I'm late with this, but New Orleans

Home of the Groove: Bobby Charles Must Be In A Good Place Now. . .

I was saddened to learn Thursday of the passing of Robert Charles Guidry, a/k/a Bobby Charles, without a doubt one of the great songwriters of American popular music. With no musical training, and unable, or unwilling, to play an instrument, he managed to write countless songs, lyrics and melodies that will endure. Some he sang and recorded himself, but many were done by others, including big name performers who knew a good tune when they heard one and had success with Bobby's. He started out with the rockin' "See You Later, Alligator", that he recorded in New Orleans in 1955, and got a short-lived contract with Chess Records out of it - they at first thought he was black! The song was covered by and hit big for Bill Haley and the Comets, eclipsing Bobby's, but giving him his first substantial royalty checks.version.

Then the million-selling Fats Domino began recording his material, including classics like "Walking To New Orleans" and "Before I Grow Too Old"; and Bobby's career path was set. Fats' delivery and piano playing combined with Guidry's simple, effective songcraft were the inspiration for the perennially popular Swamp Pop style of music (though it wasn't called that at the time) in South Louisiana. for over 50 years now, blues, R&B and rock acts have recorded his music, while Bobby did his best to keep a very low profile most of the time; but he would sporadically make some very good records himself, far from the music business mainstream, when the spirit moved him.

It's not my intent to do a lengthy retrospective of the man. You can read more about him in Keith Spera's (NoLa.com) obituaryand in his Allmusic biography. There is also a great fan site in Japan, that has close to a complete discography of his music. I just wanted to feature a few of his lesser known songs that I have on vinyl, done by himself and others, to give a taste of what he had going on, and as a remembrance...

There are some tunes there, including the New Orleans anthem Party Town, written and sung by Bobby. Amazon has clips at its Bobby Charles page.

New Orleans music mag Offbeat's news blog has the good stuff -- interview links and more (Bobby Charles Passed Away):

...here's Scott Jordan's 1998 feature story on Charles, Geoffrey Himes' guide to Charles' writing, an interview Alex Rawls did with him in 2007, and a feature he wrote for Blurt after the release of 2008's Homemade Songs. Here's a review of Homemade Songs.

From his AP obit, "...Charles was known for his reclusiveness, Johnson added. The songwriter was a reluctant performer who for several decades had stayed largely out of the public eye." Which may be why you've never heard of him, even if you may have idly wondered once who "R. Guidry" was on your 45 record label.

Maybe the only live footage of him performing is with The Band in 1976, below.