Doug Kershaw

 

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Doug Kershaw - Douglas James "Doug" Kershaw (January 24, 1936- ) Known as the Ragin’ Cajun, Kershaw won fame as king of Cajun fiddlers, taking the genre from his early days, raised in a musical family on a houseboat on a Louisiana Bayou, to international stages and television. Also well known as a singer and songwriter, his biggest hit song, the autobiographical “Louisiana Man” was the first song ever broadcast back to earth from the moon during the 1969 Apollo 12 Mission. Literally from the bayou to the moon, Kershaw has recorded fifteen albums and charted on the Hot Country Songs charts. He performed for years with his brother Rusty, and now Doug’s son Tyler plays drums in his band as well as manages his shows.

Starting at the age of 9, he has been captivating audiences with his live performances. In addition, he has had a prolific television career with his first network performance on the premier of the Johnny Cash Show with Bob Dylan. Other appearances include: Ed Sullivan; The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson; Mike Douglas; a regular on Music Country USA; Merv Griffin; Dinah Shore; Mary Tyler Moore Special; John Wayne Special; Midnight Special with Wolf-Man Jack; and a member of the Fiddlers Three with Itzhak Perlman and Jean-Luc Ponty. He wrote and recorded the title song for the movie Heavens Gates, the Mamou Twostep, and had acting roles in the movies Zechariah, Days of Heaven and Medicine Ball Caravan.

Even though he does not read or write music, he has composed thousands of songs, having recorded nearly 500 with labels such as Hickory Records, RCA, Columbia Records, Warner Brothers Records and Cleopatra Records. Songs such as Diggy, Diggy Lo, Cajun Joe, and Rita Put Your Black Shoes on are familiar tunes to Doug Kershaw fans, but none of his works reached the fame of his own story, “Louisiana Man.” In 1957 Kershaw became a regular member of the Grand Ole Opry. He was also a member of the Louisiana Hayride and the WWVA Jamboree in Wheeling WV.

Kershaw proudly celebrates his Cajun heritage worldwide, and with his infectious style of performing, he has made Cajun music as popular as many other forms of music. In 2009, he was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, and we are proud to honor Doug Kershaw as a 2016 Inductee into the National Fiddler Hall of Fame.