Home Care In Lettsworth, LA

How do you define the blues? Carlos Santana, John Mayer, Kingfish and Gary Clark Jr. answer the question differently in a new documentary, but all agree that one of the genre’s foundations is fellow guitarist Buddy Guy.

The Rolling Stones. Eric Clapton. Stevie Ray Vaughan. All acknowledge Guy as the man who has most influenced their sound and how they play, and in PBS’ “American Masters — Buddy Guy: The Blues Chase the Blues Away,” which premieres at 9 tonight on PBS and the PBS video app, the 84-year-old blues master, Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductee and eight-time Grammy winner tells his story in his own words.

It’s a story that has been told before, so much so that Guy isn’t as interested in talking about his life as he is in trying to make sure that the blues and the musicians who helped define it are still talked about. That left other contemporary musicians like Mayer and Clark to add their input on how Guy, who spent his early years as a sharecropper in Lettsworth, La., became one of the most influential guitarists of all time.

In a phone interview, Guy talked about influencing the British Invasion, white versus black fans and the legacy of the blues.

What was it about your story that you wanted to get out there?

Well, the blues is ignored compared to what used to be. Your big radio stations don’t play blues any more. When I came to Chicago some 60 years ago, all your great blues players were living and playing. They would always tell me, “Try not to never let the blues die.” But I look around and yesterday is gone. Wonder where yesterday went. It’s really me and Bobby Rush as the only senior citizens playing. So whatever I can do with my days — I’ll be 85 years old on the 30th of this month — I’m still trying to keep the blues alive, man. It’s not easy when you’re by yourself.

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Somebody was interviewing me a few months ago and said, “I need to talk to somebody who knew you from way back when to get some information on you.” I said, “Well you need to go to the graveyard, then, ’cause everybody older than me is gone.”

July 26, 2021

You picked up a guitar very young. When did you think it could be something you’d make a career out of?

My dad gave this guy a couple of dollars and bought me a guitar with two strings on it. I must have been about 15 or 16. It wasn’t no future in it. I just wanted to do something that you couldn’t find nobody else doing. When you found a guitar player back in those days, they were sticking out like a sore thumb.

It wasn’t no future. When I first met Lightnin’ Slim, and even B.B. King told me when he first started, they wasn’t making any money. If you played music well enough in the ’20s and ’30s for those house parties and Saturday night fish fries, you got a couple of good glasses of wine. And if you played well enough and sang well enough, you got you a good-looking girlfriend.

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Even when you were in the blues-rich Chicago scene, you were driving a tow truck with your guitar in the back?

I was driving the tow truck in the daytime, getting off at 5 or 6, then I’d go in a dressing room, take a shower and go play a gig for $3 that night. I was making $2.11 an hour driving that truck. Just to make ends meet, ’cause I had three children.

All Black musicians … Didn’t nothing good happen to us until the British started playing the blues and exposing the blues to the white audience. And right now, wherever I play, my audience is 90% white. Don’t nobody Black come to hear the blues anymore. I was walking across the street with B.B. King maybe 15 or 20 years ago outside his club. This Black lady walked up and said, “These white people took the blues away from us,” and he said, “No, ma’am. Y’all just quit listening to it.”

Why do you think Black people haven’t continued to embrace the blues?

I wish I could answer that. If I knew, I would’ve answered that maybe 60 or 70 years ago. I think a lot of people don’t want to hear about what happened, or what’s happening. The lyrics tell you about something you did good or something you did bad. We always sang about everyday life.

What were you thinking when the Rolling Stones were watching you recording “My Time After While” during a session?

Muddy Waters had helped them bring their instruments upstairs to do an audition. I had never seen white men with hair that long and high-heeled boots. I wanted to curse. First thing I wanted to know was, “Who in the hell is this y’all bringing in on my session?”

How did you end up hooking up with the Yardbirds in England? Apparently those shows were pretty influential to future stars there.

