Friday Fiddlesticks

Back in the old days, Cajun music was all acoustic.  There was no electricity for amplifiers, hell, there were no amplifiers at all.  Nor light bulbs.  Folks made music with what they had, and if you had a good fiddler in the community, maybe someone who could pick a guitar and a washtub, you had everything you needed to make music.

One way of making rhythm was the fiddlesticks. These willow wands, or knitting needles were used to provide a rhythm when drums weren't available and they provide a subtle counterpoint that some folks can't readily identify.  Below, we have one of the best cajun fiddlers, Dewey Balfa, playing a fiddle accompanied by a young musician on the sticks.



Hat tip to my boy.