Carol Fran: Tous Les Jours C'est Pas La Même,
Every Day Is Not The Same
Carol Fran has been performing as a vocalist and piano player for 70 years. Her career has taken her around the world and back. This film is about persistence beating resistance every time. Carol left home at age 15 to support her family and to follow her passion. She developed thick skin learning about the music business during the 1950s and ’60s as a black female artist.
In this film, Carol recalls through tears and laughter, her early successes, as well as the trials and tribulations she endured as a young, African-American woman trying to get ahead in the music industry, including her run-in with Elvis Presley. Through re-enactments, photos and interviews with fellow musicians like Lazy Lester, Guitar Gable, Warren Storm and Irma Thomas, among others, we get a glimpse into Carol Fran’s phenomenal music career. Her story is about big breaks and heartaches, proving that “Tous Les Jours C’est Pas La Meme,” Every Day Is Not The Same.
FILM CONTRIBUTORS
"When I started making this film, many of Carol’s collaborators were still living and agreed to be interviewed. Unfortunately, most of them have passed away since, but their recollections of playing and recording music with Carol have been captured here."
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- Becky Schexnayder, Director/Filmmaker
Lazy Lester (1933-2018)
Lazy Lester was a blues singer, harmonica and guitar player whose career spanned from the 1950s to 2018. He first recorded at J.D. Miller’s in 1957 with Lighten Slim. He also played percussion on most of Carol’s recordings in that studio. Carol and Lazy were brought together again in the early 2000s for several house parties and Excello Reunion shows in Louisiana produced by Coulée Productions.
Jockey Etienne (1933-2015)
Jockey Etienne was a drummer for Guitar Gable’s Musical Kings during the 1950s and a J.D. Miller studio session drummer and percussionist. He brought Carol to J.D. Miller's studio to record her first single, “Emmitt Lee,” in which he and Lazy played the cardboard box. He often played the rhumba beat behind her and other Swamp Blues artists in that studio. Jockey later played drums backing Carol on many live shows, and joined the Excello Reunion show tour in later years.
Guitar Gable (1937-2017)
Guitar Gable was front man and guitarist with his band the Musical Kings. He also played guitar on Carol’s “Emmitt Lee” Excello recording.
Warren Storm (1937- )
Warren Storm is a Swamp Pop and Swamp Blues drummer and vocalist. He started out as a session drummer in J.D. Miller’s studio in 1957, backing Carol on her Excello recordings. In 1958, he recorded his first record on the Excello label. He and Carol regularly played together in Lafayette during the 1970s. In the last 20 years, Warren played many house parties and did the Excello Reunion show with Carol.
Lil Buck Sinegal (1944-2019)
Lil Buck Sinegal was a legendary blues guitarist from Lafayette. He remembered first hearing Carol sing when he was 10 years old, peering into a window of a club two doors down from his house. Later as a teenager, he played guitar behind her at a local juke joint. For the last 20 years, up until his death in 2019, Lil Buck played guitar on many of her live gigs, including her monthly retirement home appearances for the last 10 years.
Irma Thomas (1941- )
Irma Thomas is a blues singer hailed as the “Soul Queen of New Orleans.” She and Carol first met in New Orleans at the famous Dew Drop Inn. Later, after an extensive tour in England, Irma lost her voice so Carol stepped in and fulfilled the remaining concerts in the United States, and they formed a close friendship.