First of all, I was booked to go to England. I said, “Well, I’ve never been out of the country” — I think I had been to Canada — “so this is my chance to go overseas.” I didn’t know those guys, and now they are some of my best friends. [Eric] Clapton. [Jeff] Beck. Jimmy Page. Keith [Richards]. I didn’t know they had heard of me, and now every time I see ‘em, they tell me about how they all slept in a van [to come see me play]. Then they got famous and came to the U.S. and was helping us out — Black Americans — by letting Americans know where they got their movement from. All four of ‘em said they didn’t know a Stratocaster could play blues until they saw me. Eric Clapton once told me that I was playing in the key of B-flat and threw the guitar in the air and caught it still playing B-flat as it was coming down. I don’t even remember that. I guess I was just at the right place at the right time.

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July 23, 2021

Who will carry on the blues?

The way the blues is being treated right now, that’s a good question. If you ain’t got satellite radio, you ain’t gonna hear it no more. Let me explain this: I got a son. He’s 40 now. He was in the house with me. DJs would put the speakers out during the Fourth of July and he would play Michael Jackson and Prince. Every time they would put my record on, he would snatch it off. I wouldn’t say nothing. When he turned 21, he went to a club and they were playing my record and he started crying. He said, “Oh, my God. I didn’t know you could do that.” And he’s been a blues player ever since.

Grammy award winning artist Jimmie Vaughan speaks about blues legend Buddy Guy, seated left, during a tribute to Guy, on Saturday in the Lettsworth north Pointe Coupee Parish.

One of the roadside markers honoring blues legend Buddy Guy sits in a crate during a recognition ceremony in the Town of Lettsworth, La.

Blues legend Buddy Guy, front center, is flanked by fans and supporters while viewing a marker showing a brief history of his recording success. The roadside marker pays tribute to him in the Town of Lettsworth in north Pointe Coupee Parish.

Family, fans and supporters gather under a tent to honor Blues legend Buddy Guy during the unveiling of a roadside marker paying tribute to him on Saturday in Lettsworth.

The roadside marker unveiled in December 2018 in Lettsworth, La., honoring blues legend Buddy Guy, is missing.

Henry Moreau,left, and Tony Feduccia prepare hog cracklins at the home of David Feduccia for fans and guest during the unveiling of a roadside marker paying tribute to Buddy Guy in Lettsworth, La.

Buddy Guy shares a laugh with Louisiana Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser on Saturday in Lettsworth during the unveiling of a roadside marker for the blues legend, along the Mississippi River.

Stacy Summers, from Wausau, Wisconsin, views the roadside marker honoring blues legend Buddy Guy.

Buddy Guy, left, poses in front of a roadside marker with artist Kenny Neal on Saturday Dec. 8, 2018.

Blues legend Buddy Guy, left, Quinn Sullivan, center, a young blues artist who he mentored, and Jimmie Vaughan pose for a picture during the unveiling of a roadside marker paying tribute to Guy on Saturday in Lettsworth.

LETTSWORTH — Blues star Buddy Guy thought performing at the White House was the pinnacle of his career. Saturday afternoon, at the unveiling of his Mississippi Blues Trail marker on La. 418 in Pointe Coupee Parish, he changed his mind.

“Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve been around the world,” Guy told an audience that included friends, family, musicians Jimmie Vaughan and Kenny Neal and state and local officials from Louisiana and Mississippi.

“And there are some things that make you feel like you’re on top of the world, including me playing in the White House,” he said. “I thought playing in the White House was my favorite thing, but I think coming home is the best.”

Guy acknowledged that the weather for his Mississippi Blues Trail marker unveiling ceremony wasn’t hospitable. Asked to address the crowd and “tell everyone the way it is,” Guy’s response drew a laugh.

“Maybe you shouldn’t tell me to tell you the way it is,” he said. “The way it is is wet and cold. But I want to thank everybody who had nerve enough to stand out in this kind of weather to honor this day.”

Despite the cold and light rain, the atmosphere at the ceremony was unmistakably warm.

“They got me out of Louisiana,” Guy said, “but you’ll never get the Louisiana out of me.”

Guy’s previous honors can fill a house: Seven Grammy Awards; 14 Grammy nominations; 37 Blues Music Awards; the National Medal of Arts; Grammy Lifetime Achievement Award; Billboard Music Awards’ Century Award; Kennedy Center Honors; and induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.

