Chansons de la Campagne by Ethel Mae Bourque

Chansons de la Campagne by Ethel Mae Bourque

Nouveau Electric Records is proud and excited to be releasing Chansons de la Campagne by the late Ethel Mae Bourque, a family friend, mentor and inspiration to the nascent Lost Bayou Ramblers’ founder Louis Michot.

Documented in 2003, these performances could have been recorded 100 years earlier. Ethel Mae original songs were born out of necessity and for her own amusement, and her versions of Louisiana French classics took on new life as she improvised lyrics to express her own personal joys and struggles. 70 years old when she recorded these performances, Bourque was a past master of self-sufficiency, hunting, raising poultry, and foraging for wild fruit in an isolated corner of Vermilion parish along the banks of the Bayou Vermilion. Not owning a television or radio, she sang an assorted repertoire of a cappella ballads around the house for entertainment.