Cajun continues to be classic country

It was 51 years ago in July that the Louisiana Hayride show discontinued its live weekly radio program. During its 12-years on the air, the “Cradle of the Stars,” as it was known in the country music business, became a birthplace of many legends of the 1950s and 1960s. They were performers who only hoped to make their lives better than what they had experienced up until that time.

Broadcast from the Shreveport Municipal Auditorium, the careers of individuals such as Johnny Cash, Kitty Wells and Elvis Presley were launched.

Among many southern performers that passed through the Louisiana Hayride, a healthy number went on to star on the larger Grand Ole Opry, the world’s longest running radio program, out of Nashville, Tenn.

Along with the likes of Ernest Tubbs, Webb Pierce and Hank Williams was a teenage singer who brought to the party a unique Cajun influence that impacted not only his style but that of other performers as well. That young man was Lafourche Parish native Ervin J. “Vin” Bruce.

Born on the Bayou

From their comfortably modest home in Cut Off, Bruce, 79, and his wife of 60 years, Mrs. Aline, welcomed afternoon guests with coffee, cinnamon rolls, conversation filled with their native south Louisiana dialect, a characteristic that is absent when Bruce sings, and a song to cap off the visit.

Bruce was born the youngest of 10 children to a family that lived off the land and bayous of southern Louisiana. His father was a muskrat trapper and alligator hunter. On occasions when relaxation was in store, Levy Bruce played the fiddle and encouraged his youngest boy to appreciate music.

“My dad was a fiddle player,” Bruce said. “My two brothers was guitar players, but I could do better than them. We had an old battery radio with the wire to the roof and that was your antenna. We listened to the Grand Ole Opry on Saturday nights. My dad would say, ‘One day maybe… .'” Bruce paused and his eyes swelled with tears as he recalled his father’s words. “I could cry,” Bruce said. “He said, ‘Maybe one day you can be there if you keep on singing.”

Bruce’s lack of interest in formal education prompted him to drop out of school in the eighth grade. He went to trapping and playing music in local bars and dance halls to help support the family. At the age of 14, he had earned enough money to purchase a 1938 Ford. “I’m only saying this because sometimes I like to discuss my past. We were so poor and it is time somebody knows what we’ve been through. What we were able to do,” he said.

“My family has been here from way back, but nobody kept records,” Bruce said. “Bruce? That doesn’t sound French, but it is.” He speculated that the family moniker might be the result of a shortened name of which the sound Bruce was a part.

Emerging Career

Johnny Schouest was related to Bruce by marriage and owned an area drive-in. Schouest was a man that recognized talent and had the personality to make the right dream a reality. He became a catalyst in expanding the young musician’s career.

“Johnny says one day, ‘They got Ernest Tubb coming to the municipal auditorium. I’m going to bring you. I know you want to meet him.'”

True to his word, Schouest took Bruce to see the country legend and bought a front row seat for the Cajun musician. “He says, ‘sit down.’ He went back there and met Ernest Tubb and said, ‘There’s a little boy here that,’ he probably lied to him and said I was crippled or something, you know. He said, ‘He wants to meet you.'”

Bruce received an immediate backstage invitation to meet Tubb, who at the time, Bruce points out, was a bigger star than Hank Williams.

“My first words talking to Ernest Tubb was, I said, ‘I sing like you,'” Bruce said. “He bent down and he said, ‘Son, look at me. There’s only one Ernest Tubb.’ He said, ‘You sing like you.’ I’ll never forget that. Ernest Tubb was my hero.”

As was tradition in the old days of country music, Tubb invited young Vin Bruce to perform with him. The teenager became an instant hit among listeners as well as established musicians. Years later, Bruce’s first appearance on the Grand Ole Opry was also with Tubb.

“Let me tell you a little secret,” Bruce said of his initial paid performance on the Louisiana Hayride. “The first time I went on, Webb Pierce was the hottest artist they had. We got in and the curtain was about this high [Bruce holds his hands about 2 feet apart] above the stage. So, here I am. At that time, they called Vin Bruce on the stage. Everybody was hollering and clapping, you know. I didn’t know. I thought they were clapping for me. But Webb Pierce had just walked backstage. Webb Pierce had flashy clothes and boots with diamonds on. The people, they saw his boots and were clapping for him. I thought it was me. I wished I had owned his boots to walk around.”

Big Break

Bruce had plenty of applause and cheering fans of his own over the years. He performed with Dudley Bernard and the Southern Serenader’s Band and later Eugene Rodrigue and the Louisiana Troubadours Band between 1946 and 1950. Playing on a radio show out of New Orleans, Bruce learned from Schouest that an agent named Henry Hildebrand wanted to find him.

“We didn’t have a phone,” Bruce said. “So he called Johnny and says, ‘Who’s the boy singin’ on the radio?’ So Johnny told him who I was. From then, Henry Hildebrand contacted [Columbia Records representative] Don Law. Henry told him how good I was, so he took a chance.”