Guy’s newest honors — the Mississippi Blues Trail marker and naming of La. 418 in Lettsworth Buddy Guy Way — have special resonance for him. The marker is the 201st such installation and 16th outside of Mississippi.

A Friday press conference in Baton Rouge previewed Saturday’s event in Lettsworth.

“All the awards I got, there’s nothing more exciting than what you guys are giving me here,” the Chicago-based singer-guitarist said then.

“I want to thank all the wonderful people who are making this possible,” said Guy, 82. “My mother told me, ‘Those flowers, give them to me so I can smell them. I’m not going to smell them when they’re on the casket.’ When I found out they was going to give me something, I said, ‘Give it to me so I can see it. Don’t wait till I’m gone. I want to look at it.’”

Serendipitously, Guy received his latest Grammy nomination Friday morning. His nominated album, “The Blues is Alive and Well,” features guest appearances by three of his many well-known musician fans, Mick Jagger and Keith Richards of the Rolling Stones and Jeff Beck.

Guy is a blues hero admired by many stars, including Beck, the Rolling Stones, Eric Clapton, John Mayer and the late Jimi Hendrix and Stevie Ray Vaughan. One noted fan, Jimmie Vaughan, joined Guy at Friday’s press conference in Baton Rouge and on Saturday at the Mississippi Blues Trail marker unveiling in Lettsworth.

“I’m a guitar player from Texas and a big fan of Buddy Guy,” Vaughan said Friday as he sat beside Guy. “When I started trying to play, when I was 12 or 13, I discovered Buddy Guy. Pretty quick after that I wanted to be Buddy Guy. I had all of Buddy Guy’s records. Still do. I’m honored to be here to honor Buddy Guy, my favorite guitar player.”

Through the decades, Guy’s famous fans have often acknowledged their admiration for him and joined him on stage. Guy credits young British musicians of the 1960s, especially the Rolling Stones, with boosting his career and the careers of other African-American blues artists.

“Until the British come back here playing the blues, white people didn’t know who Little Walter (Jacobs) was,” he said. “And it opened the door for B.B. King, Ike and Tina Turner and everybody. It gave a big lift to the music. That’s when America found out who Muddy Waters, Howlin’ Wolf, T-Bone (Walker) and B.B. King were. Now you know.”

Guy grew up in a sharecropping family in Pointe Coupee. He recalled walking barefoot to elementary school so his one pair of shoes would last longer. He spent the little money he had playing the juke box at the one juke joint in Lettsworth.

“I dropped my last three nickels just to hear John Lee Hooker play ‘Boogie Chillen’ or Lightnin’ Hopkins or Muddy Waters,” he said. “Now you’ve got to be 21 to get into a juke joint. Back there at that juke joint, you could go in crawling before you learned to walk. If you wanted to hear some music, you could.”

Guy built his first musical instruments himself, using rubber bands and wire stripped from his mother’s window screen. He obtained a real guitar later, a gift from a friend of his father’s, when he was living with his sister, Annie Mae, in Baton Rouge.

In 1957, after working as a maintenance man at LSU, the 21-year-old Guy boarded a train in Hammond bound for Chicago. Many of the blues artists he admired were there.

“I was going there because they told me that the wages up North were a little higher than they were at LSU,” he said. “If I got a job at another college or university like this, I would make a little more money. But they forgot to tell me the cost of living was higher. So, I just got stuck in Chicago. And I learned how to play guitar, I guess, good enough for somebody to say, ‘You can probably make it.’ ”

His visits to the White House and the unveiling of a Mississippi Blues Trail marker in Lettsworth, Guy added, are among the greatest moments in his life.

“Because this is a dream come true,” he said. “I told the presidents, three of them, this is a long way, from picking cotton to picking the guitar in the White House.”

Asked if he’s considered “slowing down,” Guy responded: “What’s that? I was born on a farm. You don’t slow down on a farm. You know, I guess I’m blessed to be hanging here a little longer than some of my friends who are no longer with us. We used to talk about this. ‘Who stays here longer?’ ‘Who goes first?’ ‘Don’t let the blues die.’ I might feel like that (slowing down) in another year, but right now I feel like I should keep doing it.”

