“When I first heard Harry Choates, that was it,” Hadley Castille explains about how his lifelong vocation as a Cajun fiddler came to be. Castille wasn’t the only one affected by Choates’ inventive style of bowing and accenting of certain notes. So were Doug Kershaw, Frenchie Burke, Gil Gilbeau (Flying Burrito Brothers) and Rufus Thibodeaux. By the time Thibodeaux was 15, he had the Choates style down so pat that he once took the influential fiddler’s place at a dance. When recordman J.D. Miller was looking to do a Choates tribute album in the mid-1960s, Thibodeaux (1934-2004) was the most logical choice. On this landmark recording, Miller surrounded the King of Cajun Fiddlers with a topflight band that included Choates’ steel guitarist Carroll Broussard and banjoist Abe Manuel, who emulates Choates’ vocal style. As a fiddler, Thibodeaux shows why he was one of the best on this Cajun-meets-western-swing affair. He makes his instrument sing its glorious melodies, slices runs effortlessly and makes it weep through bluesy bow drags, just as Choates did. Though Choates will always be remembered for his legacy and his whopper hit “Jolie Blonde” (covered here), this reissue ensures that Thibodeaux won’t likely be forgotten either.