A short time after
Doug and
Rusty Kershaw parted ways as a performing duo, and right before he signed a long-term recording deal with Warner Brothers in 1969,
Doug Kershaw tracked several sides for Texan
Huey P. Meaux's Crazy Cajun label. These sessions ranged all over the place, from straight country and covers of
Creedence Clearwater Revival and
Sir Douglas Quintet hits, to a handful of
Kershaw's trademark wild and ragged bayou stomps, all of which are represented here on
An Introduction to Doug Kershaw, an anthology of Crazy Cajun tracks.
Kershaw isn't exactly an artist who could be said to have evolved his sound at all, and his jerky, wooly approach to singing, and his manic, kinetic fiddle sawing means that almost all of his recordings work along the same fault line, and these sides are no exception. Highlights include a revival of
Doug and
Rusty's 1958 country hit at Hickory Records, "Hey Mae," a loose-as-a-goose "Down South in New Orleans," a pair of
Sir Douglas Quintet covers, "The Rains Came," a fascinating, lurching "Mendocino," and a live version of
Doug's best song, the autobiographical "Louisiana Man," which was a deserving hit in 1961 in its original version. Edsel's 1999
Kershaw anthology called
Crazy Cajun Recordings has a few more tracks than this one but lacks a version of "Louisiana Man," so it's pretty much a toss-up between the two sets. The earlier
Doug and
Rusty Kershaw recordings on Hickory Records are certainly worth checking out, too, particularly if you're curious about what an unhinged version of
the Everly Brothers might sound like if they had grown up Cajun down on that bayou.
–
Steve Leggett, Rovi