Amédé Ardoin, an accordionist born in 1898, was proud of his singing and always carried a lemon in his pocket to keep his voice strong, clear, and true. Among the first Louisiana Creole musicians to have a professional recording career, he recorded more than 30 songs in sessions from 1929 to 1934, representing only a small part of his repertoire. Dennis McGee, a fiddler born in 1893 and later named the Honorary Dean of Cajun Music at UL Lafayette in 1982, called Ardoin "une chanson vivante," or "a living song." Ardoin and McGee not only recorded together when others did not, but also played regularly together for Black and White dances despite the strict Jim Crow segregationist climate of the time. Together they mingled the deep multiracial roots of Louisiana French music and laid the foundation for what is now experienced as Cajun and Creole music. A racial assault later left Ardoin with a traumatic brain injury, and he died in the Central Louisiana Hospital in Pineville, Louisiana.