10 Facts About Rod Bernard

Rod Bernard is generally considered one of the foremost musicians of this south Louisiana-east Texas idiom, along with such notables as Bobby Charles, Johnnie Allan, Tommy McLain, and Warren Storm.

Around age eight, Bernard obtained his first guitar and, around 1950, he began to perform with the Blue Room Gang, a Cajun-country troupe, sponsored by local Red Bird brand sweet potatoes.

In late 1959, Bernard signed with producer Bill Hall of Beaumont, Texas, who switched the artist to Mercury Records, which unwisely replaced Bernard's earthy swamp pop style with lush violin sections and female choruses.

Around 1962, Rod Bernard left Mercury for Bill Hall's own Hall-Way label in Beaumont, Texas.

Rod Bernard performed infrequently during the 1970s, but returned to his roots by releasing several country and western albums, including Country Lovin and Nightlights And Love Songs.

In June 2006, Rod Bernard re-recorded his spoken-word single "A Tear In The Lady's Eye", which he had originally written and recorded in 1968 as a pro-military response to anti-Vietnam War protestors.

At his own expense, Rod Bernard pressed a handful of CD singles containing the revision, which he distributed for airplay to select radio stations and programs, mainly in south Louisiana.

Many of Rod Bernard's songs have been reissued on compact disk, both in the US and abroad, and continue to receive much regional airplay.

Rod Bernard last performed in public in 2015 at the Ponderosa Stomp music festival in New Orleans.

Rod Bernard retired from his career as a radio advertising executive in January 2018.