Guitar Gable remembered for 'unique sound'

C.C. Adcock looks back at his time with Guitar Gable with fond memories. Adcock puts the St. Landry Parish guitar legend’s music on the same level as Van Halen, Freddie King and other legendary guitar slingers.

“He was a master guitarist who never stopped trying to build from the totally unique sound, style and tone he created on his early Excello instrumental smash ‘Congo Mombo,’” said Adcock, leader of the south Louisiana supergroup Lil Band O’ Gold. “That tune — with all its wonderfully jungly. echo-drenched rhythm and melody — stands alongside Link Wray's ‘Rumble,’ Freddie King's ‘Hideaway’ and Van Halen's ‘Eruption’ as one of the most recognizable guitar instrumentals of all time.

“Gable didn't just 'take a solo' on a song. He would meticulously compose and craft each note and phrasing to perfectly complement the piece — solos so concise and fitting, that they demand to this day to be played note for note in Gable's exact way in order to appropriately do justice to his parts and the song.”

Adcock is among the musicians, family and friends remembering Guitar Gable, who died Saturday at Opelousas General Health System. He was 79.

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A funeral will be held at 11 a.m. Friday at St. Charles Borromeo Church in Grand Coteau. Visitation begins at 8 a.m. Friday at the church. Williams Funeral Home of Opelousas is in charge of arrangements.

Born Gabriel Perrodin in 1937 in the Bellevue community near Opelousas, Guitar Gable became a legend in south Louisiana rhythm and blues, part of the gumbo of a native sound known as swamp pop.

Gable teamed with King Karl, aka the late Bernard Jolivette, to record the original version of “This Should Go On Forever.” Rod Bernard of Opelousas covered the song, which reached the top 20 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1958.

Gable also became known for the Caribbean-flavored instrumental, “Congo Mombo,” “Life Problem” and “Irene,” a ballad that’s been covered by numerous swamp pop and zydeco musicians.

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Historian Shane Bernard, who wrote about Gable in his book, “Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues,” credits the guitarist as an architect of a new south Louisiana sound in the 1950s.

“Like other swamp pop pioneers, Gabriel never intentionally set out to create a new sound,” said Bernard. “He just did it naturally, reflexively, mixing elements from Cajun, Creole, country and western, and rock 'n' roll, rhythm and blues to create what only came to be called 'swamp pop music,' decades later by music aficionados."

In 2002, Gable made headlines when he and attorney King Alexander successfully sued an impostor who was using the name in concerts and national promotions. A federal judge gave Gable (Perrodin) sole right to use the name.

In late years, Gable performed with Lil Bob and the Lollipops and was featured on the 2011 compilation album, “Slim Harpo Rocks.”