Background
Born March 10, 1938, in Rayne, Louisiana, Allan, a Cajun, grew up in a musical family, and at age six obtained his first guitar.
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Johnnie Allan
Edit ProfileCareer
By age thirteen he was playing with Walter Mouton and the Scott Playboys, a traditional Cajun music band. About two years later he switched to Lawrence Walker and the Wandering Aces, another traditional Cajun band. In 1956 he saw Elvis Presley perform live on the Louisiana Hayride music program, and shortly afterwards Allan began to play rock and roll music
In 1958 he left Walker to form the Krazy Kats, and in doing so helped to pioneer what became known as swamp popular music
That same year he recorded "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" for the Jin label of Ville Platte, Louisiana, and the song became a swamp popular classic. He later recorded for Mercury Records and the Viking label of Crowley, Louisiana, among others
He returned to the Jin label in the early 1970s and went on to record many notable swamp popular tunes, including his versions of Chuck Berry"s "Promised Land" and Merle Haggard"s "Somewhere on Skid Row."
He is author of two music-related books, Memories: A Pictorial History of South Louisiana Music (1988) and Born to Be a Loser (1992, with Bernice Larson Webb), a biography of swamp popular musician Jimmy Donley. A retired educator, he lives in Lafayette, Louisiana.
