Louisiana’s Legends Say Goodbye to D.L. Menard
Story by Justin Morris
Photo By David Simpson
If you were to combine the wit, charm and personality of Justin Wilson and the Louisiana musical legacy of Ivy LeJeune, I think you would wind up with someone like D.L. Menard. While the Erath-born musician didn’t brandish an accordion or a Cajun fiddle, his guitar stylings became one of the two signature styles of the genre, and his 1962 song “La Porte En Arrière” (“The Back Door”) has become what is most likely the best-known and most iconic song in Cajun music.
His story begins like that of many young Louisianans of the 1930s, when he was growing up on the farms of Cajun country. Despite coming from the very area where Cajun music was born and reared, young D.L. didn’t actually start playing music until he was 17 and got his first guitar.
A chance meeting with Hank Williams, Sr., in 1951 only helped to fuel the fire that drove the young man to write and record music. The young Menard put out 10 full albums between 1974-2010; played over 30 countries; and netted Grammy nominations in 1993 (Le Trio Cadien — Best Traditional Folk Album) and 2010 (Happy Go Lucky — Best Zydeco or Cajun Album).
His biggest hit, known by most as “The Back Door,” was inspired by Williams’ “Honkey Tonk Blues.” “The Back Door” has been recorded by countless artists over the last five or six decades.
Sadly, D.L.’s story came to its end just a few short weeks ago. He was 85. While the kind and funny man is with us no more, his music and legacy will live on — not just in the hearts of those who loved his music, but also through those other musicians who are still carrying the torch that Mr. D.L. and others like him helped ignite so many years ago.
In what I hope and feel is a fitting tribute to one of Louisiana’s most beloved musical sons, I wanted to hear from some of those musicians who not only continue to bring Louisiana music to the world, but also knew, worked with and were inspired by the music and the life of D.L. Menard. I wanted to find out what the passing of the Louisiana musical icon means to them. I chose two of the biggest, best-known and most successful artists to take Louisiana’s music around the globe: Wayne Toups and Jo-El Sonnier.
Wayne Toups
Hardly a traditionalist when it comes to Cajun music, Wayne Toups has stylistically pushed the boundaries of Cajun music for his entire career, and it’s thanks to him that we now have the term “Zydecajun.” But Toups is hardly detached from his musical roots, and not only counts the friendship of D.L. as a treasure, but says that D.L.’s support of Toups’ nontraditional approach was one of the most meaningful sentiments he ever experienced.
Toups says: “I was fortunate to meet Mr. D.L. over 30 years ago. I knew one of his sons from around 1985, when Larry was playing with Atchafalaya, and many times over the years I got a chance to sit around and talk with him and … he was amazing. He was a jokester. His other son, Todd, is our pastor at our church! So we’re all kinda close knit with the family.
“A couple of years ago, I had a chance to sit down and talk with Mr. D.L. at the Crawfish Festival in Breaux Bridge. Of course (it was) another one of those conversations where he just made you laugh with his happy-go lucky-state of mind … it was an amazing feeling. Every time you were around him, you could sense his joy and how he felt about the music and the culture and his writing influence. You know, “The Back Door” is probably the most popular Cajun song ever recorded. (In the past), one might have said “Jolie Blon,” but “The Back Door” is just one of those songs that is recognizable to almost everybody.”
On D.L.’s opinion of Toups’ music:
“D.L. was impressed, and he kind of related this to me on several occasions. He was impressed by the way I approached a lot of those old songs with a new attitude. He didn’t mind people stretching a little bit to expand on the culture, and I think he enjoyed the stuff that I did. Of course, he elaborated that he didn’t like people going too crazy with the music.
“He viewed me as someone that respected the music and the culture, and (liked the fact) that I wanted to take small steps at a time, and not these drastic chord-changing arrangement efforts in those songs. We did a little bit at a time, and I did it at a time where everybody in Cajun (music) circles was saying that Cajun music was dying, our younger generation needs to be more involved.
