Cajun Fun on the Bayou! Trivia Quiz

Answer:

Hank Williams Sr. has been called the "Hillbilly Shakespeare" and for good reason! He got his first harmonica when he was six and his first guitar at eight. Williams never learned to read music but his songwriting reflected personal experiences and used local dialects and expressions that were akin to storytelling.

As a young teen he won talent shows, played street performances and even made successful radio appearances. Before long he started his own band, the Drifting Cowboys, and performed in clubs, honky-tonks and the like. He began recording and eventually earned a regular spot on the relatively new radio jamboree, the "Louisiana Hayride". By 1949 after moving to Nashville he became one of the biggest stars in country music with a string of hits that were his own compositions. Unfortunately chronic back problems took a toll and led to drug and alcohol abuse.

Country Music Hall of Fame and Museum said it best with their tribute when his life was ended way too soon:
"Almost singlehandedly, Hank Williams set the agenda for contemporary country songcraft, but his appeal rests as much in the myth that even now surrounds his short life. His is the standard by which success is measured in country music on every level, even self-destruction."

The knack for storytelling is quite evident in the lyrics of "Jambalaya (On the Bayou)".

As the song begins, the the singer tells his friend, Joe, that he's off "down the bayou" to see his sweetheart, Yvonne. A Cajun pirogue is a flat-bottomed boat navigated with a "push pole" in shallow water.

He continues to tell of the fun they'll have complete with jambalaya (meat, seafood, organs, rice and spices), crawfish pie (spicy, hot crawfish pot pie) and filé gumbo (spicy stew). All typical of Creole/Cajun cuisine influenced by French, Spanish and African cultures popular in Louisiana.

"Ma cher amio" is a Cajun French term for "my good friend" or "my girlfriend".

Homemade liquor or "moonshine", usually connected with Kentucky, West Virginia and North Carolina could also be found in the bayou of Louisiana. It was made illegally (not taxed) in a contraption known as a "still" and usually served in mason jars that typically were used to store homemade preserves.

"Thibodeaux" and "Fontaineaux" are simply the plural forms of the common Cajun surnames Thibodeau and Fontaineau from their original Acadian roots. A local quip says there are 800,000 Cajuns in Louisiana and five last names, which easily explains all of Yvonne's "kinfolk"!

And, of course, to go "hog wild" means to do something in an excessive, enthusiastic manner lacking restraint.