Radiators guitarist Camile Baudoin is revisiting his musical childhood in preparation for a show he’ll put on at Snug Harbor December 10. Baudoin has been working on a solo album based on the music his uncle Alton Dufrene played as a member of the popular Cajun country band the Dufrene Brothers along with his brother Jerry.
“My Paran Alton taught me how to play guitar,” Baudoin says. “When he saw how much I was into it I think he really wanted me to become a musician. When I was about 10 or 12, I sat in with the band at the Old Spanish Trail on Bayou Lafourche and played on his Telecaster.”
Baudoin will be joined by trumpeter Charlie Miller, guitarist John Rankin and percussionist Michael Skinkus. “John and I are old friends,” says Baudoin. “I know Michael Skinkus from playing with him with the Radiators. Charlie Miller and I have always wanted to do something together.”
Though Baudoin grew up in New Orleans, every weekend the family would pack up and go out to the country to stay with relatives. “The Dufrene Brothers were based out of Raceland; they played up and down the bayou at different places. The Old Spanish Trail was a big barn-like dance hall. It was right on the bayou and they had trap doors in there. The fishing boats would come up and they’d cook the crawfish and crabs under the place and then bring them up through the trap doors into the restaurant. After they stopped serving food, they would move out the tables and it would turn into a dance hall.
“The band was a hit in that area, playing a whole smorgasbord of different types of music. Although it was a country band, it had a horn section and they would play a lot of different stuff—‘San Antonio Rose,’ ‘Beer Barrel Polka,’ some Tex Mex stuff, a lot of really eclectic stuff. ‘Steel Guitar Rag’ was the first song Alton taught me.”
Alton Dufrene is in his late 70s now and can’t play anymore because of his arthritis, but at Snug Harbor Baudoin will recreate that moment at the Old Spanish Trail when Dufrene first brought him onstage.
“I was freaked out and having the best time of my life all at the same time,” Baudoin says with a laugh. “I get goosebumps thinking about it right now. A couple of years ago, I finally got Alton to come out and see the band at Jazz Fest. It’s great to have the person who taught you see you years later. He told me in that country accent: ‘Ca-mile. I knew you were good from listenin’ to the CDs, but I had no idea.’ That was great.”
