Joseph Goldman Thibodeaux, a talented carpenter and well respected Creole musician, passed away peacefully at his home in Opelousas on February 17, 2025, at the age of 92.
Joseph Goldman Thibodeaux, a talented carpenter and well respected Creole musician, passed away peacefully at his home in Opelousas on February 17, 2025, at the age of 92.
Goldman Thibodeaux began learning and playing Creole "la la" music at a very young age and was heavily influenced by his Creole grandparent Joseph "Bébé" Carrière, his uncle Éraste Carrière and the great Amede' Ardoin. He was the last living person in the Zydeco Nation to have seen and heard Amede' Ardoin perform live and his passion to play Creole music was inspired by occasionally carrying the accordion of Amede' Ardoin.
Mr. Goldman remembers, "waiting as an 8-year-old under a china ball tree, watching him (Amede Ardoin) come up the road on horseback, his accordion hanging beside him in a flour sack. He was coming for a Sunday afternoon house party, and for three hours he sat in a corner and played, making up songs on the spot. “Amédé...he could put the words in a way, the girl knew he was talking about her, the man knew he was talking about him, but he wouldn’t name anybody’s name.”
Goldman was a living legend and one of the last musicians to perform in the traditional French Creole “La La” style. He first began playing with his brother-in-law’s band at age 14, and in 1966 he began sitting in with the Lawtell Playboys along with Delton Broussard, Eraste Carrière, Calvin Carrière, and BeBe Carrière. He learned to play accordion in his 50’s, following a heart attack. Calvin Carrière(Goldman’s cousin) and Delton Broussard played with him often to help him learn. When Delton Broussard became ill, he passed the accordion position to Goldman Thiboeaux. Calvin Carrière and Goldman Thibodeaux played for several years before recording their first cd in 2001 titled ‘Les Miseres dans le Coeur’. Just before Calvin Carrière died in 2002, he asked Goldman Thibodeaux to take over the band and continue using the name “Lawtell Playboys”.
As lead accordionist for Goldman Thibodeaux & the Lawtell Playboys, he has carried on the old Creole "la la" music tradition by playing regularly at Festivals Acadiens et Creole, Vermilionville, the New Orleans Jazz Festival, the NSU Folk Festival, the Cane River Music Festival, the Creole Heritage Folk Life Center's Sharecroppers Day Festival in Opelousas, the Dewey Balfa Cajun and Creole Heritage Week, the Augusta Heritage Center in Elkins, West Virginia, the Original Southwest Louisiana Zydeco Festival, the Holy Ghost Creole Festival in Opelousas, St. Ann's Church Bazaar in Lawtell as well as a host of festivals and events local and nationwide. He participated in the Jazz Fest in New Orleans for an impressive 20 years and showcased his talents at the Tennessee Williams Festival, receiving a nomination for a Grammy at one point.
Goldman Thibodeaux has mentored many Zydeco Musicians like Guyland Ledet, Corey Leday and Cedric Watson. He received the Richard J. Catalon Sr. Creole Heritage Award in 2012. In 2014, he was presented the Louisiana Folk Life Heritage Award as part of the Louisiana Culture Awards by Lt. Governor Jay Dardenne. He has written and recorded over 35 Creole Waltzes and two-steps and recorded three CDs.
Goldman Thibodeaux is buried at St Ann Cemetery located at 979 U.S. Hwy 190 in Lawtell / Mallet, Louisiana.
