The Moonshiner's Dance — A Progress Report

 

In 1927, a Minnesota dance band called Frank Cloutier and the Victoria Cafe Orchestra made a recording entitled "The Moonshiners Dance." This freaky recording was little-noticed until 1952, when Harry Smith included it on his influential Anthology of American Folk Music. But unlike almost all the other performers on this influential collection, nobody had ever bothered to look into the story behind Frank Cloutier and the Victoria Cafe.

Then, back in July, The Celestial Monochord published the first research ever made available about the story of "The Moonshiners Dance." It was the product of about 9 weeks of hard work.

In the subsequent 6 months, my research has continued, white-hot. In fact, I've been completely obsessed — a big reason for the low volume of entries here at the Monochord.

Since that entry in July, I've discovered two photos of Frank Cloutier, figured out the basic facts of his childhood, his life in Minnesota, the fate of his marriage and his children, and the circumstances of his death. The day after Thanksgiving, I drank beer in a bar he used to own and left flowers on his grave.

I've also seen many surprising revelations about the Victoria Cafe, its other entertainers, its owners and managers, and the jazz-age St. Paul dance band scene that gave rise to it. I've read about movie theater bombings, a suicide at a skating rink, the music of Whoopie John Wilfahrt, the draftees of the Black Hawk Division of WWI, and some Klu Klux Klan meetings held at the midpoint between Minneapolis and St Paul in 1925. I've driven over 2000 miles, spent a minimum of $1000, and clocked at least 500 hours of research time.

Perhaps the greatest revelation of all has been that of the existence of a second researcher looking into the life of Frank Cloutier. In early October, I was contacted by someone who, for several years, has been researching the life of Frank Cloutier in order to put a face, you might say, on "The Moonshiner's Dance." The few results this researcher has shown me (so far ... ) have been amazing, tantalizing, and helpful to my own work — which has the broader goal of understanding the total milieu of the recording.

Now, dear reader, here's the rub:

In a short time, this other researcher will unveil a mother lode of information to the general public. So far as I can tell, it's likely to be the most important event in the life of the Anthology since at least 1997, when it was reissued on CD. If you are a fellow devotee of the Anthology, I think you will be extremely pleased with the events of the coming months. I am pumped, psyched, and jazzed to help maximize the impact and reach of this project.

So, I've decided to keep pretty quiet about my research for a few more months ... but just a few. I find that every round of research I conduct results in startling new revelations, so the more work I do before I write, the better — right? Why not follow Bob Dylan's advice and know my song well before I start singing? As a bonus, I get to do a good deed for a project that (let's face it) will clearly be more important than my own, when all is said and done.

On the other hand, The Celestial Monochord remains a slow place for its readers. Like every other blogger on Earth, I vow to try harder in the near future.

Editor's Note: In January, I will write just a little bit about Frank Cloutier and the Victoria Cafe, mostly to "clear the decks" for this other project's release. I'll clean up some little gaffs I later uncovered in my July entry — not everything there was strictly correct. Plus, there were a few things I hadn't sorted out yet in July, and after having untangled them later, they're now just a little bit of an embarrassment to me. Once the other project blows over, I'll revisit how, when, and where to publish the stuff I have up my sleeve.

 

Comments

[Simon-Pierre]

Ok, but you're still my favorite!

[Mark Dougherty]

But is there a Moonshiner's Dance Part Two? I've often wondered. Part One certainly is the Anthology at its craziest.