Doug Kershaw

Doug Kershaw
Doug Kershaw playing the fiddle at the 2009 Festivals Acadiens et Créoles.
Background information
Birth name	Douglas James Kershaw
Born	(1936-01-24) January 24, 1936 (age 81) Tiel Ridge in Cameron Parish, Louisiana, US
Origin	United States
Genres	Cajun music, country, folk
Occupation(s)	Musician, songwriter
Instruments	Fiddle, Cajun accordion
Years active	1948–present
Website	Website

Douglas James "Doug" Kershaw (born January 24, 1936) is an American fiddle player, singer and songwriter from Louisiana. Active since 1948, Kershaw has recorded fifteen albums and charted on the Hot Country Songs charts.

Born in an unincorporated community called Tiel Ridge in Cameron Parish, Kershaw did not learn English until the age of eight. By that time, he had mastered the fiddle, which he played from the age of five, and was on his way to teaching himself to play 28 instruments. His first gig was at a local bar, the Bucket of Blood, where he was accompanied by his mother on guitar.

Kershaw became interested in Cajun music during parties his parents would host on the family's houseboat in Louisiana, where he first heard Cajun bands playing the music.

Doug grew up surrounded by Cajun fiddle and accordion music. After teaching his brother, Rusty, to play guitar, he formed a band, the Continental Playboys, with Rusty and older brother Nelson "Peewee" Kershaw in 1948. With the departure of Peewee from the group, in the early 1950s, Rusty & Doug continued to perform as a duo. In 1955, when Kershaw was nineteen, he and Rusty performed on the Louisiana Hayride KWKH radio broadcast in Shreveport, Louisiana. The two were so popular that they were invited to perform at the WWVA Jamboree (later renamed Jamboree U.S.A.), in Wheeling, West Virginia.

Although the brothers initially sang in French, J. D. "Jay" Miller, owner of the Feature Records label, persuaded them to incorporate songs in English into their repertoire. In 1955, Doug and Rusty recorded their first single, "So Lovely, Baby." Released on the Hickory label, the tune went to number 14 on the country music charts. Later that same year, Doug and Rusty were invited to become cast members of the Louisiana Hayride cast. The Kershaws appeared at the Grand Ole Opry in Nashville, Tennessee and became regular members of the Opry cast the following year.