"And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain: for the former things are passed away." REVELATION 21:4-6. KJV VIOLA FRANCOIS JAMES was born on September 4, 1948, to the union of Mr. and Mrs. Willie ''Tig'' and Lettie "Kate" Francois of Lettsworth, Louisiana. Viola accepted Christ and was baptized at an early age, by the late Reverend Ed Henry at The Tree of Life Baptist Church in Lettsworth, Louisiana, where she served in the church as a soprano in the senior choir. VIOLA attended Batchelor High School in Batchelor, Louisiana. Her nick name was "Quiet Storm" because Viola always lived a very quiet and innocent life. She loved her family. She loved listening to gospel music. She was the epitome of a ''Virtuous Woman." She didn't like to gossip, and she wasn't a noisy person. When Viola was younger, she enjoyed painting, raking leaves during the fall, and manicuring the lawn. Her specialty was fried chicken, canned yams, and red beans & rice with corn bread. Her meals were off the chain and better than Popeye's chicken. The family couldn't wait until it was her day to cook for us. VIOLA later moved to New Orleans, Louisiana. She worked at Churches Chicken as a manager for 7 years. She worked at Siro Miro Hospital for over 9 years where she later met husband Cecil James of New Orleans Louisiana. They were together for 41 years and married for 17 years, and no children were born from this union. After Hurricane Katrina destroyed their home in 2005, they moved and made their home in Denham Springs, Louisiana. VIOLA leaves behind to cherish her memories: her loving husband Cecil James, of Denham Springs, Louisiana, eight siblings; Elizabeth (Clarence) Batiste of Simmesport, Louisiana, Willie Francois, Jr. of Lettsworth, Louisiana, Clementine (Samuel) Rushing of Elgin, Illinois, Elouise (Herbert) Davis of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Gwendolyn (Freddie) Selmon of New Orleans, Louisiana, Abbie Francois of Baton Rouge, Louisiana, Melissa (Kyle) McKenney of New Orleans Louisiana, Timothy (Mary) Francois of Baker, Louisiana; seven nieces, Olivia, Evelyn, Tamara, Temira, Angela, Kimberly and Arlene; two great-nieces, Kamoni and Ki'lyn, and a host other relatives and friends. She was preceded in death by her father, Willie Francois, Sr.; mother, Lettie Draper Francois; brother, Michael Francois; half-brother, Henry Francois; maternal grandparents, the Drapers; paternal grandparents, the Francois' and uncles, cousins, and friends. We loved her and hated to see her go

The Old River Lock in Lettsworth, LA, which is maintained and operated by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers, New Orleans District, re-opened to navigation Nov. 6, 2022.

The lock was dewatered and shut down Aug. 30 of this year, and it was scheduled to be closed to navigation for up to 75 days so maintenance and repairs could be performed to various components.

“[The maintenance and repairs are conducted] to make sure you don’t have any issues so the lock stays operational for navigation,” said Russell Beauvais, Old River Lock operations manager. “This is the northern-most point that shallow-draft navigation can get from the Mississippi River to the Atchafalaya and Black Rivers.”

Workers inspected the lock structure and repaired expansion joints throughout the chamber and valve tunnel system, said Kayla LeBlanc, assistant operations manager, Old River Lock.

Additionally, two new miter gates were installed on the Mississippi River end, and miter gate operating components were either refurbished or replaced. Each miter gate, which allows water-going vessels access to the lock, is 43 feet wide by 78 feet tall and weighs approximately 200 tons. The USACE Rock Island District’s floating crane, named the “Quad Cities,” removed the old gates and installed the new ones. Workers also installed new ladders and staff gages within the lock chamber.

The lock was originally scheduled to re-open to navigation Nov. 12, but since work on the chamber was completed early, this allowed to Army Corps to open the lock nearly a week ahead of schedule.

“The earlier date is attributed to hired labor’s hard work, dedication, and efficiency in combination with long periods of good, dry weather. Plus, no hurricanes in our district,” said LeBlanc.

