Cajun Country Legend Doug Kershaw to Perform at Paragon
Paragon management is pleased to announce that Cajun Country musician, Doug Kershaw, will be performing in the Mari Showroom on Saturday, June 29. Tickets are and on sale now. Louisiana native Doug Kershaw has been infatuated with Cajun country music for as long has he can remember. He did not speak a word of English until he was eight years old. At the tender age of five, he began to play the fiddle and later mastered the skill by the time he was eight years old. He was so musically inclined that he later taught himself to play a total of twenty eight instruments.
Before his solo career, Doug Kershaw and his brother Rusty quickly built a solid reputation for their high-energy performances of Cajun two-steps and country ballads. In 1955, they recorded their first single, “So Lovely, Baby.” Released on the Hickory label, the tune became a Top Five country hit in August 1955. Shortly afterward, they were invited to become cast members of the Louisiana Hayride, a popular radio show broadcast from Shreveport, LA. In 1957, they recorded a Top 40 country hit, “Love Me to Pieces.” They became members of the Grand Ole Opry the following year.
Kershaw had quick success locally and an appearance on The Johnny Cash Show in 1969 brought him to the attention of a larger national audience and eventually led to a contract with Warner Brothers/Seven Arts. By this time, Kershaw had already sold more than 18 million copies of the records that were recorded in the early ’60s with his brother. Hit single “Louisiana Man” had been a Top Ten country hit in 1961 and its follow-up, “Diggy Diggy Lo,” followed two months later. “Louisiana Man,” Kershaw’s autobiographical song, became an instant hit. It was written by Doug and Rusty during a three-year stint in the army.
After a short hiatus, in 1981, Kershaw rebounded with his biggest selling hit, “Hello Woman,” which reached the country music Top 40. In 1988, he recorded a duet, “Cajun Baby,” with Hank Williams, Jr. that became a Top 50 country hit. Kershaw released a French-language album, “Two Step Fever” in 1999. A year later, “Hot Diggity Doug” was released in mid-2000. In 2009, Doug was inducted into The Louisiana Music Hall of Fame.