Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin

Alphonse "Bois Sec" Ardoin (November 16, 1915 – May 16, 2007) was a Creole accordionist who specialized in the Creole music called "la la music" or "la musique Creole" (closely related to Cajun music) and was influential in what became zydeco music.

Early life Ardoin was born in the unincorporated rural village of Duralde in Evangeline Parish, Louisiana, to Gustave and Mary Louise (Caesar) Ardoin. His father owned a guitar but was not a musician, nor was his mother. His father died of pneumonia when Alphonse was four years old. To earn money after Gustave's death, his mother took in laundry from white people and his older brother hired himself out to help support the family.

Ardoin earned his nickname meaning "dry wood" because he would always be the first to run in from the fields during a rainstorm. Through his teenage years, Bois Sec played triangle in Amédé's band at a club in Basile and at numerous house parties throughout the region.

In the early 1970s, Bois Sec formed the Ardoin Family Orchestra (sometimes also known as the Ardoin Brothers Band or the Ardoin Family Band) with three of his sons and Canray Fontenot. The popular band played at many folk festivals,

Personal life Bois Sec and his wife Marceline He was funeralized at St Anthony Catholic Church.

Selected discography La Musique Creole Allons Danser Les Blues De Bayou

Awards In 1986, Ardoin and Fontenot were both awarded National Heritage Fellowships by the National Endowment for the Arts, which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts.