":0" /><ref>{{Cite web |title=NEA National Heritage Fellowships: Luderin Darbone and Edwin Duhon, Cajun fiddler and accordionist |url=http://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=2002_06 |archive-url=http://web.archive.org/web/20120222085447/http://www.arts.gov/honors/heritage/fellows/fellow.php?id=2002_06 |archive-date=2012-02-22 |access-date=2025-12-12 |website=National Endowment for the Arts}}</ref>

They played a mix of Cajun music, country music, Western swing, jazz music, and blues music. They sang in both English and French, covering artists such as Bob Wills, Jimmie Rodgers, and Bessie Smith.<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Le Menestrel |first=Sara |date=Sep 2007 |title=The Color of Music: Social Boundaries and Stereotypes in Southwest Louisiana French Music |url=https://muse.jhu.edu/article/220580 |journal=Southern Cultures |language=en |volume=13 |issue=3 |pages=87–105 |doi=10.1353/scu.2007.0032 |issn=1534-1488|url-access=subscription }}</ref> The band used the name "The Riverside Ramblers" for a sponsorship deal with Montgomery Ward.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

Guitarist and vocalist Joe Werner (1909–1978) joined the Riverside Ramblers in 1936. The group recorded "Wondering" in 1937, but Werner left the band the next year.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

== Later years == In the 1960s, Chris Strachwitz (1931–2023) of Arhoolie Records began recording the group.<ref>{{Citation |last=Ancelet |first=Barry Jean |title=Darbonne, Luderin and Edwin Duhon |date=2012-07-10 |work=Oxford Music Online |url=http://www.oxfordmusiconline.com/grovemusic/view/10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.001.0001/omo-9781561592630-e-1002224205 |access-date=2024-02-17 |publisher=Oxford University Press |language=en |doi=10.1093/gmo/9781561592630.article.a2224205|url-access=subscription }}</ref> They continued to perform at festivals, such as FitzGerald's American Music Festival in 1997.<ref>[http://nodepression.com/live-review/american-music-festival-fitzgeralds-berwyn-il "American Music Festival - FitzGerald's (Berwyn, IL)"]. ''No Depression'', by Linda Ray, August 31, 1997</ref>

In 2002, Darbone and Duhon received a National Heritage Fellowship from the Folk Arts Program of the National Endowment for the Arts.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.myneworleans.com/Louisiana-Life/Winter-2008/Luderin-Darbone-A-Life-as-a-Rambler/ |title="Luderin Darbone: A Life as a Rambler" www.myneworleans.com |access-date=April 25, 2014 |archive-date=April 26, 2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140426201711/http://www.myneworleans.com/Louisiana-Life/Winter-2008/Luderin-Darbone-A-Life-as-a-Rambler/ |url-status=dead }}</ref>

Before Duhon died in 2006, the band's members included Darbone, Duhon, Ben Sandmel on drums, Glen Croker (died 2011)<ref>{{cite web |date=2011-08-24 |title=James 'Glen' Croker of Hackberry Ramblers Dead at 77 |url=http://www.spinner.com/2011/08/24/james-glen-croker-hackberry-ramblers-dies/ |accessdate=2012-09-17 |publisher=Spinner}}</ref> on guitar, and Johnny Faulk on bass.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

The Country Music Hall of Fame holds several of the founding members' instruments in its collection.{{Citation needed|date=December 2025}}

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Other sources== * [http://www.upi.com/NewsTrack/view.php?StoryID=20060319-084702-3360r Musician Edwin Duhon dead at 95] United Press International, Inc. Retrieved 20 Mar 2006. * Sandmel, Ben. "[http://www.homestead.com/cajunzydeco/files/articles/a000118.htm Cajun At The Country Music Hall Of Fame]". ''ZydE-Zine''. Retrieved 14 August 2005. * John Wirt, "‘Hackberry Ramblers’ Co-founder Dead at 95," The Advocate [Baton Rouge, La.], 23 November 2008, http://www.2theadvocate.com/news/34944819.html, accessed 1 December 2008. * [http://www.arhoolie.com/artists/luderin_darbone.shtml Luderin Darbone 1913-2008] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081222005520/http://www.arhoolie.com/artists/luderin_darbone.shtml |date=December 22, 2008 }} Arhoolie Records.

Category:American folk music groups Category:20th-century American fiddlers Category:21st-century American fiddlers Category:Musical groups established in 1930 Category:Musical groups disestablished in 2005 Category:Cajun musicians Category:Cajun fiddlers Category:Cajun guitarists Category:Bluebird Records artists Category:Arhoolie Records artists