“I came along and started doing what I’m doing now, and I think it was appreciated by him and a bunch of (others), but there are some of the old purists that think that I shouldn’t be doing what I’m doing. I think it was the right thing for me to do, and it still is the right thing to do, nowadays. So getting a blessing from Mr. D.L. has always been in my heart, and it’s made me feel really good.”
On Menard, the man behind the music:
“You know, he was as pure and humble a human being as you could ever meet. I mean very humble. He loved life; he loved the simplicity of the way he lived, and the way he sang his songs and played his songs. He loved that way, and he lived that way, and you can’t ask for anything better than someone who is true to themselves and continues to live with the passion that he did. We all want to be what Mr. D.L. was, to himself and the culture.
“This past year, he was at the Crawfish Festival. I mean, he was in a wheelchair, and he looked very frail. But he still had that happy-go-lucky attitude. You could hear it in his voice! He still had that fire, you know? It was a sad day in Cajun music, losing him and just losing Belton Richard, too, in June, I think. Sad days in Cajun culture, losing both those guys. I idolized them both. Everybody wanted to sing like Belton Richard, and everyone wanted to be as humble as Mr. D.L.
“But, you know, we move on, and we grasp their legacy, and try to be better by it, and there was nobody like Mr. D.L. Just nobody.”
Jo-El Sonnier
And Mr. Zydecajun isn’t the only internationally renowned Louisiana artist to have fond memories of Mr. D.L. In fact, the one and only King of Cajun, Jo-El Sonnier, harkens back to his earliest of days performing and says that it was at a very young age that he found himself sharing the stage at St. Martinville’s Jolly Roger Club with the one and only D.L. Menard.
“Man, I was only 13 years old. Can you believe that? D.L. and his band were already pretty established at that club, and the owners brought us in to play. This was after my album Tee Yeauxs Bleu, which we put out on Swallow Records in 1960, so I don’t know if The Back Door had even been recorded yet; that came out in 1962.
“Back then, it was rock and roll, son, but we only played strictly French music. But he was so nice, even to me as a very young man getting out there and starting what would become both of our legacies at that time.”
On Menard’s guitar style and place in Cajun music:
“He had this perfect style of rhythm, which is called a backstroke rhythm. He had the big ol’ Gibson J 200, and the way he stroked that rhythm was amazing. I mean, I was completely in awe of it. It was amazing watching the whole band play, but D.L. stuck out. He had to be the best rhythm player that we had in front of us. He had those choke chords mastered.
“And, you know, we all had our instruments back in those days. Rufus was known for the fiddle, I was the accordion, and D.L. was, I think, the biggest tribute to his instrument, the guitar. He was that guy, you know? He really was the Cajun Hank Williams.
“He touched a lot of people and inspired many artists out there. There was not a person you could talk to that could say anything bad about D.L. Menard. He was next to Will Rogers, man. Once you met him, that was it. You were hooked!
“That was the first time I met D.L. Menard, and the through the years, as they passé for me, I went on the road with RCA and Mercury. But then I came back to Louisiana and I got to see him after all those years. Even then we were both in the nominations for the Grammy’s, and it was wonderful to see him there. I was always touched by his wittiness, and just his being the character he was.
“But D.L. was one of us, man. He was definitely a great legacy that’s been given to us, and we should learn from his artistry. Those are great memories, and I treasure them, because I was there to see it firsthand, even all those years ago. He was the real deal, man.”
While I am certainly not a fraction of the musical authority that either of these great artists are, I’d thought about Mr. D.L. just a few months ago, myself, and I realized that even with my years in the local and regional music scene, I had never had the chance to meet or even see him perform much, so I had added “interview D.L. Menard” to my proverbial journalistic to-do list.
Sadly, that chance has passed. But getting to hear firsthand from these artists who played with him, were inspired and encouraged by him, and had the privilege of getting to know the kind, funny and talented man that was Mr. D.L. was wonderful.
There a few who could do such service to a place, a music and a culture with the grace, charm and sense of humor that this man did. The world of all things Cajun and Creole may stand at a loss today, but it is all the richer and more worthwhile having had D.L. Menard in it.
Repose en paix, monsieur. Thank you so much for passing our way.
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