In Memoriam: Cajun accordion builder Clarence “Junior” Martin (1940 – 2026)
The great Cajun accordion builder Clarence “Junior” Martin has passed away at the age of 85.
Born in Cankton, Louisiana in 1940, Martin was adept at the careful and exacting woodwork needed to build the sturdy one-row diatonic button accordions beloved by both Cajun and Creole musicians in Southwest Louisiana. From his shop in Scott, he built the family business Martin Accordions that built some of the best accordions in the world, sometimes stained bright colors. His accordions were often emblazoned with either a distinctive crawfish design on the bellows or a crawfish under his name as a logo.
One-row accordions came to Louisiana in the mid 1800s, brought by Black performers tied to minstrelsy and German immigrants. The sturdy construction of these accordions (featuring multiple reeds per note) made them ideal for a rural environment and their brash, powerful sound muscled out the quieter fiddle traditions that had held sway since the late 1700s in Louisiana. Though technically simple instruments, modern Cajun accordions like Martins are handmade and built to exacting standards, often by woodworking specialists, and cost thousands of dollars. Martin also ran a home construction company, Martin & Sons Builders, and many accordion makers are cabinet makers and woodworkers first. Though these accordions were initially intended to play in only one key, Cajuns and Creoles fell in love with the one-row accordion, adapting it to multiple keys and the most modern sounds of hip-hop influenced Zydeco as easily to a sweaty Cajun dancehall. Martin knew these dancehalls well; though ironically he didn’t play the accordion at all, he was a revered pedal steel player. As a steel guitarist, Martin played with other greats of Cajun music like Jo-El Sonnier, Walter Mouton, Bruce Daigrepont, Lawrence Walker, Aldus Roger, Wayne Toups, Sheryl Cormier, and many more, over 50 bands in total according to the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame, which he was inducted into in 2011.
Since his passing, Cajun social media has been full of comments from folks from around the world who own his accordions, musicians who revered his instruments, and accordionists who were thankful that he’d work on their accordion even if he wasn’t the one who built it. Martin’s shop was always open for accordion repairs and he stayed close to the origins of Cajun accordion building which came about from accordionists learning to repair commercial boxes in the early 1900s.
Creole accordionist Corey Ledet, an accordion virtuoso across a number of different kinds of accordions, proudly owns a bright-red Martin one-row accordion that he bought 30 years ago at the start of his career as well as a brand-new Martin accordion (black with shimmering iridescent buttons) that he bought a month ago, one of the last accordions that Martin made. “He was the most down to earth humble person you will ever meet,” Ledet told Folk Alley. “From day one, [his accordions] have always been consistent, and still are the most consistent. Working with Martin and the Martin family they all have the best customer service, even that is consistent!” Cajun accordionist Kristi Guillory of the band Bonsoir Catin remembered Martin’s work building community in a Facebook post. “Mr. Junior Martin and his wife Patsy were so supportive when I first started playing music as a kid. We would play together often at these plugged in jams, him on steel guitar, dancehall style. Places like that are where I cut my teeth.” As Louisiana French Creole journalist Herman Fusilier put it in a Facebook post, “The sound of his Martin Accordions will continue for generations.”
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Folk Alley sends love and healing time to Clarence “Junior” Martin’s family and friends.
Keyun @ Martin Accordions in Louisiana 5/20/18
Joel Martin & The Family Band – Unplugged
