DENNIS MCGEE
- Program
- Subject
- Location
- Lat/Long
- Grant Recipient
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Legends & Lore®
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Arts & Culture, People
- 240 S C C Duson St, Eunice, LA 70535, USA
- 30.492923, -92.41507
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City of Eunice
DENNIS MCGEE
Inscription
DENNIS MCGEE1893-1989
AMONG FIRST TO RECORD CAJUN
MUSIC, BRIDGING OLD AND NEW
TUNES, STYLES, AND DANCES
INFLUENCING GENERATIONS.
CENTER FOR LOUISIANA STUDIES
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2021
Inscription Side B
DENNIS MCGEE1893-1989. UN DES PREMIERS
À ENREGISTRER LA MUSIQUE
CADIENNE. SON MÉLANGE DE
STYLES INFLUENCE ENCORE LES
ARTISTES DE NOS JOURS.
CENTER FOR LOUISIANA STUDIES
WILLIAM G. POMEROY FOUNDATION 2021
Dennis McGee was born on January 26, 1893 in Eunice, Louisiana. He was an influential 20th century fiddle player and one of the earliest recorded Cajun musicians.
McGee is widely regarded as one of the most important of all Cajun fiddle players. Modern Cajun music is largely defined by two song styles—waltzes in a 3/4 time signature and two-steps in 2/4 or 4/4 time—but McGee was a bridge to the broader range of rural Louisiana French music from the 19th century.
During his lifetime, he directly taught or indirectly influenced fully three generations of Cajun fiddlers in the complex and intense archaic style of playing what would come to be known as the “McGee style.”
McGee performed and recorded with Creole accordionists Amédé Ardoin and Angelas LeJeune, and with fiddlers Sady Courville and Ernest Frugé. Later in his life, McGee performed on the radio show ”Prairie Home Companion” and often appeared at festivals and on college campuses around the country well into his 90s.
McGee was 96 years old when he passed away on October 3, 1989 in Eunice, Louisiana.
