Today is the last of our cocktail-and-conversation series with the Louisiana State Museum and it’s a doozy- a conversation with swamp-pop guitarist Gabriel Perrodin, better known as Guitar Gable. Today, Aug. 13 at 5:30 p.m at the Cabildo in New Orleans’ Jackson Square. Free drinks, Swamp Pop DJ and admission!

PonderosaStomp.com on Guitar Gable:

In the annals of bayou guitar slingers, few men can claim a pedigree as distinguished as that of Guitar Gable. Born Gabriel Perrodin, Gable’s echo-drenched six-string licks define the exotic Crowley studio sound that producer J.D. Miller perfected during the ‘50s. Picking his Telecaster with an advanced-yet edgy feel, and with the help of the amazing Clarence “Jockey” Etienne on drums, Gable came up with a string of Caribbean-laced instrumentals like Congo Mombo,” “Guitar Rhumbo” and—perhaps the rarest and greatest of all of them—“Gumbo Mambo,” that are as much a part of South Louisiana’s rock ‘n’ roll atmosphere as the songs of Fats Domino and Bobby Charles.

Guitar Gable and King Karl soon revolutionized the swamp pop lexicon with bluesy, heart-wrenching ballads such as “Irene,” “Life Problem” and “This Should Go On Forever”—ridden to the top of the charts in 1958 by Rod Bernard—as well as rockers like “Cool, Calm, Collected” and “Walking Through the Park.” While their material is most closely associated with Excello Records, Gable and Karl had some excellent releases during the ’60s on the La Louisianne label and its subsidiary, Tamm. The Kings broke up in 1968, but reformed in 1995. With Jockey Etienne still behind the drum kit, their inherently raw, visceral approach is as close to what this music sounded like when it was invented as anyone will ever hear live in the new millennium.

Guitar Gable, Congo Mombo