From:  "Dik de Heer" 
Date:  Thu Mar 4, 2004  6:29 am
Subject:  This Is My Story : Jay Chevalier
 
Jay Chevalier - The Rockin' Cajun (By Tony Wilkinson)

Born 4 March 1936, Forest Hill, Louisiana

There were quite a few young Cajun musicians who were influenced by the emerging
big beat of rock 'n' roll and one who took to it in no uncertain way was Jay
Chevalier. Born on 4th March 1936 in Forest Hill near Lecompte and his parents
Joseph E. and Jewell Goodman Chevalier were relatively poor. Jay recalls: 'I
grew up naked in the piney wood hills along the banks of Bayou Boeuf' (1).
Along with his grandmother, the family stayed here whist his dad enlisted in the
navy during the second world-war.

Jay and his school friends loved to go to the cinema on Saturdays where they
could watch their heroes such as the singing cowboys Roy Rogers, Gene Autry and
Jimmie Davis. His dad bought him a Sears & Roebuck guitar for Christmas when he
was 10 years and, along with his cousin Alious Richard ´Pee Wee´ Chevalier and
other relatives Dewey and Tiny Jenkins, they made a lot of music. When Jay was
17, he heard live broadcasts by country singer Dallas H. 'Diddle' Babb Jr. on
radio station KREH. The pair became friends and Jay was soon performing on the
same airwaves, often with Pee Wee Chevalier and billing himself as 'Jay
Chevalier - The Cajun Sensation' or 'Cajun Balladeer'. After sacks of fan mail
were received, he quickly gained a sponsor.

This had been the musical background for Jay who had left Forest Hill High
School in 1954 and had enlisted in the marines for four years. Jay enjoyed his
time in the services as he got to see the world and was able to play music when
not on duty. Upon receiving his honourable discharge as a sergeant, he again
linked up with Pee Wee, Dewey and Tiny and started performing. He also
attended a course at the Louisiana College in Pineville during 1958/59 with his
wife helping to feed the family. However, the lure of music took over and soon
he was a professional musician. Whilst in the army, he had been a member of the
cast of the Jimmy Dean television show and this now assisted him obtaining
bookings for his band who Pee Wee, Charlie Horton, Tommy Strange and Ambrose
Williamson. Incidentally, Tommy Strange (1939-1992) is the guy who recorded the
cult favourite Nervous And Shakin´ All Over und What Am I To Do (Rocko 45-504)
in June 1960 and later went on to cut sides for labels such as Era.

During the army stint, Chevalier and Sergeant Garry Gilmore had formed a record
label. Jay's self composed songs Rockin´ Roll Angel c/w Down Heart Break Trail
(Over Teardrop Mt.) were released on Cajun Records (C-45-101). In order to
achieve the popular rockabilly sound, he utilised a lot of echo on the
recordings. As was the case with many small independent labels, they lacked
distribution. However this did not stop the band using the disc as a promotion
device to obtain bookings. When they played the Ranch Inn Dance Hall, Jay met
Jimmy Stretch, the Public Relations Man and Road Record Distributor in the area
for RCA Victor. Jay asked him how to get onto the bill of the June 1959
´Jimmie Rodgers Country Music Festival' in Meridian, Mississippi as he felt that
this would provide an invaluable boost for his career. Stretch gave him details
of the show and offered to provide Chevalier with accommodation at the Lamar
Hotel that was booked solid by RCA Records for their artists, executives and
disc jockies but also advised that Jay would need money for promotion to get all
this moving along. To demonstrate to Stretch that he was serious and would make
it along to Meridian, purchased a 1959 Ford. At the festival, there was to be a
talent contest for 75 singers who were selected from around 350 entrants. The
prize was a recording contract with RCA but, almost as important, was that
talent scouts would see the acts.

Jay printed 2000 autograph pictures to give away and had ´Jay Chevalier, The
Cajun Sensation, Alexandria, Louisiana' painted on the side of his car in big
letters. Jimmie Stretch took him along to station WMOX along with disc jockeys
Earl Aycock, Jim Dowdy and Claude Gray so that he could promote himself to the
festival visitors. One of them was Jimmie Davis (11.9.1899-5.11.2000). Jay
Chevalier remembers it: 'He walked over to me and asked ´What are you doing
here´. I was so cocky, you wouldn´t believe how cocky I was. I told Gov. Davis
´I´m here to win this contest' (3). He sang two songs, including Jim Reeves´
Billy Bayou, and was voted one of the best three on that day. This took him
into the semi-finals where the judges were Chet Atkins, Ernest Tubb, Hank Snow,
Ted Mack, Harry Stone, Mac Wiseman and Owen Bradley. Again he sang himself into
the top three the finals. Everything looked good, the widow of Jimmie Rogers
was rooting for him but he came second loosing out to Ken Mabry.

