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Artist
Doug Kershaw
12+ albums
cajuncountryamericanalouisianadoug kershaw
about
Doug Kershaw (born January 24, 1936) is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1949, Kershaw has recorded fifteen albums and charted on the Hot Country Songs charts. Born Douglas James Kershaw in Cameron Parish in far southwestern Louisiana, Kershaw did not learn English until the age of eight. By that time, he had mastered the fiddle, which he played from the age of five, and was on his way to teaching himself to play 28 instruments. His first gig was at a local bar, the Bucket of Blood, where he was accompanied by his mother on guitar. Kershaw became interested in Cajun music during parties his parents would host on the family's houseboat in Louisiana, where he first heard Cajun bands playing the music. Doug grew up surrounded by Cajun fiddle and accordion music. After teaching his brother, Rusty (born Russell; February 2, 1938), to play guitar, he formed a band, the Continental Playboys, with Rusty and older brother Peewee (Nelson Kershaw) in 1948. With the departure of Peewee from the group, in the early '50s, Rusty & Doug continued to perform as a duo. In 1955, when Kershaw was nineteen, he and Rusty performed on the Louisiana Hayride KWKH radio broadcast in Shreveport, Louisiana. The two were so popular that they were invited to perform at the WWVA Jamboree (later renamed Jamboree U.S.A.), in Wheeling, West Virginia. Although the brothers initially sang in French, J.D. Miller, owner of the Feature record label, persuaded them to
