Double LP featuring Opaque Sky Blue and Opaque Red Vinyl
Double CD
Ira “Iry” LeJeune (1928-1955) is widely regarded as one of the greatest Cajun musicians to ever wield a button accordion. Overcoming a lifetime of near blindness, Iry LeJeune reinvented Cajun music through the 25 songs he recorded during his lifetime. In 1955, he died tragically young at the age of 26. Iry’s catalogue captured for posterity his mastery of rhythm, his virtuosity, and the palpable emotion at the heart of his performances.
Perhaps more significantly, he offered a window into the emotional core of the Cajun experience. Iry learned to translate the adversity, struggle, and trauma from his lived experience into musical catharsis. In short, his crying vocal style brought to Cajun music the same vulnerability and emotional depth that Hank Williams Sr. brought to country.
Scholars and music writers universally identify LeJeune as the person responsible for the post-World War II accordion revival in Cajun music. His lasting impact on Louisiana musical traditions came through the recordings he generated during his truncated career. Beginning in 1949, LeJeune expanded his influence on the Folk-Star, Goldband, and TNT labels through his collaboration with local record man Eddie Shuler. Iry’s recordings reinterpreted master Creole accordionist Amédé Ardoin’s repertoire. He reworked material by the father of country music, Jimmie Rodgers. LeJeune also penned his own songs about heartache.
Viens Me Chercher is the brainchild of Steve Weiss, Curator of the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill Library’s Southern Folklife Collection. Across 2020, Iry LeJeune became Steve’s soundtrack to COVIDian times. He combed through the original LeJeune masters housed in the SFC’s Goldband Collection. And, surprisingly, Steve discovered previously unheard master tapes, studio talk, and unreleased alternate takes. It is a treasure trove that brings the listener closer to the music. It provides a glimpse into the recording sessions. It also illuminates the ways in which LeJeune improvised each-and-every performance. That historic material is featured here publicly for the first time, 77 years after Iry’s debut recordings.