In the summer 1959, Jay was thrown out of college as he was away too often, but
this did not bother him over much. His prime thoughts were to making a new
record and so once again he contacted Pee Wee, Dewey and Tiny Jenkins. At the
time, one of the top tunes in the USA was 'Battle Of New Orleans' by Johnny
Horton. Also featured in the regions news, and elsewhere, were lurid stories
about the affair that 63 year old Governor Earl K Long was having with 27 years
old stripper Blaze Starr (real name Fannie Belle Flemming) from the Sho-Bar on
Bourbon Street in New Orleans. Earl's wife, Blanche Revere, had attempted to
have him committed to the local mental hospital on two occasions. Earl had
taken over the governorship from his brother Huey P. 'Kingfisher' Long and had
served three terms before being succeeded by singer Jimmie Davis in 1960. Jay
wrote Ballad of Earl K. Long in twenty minutes on a brown paper bag, and stopped
on the way home to play it to some street workers who liked it right away. He
met H. G. 'Dee' Marais, the producer and owner of Shreveport based Recco Records
who was sponsored by an oil company. A couple of days later, Marais booked time
at Eddie Shuler´s Goldband Recording Studios. For the session, they did not have
a drum kit available and so the drummer adopted a carboard box instead. For the
other side, the guys recorded Ballad of Marc Elishe. However the local radio
stations declined to play Earl K Long side due to its alleged political content.
Finally Jay played the song to Jimmy Stretch who liked it and took some copies
away with him to promote the release.

A few days later in August 1959, Jay's doorbell rang at two am in the morning
and neighbours advised Chevalier that Jimmy Stretch was trying to get in touch
with him. When contact was made, Jay was informed that the song Ballad Of Earl
K Long had broken out down in Baton Rouge and that he needed to get down there
to promote it better. Jay borrowed some travelling money from his neighbours and
went to Jimmy who told him: When I got Baton Rouge last night, I went over to
WAIL radio to visit with my disc jockey friend, Bill Bessom. Bessom had played
the song to the station director who was against it but the DJ had finally given
in with the words For you, Jimmy I will. After playing the disc, the
telephones started to ring with requests for further plays. The listening
audience were ten promised that the next fifty requestors would be rewarded with
a free copy of the record. These were gone in next to no time and so Stretch
arranged a press conference for the new singing star. Earl K. Long had left the
hospital and turned up. Within 24 hours, Chevalier on all the local and some
national radio stations and even United Press International ran with a piece on
him. All this helped to sell in excess of one hundred thousand copies of the
record. Earl K. Long liked the song and invited Jay along to his campaign
meetings. When Chevalier was asked how much he would charge for a fulltime job
on the campaign trail with Long, he replied See if he´ll go for $ 500 a week
and all my expenses. Long's answer was give to Chevalier by Edgar Coco who told
him He (Long) said ´Five hundred dollars! Who in the hell does he think he is,
Elvis Presley (2). They finally settled for 200 $ per week. Jay travelled with
Long and sang songs such as Big Mamou, Jolie Blonde, Kansas City and of course
his hit. When in New Orleans, they often stayed at the Roosevelt Hotel where
Chevalier met Blaze Starr.

Apart from his meetings with Blaze Starr , Earl K.Long enjoyed the bars and
nightclubs of the area and often sang his favourite songs Goody Goody and Bill
Bailey Won´t You Please Come Home. In addition, Long liked nothing better to
attend football matches. On 31st October 1959, Long along with Chevalier and
some friends attended the game between the Louisiana State University (LSU)
Tiger and Ole´ Miss. Up to then, Jay had little interest in football but, when
in the second half, LSU-Star William A 'Billy' Cannon made a 89 Yard Touchdown
against Ole Miss, Chevalier changed his mind. Jay was so impressed with the
game that he instantly wrote the song Billy Cannon.

