I played with Steve Riley back in the late '80s for some kind of event in Mamou. It may have been a Fireman's Ball, I can't think that far back. Our band had the gig and he came and we backed him up on a few numbers. Anyway, that video location is about 13-14 miles south of where I live.

My great-grandfather George Fontenot (ABT 1853-1935?) was said to be a really good fiddler. My grandmother, his daughter would acompany him on guitar. One year as they were going to play a Mardi Gras dance he picked a flower for my grandmother to wear in her hair. That old bush is still alive and the family still refers to it as the Mardi Gras bush. Grandmother passed almost one month to the day after I was born in 1961. I never heard her or greatgrandfather George play. But someday I hope in a better place to tune up with grandmother and listen to Greatgrandpa George pull a bow.

The bush is located just north of Bayou Chicot on the "old Fontenot place". I believe the family was there during the war and that Grandpa George's father Zepherin Fontenot herded cows there for the Confederate army. I can't confirm that but I believe he was in King's Special Battalion (Louisiana). Dr. Art Bergeron gave me that tip and sure seems to match family stories.

Back to Mamou... I avoid it like the plague on Mardi Gras day. But the old "Mardi Gras Song" is one of my favorite French tunes.