At the age of 17, equipped with a $250 top-of-the-line Martin guitar he financed, Bruce signed a contract with Columbia Records on Oct. 22, 1951, and was ready to appear on the Grand Ole Opry. “My streak of luck was goin’ just right,” he said.

It was on that same October day in Nashville, Tenn., that Bruce met 28-year-old Hank Williams and formed a relationship that would result in the boy from Lafourche Parish performing at both Williams’ public wedding ceremony to Billie Jean Jones Eshlimar in New Orleans on Oct. 18, 1952, and less than three months later, at Williams’ funeral on Jan. 4, 1953 in Montgomery, Ala. “Anyway, it kept on,” Bruce said.

During the early years of his career, Bruce recorded popular Cajun songs including “Dans La Louisiane,” “Fille de la Ville” and “Clair de la Lune.” He performed in both French and English and was a standout among country music artists of his generation with songs such as “Knockin’ on the Door,” “Sweet Love” and “I Tried.”

Changes and Accolades

Columbia did not renew Bruce’s contract in 1956 because the popularity of a new music genre called rock ‘n’ roll promised to be more profitable.

Bruce was quickly picked up by Swallow Records and continued recording with his band, The Acadians. His popularity remained strong with fans across the United States, Canada and in Europe. He made guest appearances with other performers and played at various shows and events on a regular basis into the 1980s.

Bruce was inducted into the Country Music Hall of Fame in 1986, the Belizaire Cajun Music Hall of Fame in 1988, the Official Cajun Music Hall of Fame in 1996 and was designated as a Louisiana Hall of Fame Living Legend in 1998.

Among his recordings are those on which he partnered with Chet Atkins, Grady Martin, Tommy Jackson, Harold and Owen Bradley and Shook Jackson.

Among the recognitions in which he takes the most pride is a permanent exhibit honoring him and his career that is displayed at the South Lafourche Parish Library. “They built me an exhibit, just for me, with my awards. They asked me if I would put some of my stuff here,” Bruce said as he and Mrs. Aline pointed out the corner with his name above an entrance and recalled memories. “Maybe some of these kids will learn from this,” he said.

Insights and Reflections

Bruce and Mrs. Aline met while he was working at a dance hall in Galliano. “We just saw each other, caught each others’ eyes, I guess, and got our attention,” she said. “We went out for 15 months together then we got married. And we’re together ever since.”

The Bruces raised five children in Lafourche Parish. They have five grandchildren, including a 3-year-old that likes to sing his PawPaw’s songs. “You should see that boy,” Bruce said. “He sings all the French songs.”

But Bruce fears the traditional southern country sound could become lost as the era of so-called new country morphs into more of a rock ‘n’ roll and pop style. “Today, they have writers that write the song for the artist and are pitching songs for you,” he said. “It’s not their own. It’s not the same.”

During the years, Bruce and his wife toured together when they could, and Mrs. Aline revealed, with a laugh, that they maintained a strong relationship by riding in separate motor homes. “Believe me, my wife is always the type that kept me going,” Bruce said. “I never did like to travel. My wife, she loves to travel. Oh my, and we got friends by traveling.”

Music has remained at the soul of Bruce’s life while he stays busy with additional interests. Among his activities, Bruce is a member of the Greater Lafourche Port Commission. It was prior to a commission meeting that he was approached by some of his local fans that suggested he again record traditional music of the region including swamp pop. “So I’m putting on the voice,” he said.

Bruce is currently completing a Cajun country and swamp pop CD with Cin-Key Studios, which is slated for release this month.

Influence Recognized

Although it has aged with time, Bruce’s voice and giving manner continues to impact others.

“Vin Bruce was a great influence in my music,” musician and Houma resident Waylon Thibodeaux said. “He inspired me to perform and bring our Cajun heritage to the people.”

As had been done for him decades earlier, it was during a performance of his own that Bruce invited then 14-year-old Thibodeaux to perform on his fiddle during a telethon at Alex Broussard’s Ranch in Lafayette.

“He saw that I was totally mesmerized by the music,” Thibodeaux said. “He also told me to never give it up, that music would bring me places. He was absolutely correct. Vin and I have formed a musical friendship for life. What a voice.”

“He never quit yet. He plays a lot of benefits,” Mrs. Aline said. “The only difference is he doesn’t go to dance halls anymore.”

Final Cut

“Without the little voice I got, I would never have been anywhere in my life,” Bruce said. “I traveled the world. Sometimes you have to realize you can’t live forever on this earth. So, I thank God for giving me all the opportunity to help make people happy. I was born poor. I ain’t no millionaire, but I’m rich. Thank God he took me in and said, ‘Maybe you’re going to be doing a little bit better.'”

Cajun continues to be classic country