Army Corps locks typically undergo partial dewaterings every 10 to 15 years to perform inspections, maintenance and repairs as necessary. The Old River Lock was partially dewatered in 2008 to replace the two miter gates on the Atchafalaya River side, and again in 2010 to replace the two miter gates on the Mississippi River side. The miter gates that were installed on Mississippi River side in 2010 were removed this year to be refurbished for spares and/or use in future maintenance dewaterings.

Leblanc said the last full dewatering of the Old River Lock was performed in 1978 to inspect its components and make repairs to the lock chamber. She also noted that the total cost of the maintenance and repairs during the lock dewatering this year is approximately $9 million.

The Old River Lock was constructed in 1963 and is located at Mississippi River mile 304 Above Head of Passes. The lock is a feature of the Mississippi River & Tributaries (MR&T) Old River Project and provides for the passage of navigation between the Mississippi, Red and Atchafalaya Rivers. The lock chamber itself is 75 feet wide by 78 feet tall and 1,200 feet long.

Most of the traffic passing through the lock consists of petroleum, chemicals, agriculture, and aggregate products, and approximately 15 towboats push commercial barge traffic travel through the lock each day.

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Blues Artist Gets Grammy Nod Friday and Historic Marker Unveiling Saturday

LETTSWORTH - Buddy Guy, iconic blues musician and Louisiana native was nominated today for a Grammy on his latest album titled “The Blues is Alive and Well.” This marks a very special weekend for the 82-year-old Guy, who resides in Chicago, as he returns to Pointe Coupee to join his family as he is honored with a historic marker that will be placed in his hometown of Lettsworth along the Mississippi Blues Trail on Saturday afternoon.

On Saturday, officials in Pointe Coupee Parish will read a proclamation declaring “Buddy Guy Day” at the marker unveiling. Representative Major Thibaut passed Act 445 during the 2018 Regular Session that designates Louisiana Highway in Lettsworth as Buddy Guy Way. (Lettsworth of course is across the river from Simmesport, which just renamed a portion of its main highway for its native son Joe Simon who is also a nationally famous musician.)

Guy has made his mark in American Roots music for over six decades to millions of fans around the world. According to Eric Clapton, John Mayer and the late Stevie Ray Vaughan, Buddy Guy is the greatest blues guitarist of all time. This weekend, the Louisiana native lives out a lifelong dream when a historic marker will be placed along the Mississippi Blues Trail in his hometown of Lettsworth.

Guy’s eighteenth solo studio album, “The Blues is Alive and Well”, has earned high praise from critics and music fans alike as one of the best records released this year. The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame inductee (2005) collaborated with Jeff Beck, Keith Richards, and Mick Jagger on several tunes.

Lieutenant Governor Billy Nungesser said, “I can’t think of a better way to add to what is already a very special weekend for Buddy Guy. He is coming home to be with be with his family in Pointe Coupee Parish this weekend for “Buddy Guy Day” and to be named a “Louisiana Ambassador” and now he receives this Grammy nomination on the eve of that special day.”

Lt. Nungesser added, “And Buddy is not the only Louisiana artist being nominated for a Grammy today. I am so proud of Louisiana-native musicians like Lauren Daigle, Jon Batiste, Sean Ardoin; the list goes on and on. They represent what is great about our state and is one of the many ways how Louisiana feeds your soul to others around the world.”

Buddy Guy joins a group of other Louisiana musicians to be nominated including, Lafayette’s Lauren Daigle (Best Contemporary Christian Music Album and Best Contemporary Christian Music Song), New Orleans’ PJ Morton (Best R&B Album, Best R&B Performance and Best Traditional R&B Performance), Lake Charles’ Sean Ardoin (Best Regional Roots Music Album and Best American Roots Performance), New Orleans’ Mary Gauthier (Best Folk Album), New Orleans’ Cha Wa (Best Regional Roots Music Album), New Orleans' Jon Batiste (Best American Roots Performance), and Abbeville’s Koryn Hawthorne (Best Gospel Performance/Song). The 20-CD set “At The Louisiana Hayride Tonight” produced by German-based Bear Family Records was nominated for Best Historical Album.

Of note: In October, The Recording Academy and The Grammy Museum named saxophonist Mickey Smith Jr. as a semifinalist for the 2019 Music Educator Award. Smith is a teacher at Maplewood Middle School in Lake Charles.