Clifton Chenier, also from AG’s ancestral homeland of Opelousas, Louisiana. Her grandmother claims to have been acquainted with him, but that’s her story, and I’m not going to tell it.
What is it with Americans and the accordion anyway? In virtually every other kind of New World music south of the Rio Grande, they use some sort of accordion (norteña, cumbia, tango, gaucho music etc.) Any theories?
I think accordions are cool.
Reditus 
Prior to the Beatles, the accordion was very popular. However, it was heavily associated with the kind of “square” Borscht Belt world (think Lawrence Welk) that became out of date once rock became the normative musical form. Maybe if the accordion could have sustained its popularity if there had been more rock accordionists in the 1960s. I like the accordion, too. I play the accordion and have five of them. Though I don’t play them all at once, obviously.