PART 4 YTN-And what was the most profitable of the 6, or 7, names that you recorded under over the years? JR-Uh...probably Johnny Rebel. But I made quite a bit of money off that gold record over there, '------------------'. YTN-Okay, and you wrote that song in French? JR-Yeah. YTN-So you can speak, and write, in French? JR-Yeah. Uh huh. I mean, I write phonetically, you know. I had French in high school, but it's not the same thing. I speak Cajun French. It's very different than Parisian French. YTN-And, you know, I noticed you have one song on the Flyright lp, "Honky Tonkin' With Lefty Frizzell"? Did you ever get a chance to perform with him? JR-No. Oh no. I was much younger than him. You know...J.D. was his first manager. But Lefty was so wild...I mean...you know, he drank a lot...raised a lot of Cain...J.D. had to cut him loose. He said he couldn't hang on to that guy. He was a headache. (Laughs loudly.) YTN-Is that right? So he didn't move on because he got so popular...J.D. had to cut him loose first. JR-Oh no. He was just hittin'. But he was wild as hell. YTN-So are there any other musicians in your family? Or is it just you? JR-Just me. Only one. YTN-And can you tell me who the musicians were on all the Rebel recordings? JR-We had a band in those days, caled PeeWee and the Countryboys. Now, that was PeeWee Whitewing, okay? At that time, we were the top band around here. But there was PeeWee Whitewing on steel guitar. Warren Storm played drums. Al Foreman played lead guitar. Uh...if I'm not mistaken...Rufus, or Alex Bertrand played bass. I believe...Rufus Thibodeaux...he was one of the staff musicians at that time too. YTN-So, were these studio musicians hired to play on all these recordings then? Happy Fats, Son of Miss., and your stuff, or...? JR- Well, this staff band I was telling you about...this was generally our band. The ones we played around with, you know. Except for the drummer...he was a fellow by the name of Alton Thibodeaux, but he didn't play, mostly, on the recording sessions...because Warren (Storm) was such a clean drummer, you know. A lot cleaner...a lot steadier, for your studio recordings. YTN-And of all the different names you recorded under, what body of work are you personally proudest of? JR-Uh...I would have to say the Rebel stuff, because a...you know,a...I don't know why. I can't really say why. I had a lot of good stuff under Johnny Blaine. But I never did really pursue anything, you know? YTN-Okay,and you never performed any of the Rebel stuff live? JR-One time! YTN-You did? JR-One time. In the city of Caplan...one night. It was out on...and I performed on the main street...and somebody asked me to play it, so we went to playin' it. YTN-And do you remember what you played? JR-Oh yeah. Lookin' For A Handout. Yeah. (Begins laughing at memory of the performance.) YTN-And was there a "mixed" crowd at the performance? How was it greeted? What was the response to it? Positive? Negative? SILENCE? JR-Well, as far as the whites...it was great. The blacks didn't care for it. But I've heard blacks listening to it before on the jukebox. When it came out, there was a black lounge on -------- ------- and --------- , called the Birdland Lounge....there was a red light, and I stopped, and damned if Lookin' For A Handout wasn't just a-wailin' away on the jukebox. Now I don't know if they was listening to it because they liked it, because they was cussin' it, or because they was fixing to throw something at it! But it was playin'! (Laughing loudly at memory.) Part 5