Johnnie Allan

Born in Rayne, Louisiana, United States,[2] Allan, a Cajun, grew up in a musical family, and at age six obtained his first guitar. (His mother, the former Helen Falcon, was the goddaughter of Joseph Falcon and Cleoma Falcon, the first Cajun recording artists, and sometimes played rhythm guitar for their live performances.[3]) By age 13, Allan 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.[2] That same year he recorded "Lonely Days, Lonely Nights" for Jin Records of Ville Platte, Louisiana.[2] 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 pop tunes, including his versions of Chuck Berry's "Promised Land" and Merle Haggard's "Somewhere on Skid Row".[2]

A perennial favorite of swamp pop fans globally, Allan has performed in Europe many times.[2] 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 pop musician Jimmy Donley.

A retired educator, he lives in Lafayette, Louisiana.

• John Broven, South to Louisiana: Music of the Cajun Bayous (Gretna, Louisiana: Pelican Press, 1983). ISBN 978-0882896083
• Shane K. Bernard, Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues (Jackson: University Press of Mississippi, 1996). ISBN 978-0878058969