Earl K.Long lost his job as Governor in the election to Jimmie Davies but Jay
got lucky with his new song and went to number one in the local charts on
WAIL-Radio in Baton Rouge.. The song was released on Jim Rentz's PEL records
from Baton Rouge. The flip side of Jay's record was High School Days (Almost
Over). Sadly the company only had limited distribution and so it failed to break
out nationally. This time around, Jimmy Stretch was unable to help as he had
his hands full promoting RCA recording artist Jimmy Elledge.

Christmas time 1959 saw Jay seriously considering the future as he found out
that his son Jay Earl was on his way. On New Years day 1959, Jay wrote the
lyrics for his song Lost in Louisiana 1959 and then later that month composed
the song Kruschev And The Devil. Chevalier recorded a demo of the song and
sent it to Eddie Shuler at Goldband Records. The next month, February 1960,
Eddie Shuler called him and said that an national distributor was in town and
liked the song and wanted to offer it to Warner Brothers in Hollywood. Jay
borrowed $600 and drove to Hollywood to get this launched but after two days,
they turned him down on the grounds that the song was too political, may cause
riots and could even lead to World War III. On the way home, Jay met Johnny
Bond who introduced him to Tex Ritter and the pair stayed in touch until the
latter passed away on 2nd January 1974. Ritter in turn introduced him to Joe
Maphis who booked him for his band and a few gigs at a salary $80 for the
weekend. Jay in his show at the Showboat-Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas included
11 year old Barbara Mandrell, which was a great help in launching her career.

Back home in Louisiana, Jay found out that Earl K. Long was now trying to get
elected into congress. Chevalier visited Long and was welcomed back into the
fold, joining his entertainment troupe on the campaign trail. Jay sang songs
such as Cold Cold Heart, Jambalaya, Billy Bayou, Mansion On The Hill, In The
Garden, I Saw The Light, Your Cheatin´ Heart and I Thought I Heard You Calling
My Name along with his hit Ballad Of Earl K. Long at many of the political
meetings . J. W. Thompson and his Hillbilly-Band usually backed him. They were
successful and Long was elected to congress but, sadly eleven days later, Earl
passed away.

However, besides blazing along the campaign trail, Jay had recorded Castro Rock
and Mona at the Goldband Studio. Whilst Castro Rock became a cult rockabilly
song in the seventies, it failed pretty miserably at the time of its initial
release as, again, the political content was too much for the somewhat timid
radio stations to tolerate. When Goldband re-pressed the record, Schuler
changed the name of Jay's backing band from The Moon Men to The House Rockers.
Come 1961, Jay joined up with his cousin Tommy Strange in his band the Features.
And they contacted Baton Rouge producer Sam Montel, who in the years to come
used Jay on several occasions. He recorded the outfit on I Iula Francana (My
Louisiana Maid) and True, So True which was released on Montel Label.

Along with the Features, Jay journeyed back to Hollywood in 1962 to record
for Crest Records. Jay recalled the connection with Crest: Before we left for
Las Vegas, we auditioned for Crest, owned by Sylvester Cross. I sang him a song
that my cousin and I had written ´If I Can´t Be Near the One I Love - I´ll Love
the One Near Me´ plus another one I had written about that time called ´Check
Out Time´. I got a call back and Sylvester asked me if I knew why I was getting
the recording contract. He told me that Jimmy Bowen had come down the stairs
that morning whistling ´If I Can´t Be Near the One I Love - I´ll Love the One
Near me´ and if you have a song that someone can whistle or tap their toes to,
usually you´ve got a hit song. So that´s how I got on Crest Records out of
Hollywood". For the flip side, Dale Fitzsimmons and Jay and the Features
recorded the Chevalier and Jack Miller composition It Doesn´t Matter.

In February 1962, Jay and the guys performed at the Golden Nugget in Las Vegas.
Jay liked it there so much that he founded his own band The Louisiana Longshots
that included musicians Bobby Edwards and Dale Houston on piano. Dale was born
23rd April 1940 in Seminary, Mississippi, and had made his first record Lonely
Man in 1959 before being signed in 1960 by Sam Montel as a songwriter. Houston
of course went on to record with Grace Broussard, sister of Van Broussard, as
the duo Dale and Grace. Between 1963 and 1968, Chevalier performed at the
Golden Nugget for ten weeks of each year. He also worked as a studio musician
for Sam Montel and played on the monster hit I´m Leaving It Up To You by Dale
and Grace, which was a reworking of the song originally by Don and Dewey. As a
result of this success, Jay placed Dale & Grace in his Las Vegas show. He also
subsequently used Rod Bernard in a similar role. The show was a local Opry type
affair and it is worth recalling that Merle Haggard's wife, Bonnie Owens' asked
Jay to help her husband get on in Las Vegas.

