Robin, Moïse

Moïse Robin is an accordion player born in Arnaudville, La. in 1911. When he was just 17 he first recorded with Leo Soileau at a session on July 13, 1929, which yielded two singles for the Paramount label, "Ma Chere Tit Fille/Easy Rider Blues" and "La Valse De Rue De Canal/Ma Mauvais Fille". The session is perhaps most notable because this was the first time "Easy Rider Blues" had ever been committed to wax. Robin would record with Soileau again, first at a Victor session held in Memphis on September 18, 1929. That Memphis session yielded the singles "Penitentiary Waltz/Je Veux Marrier" and "Valse de Josephine/Grosse Mama". The third and final time would see them record for Vocalion, in New Orleans on October 2, 1929. The singles cut were "La Valse à Moreau/Demain C'est Pas Dimanche" and "La Valse Du Pecaniere/Le Blues De Negre' Francais". In the meantime, Robin was married and decided to drop out of the music business for the time being. Not much is known about the course of Robin's life from this point on. One account has him murdering his wife and serving time for his crime in Angola. Another has him writing "bizarre" religious materials. It has been stated, though, that Robin indeed did write two books in his lifetime, but the names of these books have never been mentioned. Robin would re-surface, finally, around 1960 when he cut a single for Eddie Shuler's Lake Charles-based, Goldband Records subsidary, Jador, entitled "Tickle Me Again/Don't Touch". It sank without a trace and Moïse Robin slipped back into the ether. Towards the end of the life of Moïse Robin, Frenchman Gérard Dôle came to visit him and recorded an album in his home, which would eventually be released on the DOM label of France. Moïse Robin died in Opelousas, on April 26, 2000. He is buried in the St. Francis Regis Catholic Church mausoleum.