Between 1963 and 1968, Jay recorded several records for labels such as Speedy,
Cotton Town Jubilee Records and Shelby Singleton´s Minaret-Label. In 1972, he
returned to Las Vegas, this time performing at the Union Plaza Hotel. Come the
late seventies, Jay went back to Louisiana and in 1978/79, recorded at in
1978/79 If I Can´t Be Near The One I Love, Bayou Baby, A Cajun Toast, Un Toast
Cajun, Super Country USA and, his tribute to Chuck Berry, Ballad of Johnny B.
Goode at the studio of Creole Gold Records. He also ran a dinner theatre and
served as the host for the Friday night radio show ´Super Country USA' for
around a year. In 1980 Jay became the entertainment director of The Palace, a
big nightclub in Beaumont, Texas and for which he hired many bands, including
Alabama. Then, in 1982, he organized bus tours for live country shows.

Writer Huey Perry, who had written the story of Blaze Starr in 1974, called Jay
in 1989 as Hollywood now wanted to turn the book into a movie. Accordingly, Jay
signed on as a supervisor for the A & M/ Touchstone production of the film
'Blaze' and indeed had a cameo role playing the part of Senator Wiley Braden.
Blaze Starr herself also appeared in movie as Lily. The role of Earl K Long
was played by then 64 year old Paul Newman whilst 28 year old Lolita
Davidovich had the title part. Blaze was filmed on location in Baton Rouge,
National Park Tennessee, New Orleans and in Winnfield, Louisiana and premiered
on 13th December 1989 in America and was then released all around the world.
Jay got an actor's pass for his part and also recorded Come Back To Louisiana
for the film but this was unfortunately omitted from the final soundtrack. Jay
then went on to record the live album A Tribute To Hank Williams with the
Louisiana Long Shots at the Duchess in Port Huron, Michigan for the Freedom
label in 1992.

In 1992 Jay had to undergo a bypass operation but was soon performing again. He
met the legendary Chinese-American sheriff Harry Lee at the Rotary Club in New
Orleans and subsequently went onto to record the album The Ballad of Sheriff
Harry Lee, along with his partner Shelley Ford and the Louisiana Long Shots,
including Junior Basco, at the David Praet Recording Studios in Alexandria.
This was eventually released in August 1994 on Stargaze.

Back in 1979, Jay had become the sheriff of Jefferson Parish in 1979, a job that
he still held as he approached seventy years of age. Fast forward to the middle
of 1994, Jay was contacted by producer David V. Lester called him for his new
movie Cobb, an Alcor/Warner Brothers-Films production on the story of baseball
legend Tyrus Ty Raymond Cobb (18.12.1886 - 17.7.1961) from Georgia. Jay played a
gambler whilst Tommy Lee Jones, with Lolita Davidovich starring as Ramona,
played the leading male role. It was released in the USA on 2nd December 1994.


In 1995, Jay ran for the position of Lieutenant Governor of Louisiana but the
Acadia Parish Clerk of Court in Crowley shows that he just lost on 21st October
1995 to Kathleen Blanco. This lady was subsequently re-elected to this post in
1999 and then in 2003 went on to become the first female Governor of Louisiana.
Then, in April 2000, Jay was elected into the Louisiana Political Hall of Fame
which is based in Winnfield, the home of the Long family. This nearly brings us
up to date except to say that in 2003, his new CD Lost In Louisiana 1959 was
issued on Creole Gold Records and his autobiography Earl K. Long and Jay
Chevalier - When the Music Stopped was published by the Southern Legacy Press.
Jay still plays live music with the Louisiana Long Shots.

Suggested Listening:

Watch out for the forthcoming CD on Hydra Records to be released in March 2004.
It has extensive liner notes by Dieter Moll. Our thanks to Hydra owner Klaus
Kettner for letting use these as the basis of the foregoing.