Mary Lou Guidry
Celebrated female vocalist playing in the Balfa style.
Inducted on December 15, 2012
Born on December 6, 1946, Mary Lou Vincent Guidry is the daughter of Galvey Vincent, Sr. and Irene Verot Vincent. In 1965, she graduated from Northside High School in Lafayette, LA and in 1967, T. H. Harris Vocational Technical School in Practical Nursing. In 1966, she married “Nonc” Jules Guidry.
Guidry has worked as a housewife, practical nurse, certified ceramic artist, jewelry designer, and tour guide, but her main interest since childhood has been music: singing, playing the guitar and writing songs. Beginning in 1987, she performed on several records and with many well-known Cajun bands, including “Nonc” Jules & Lachez-Les Band, Cabassa & Triangle, La Bande de la Maison a Vermilionville, La Bande Passe Partout, etc.
In 1994, she recorded the vocals of the song La Grieve (The Robin) on the Cajun Heartland Album. In 1996, she was nominated as Best Female Vocalist of the Year by the Cajun French Music Association’s Le Cajun Music Awards Program. In 1996 to 2003, she played rhythm guitar and sang every weekday afternoon with the Vermilionville House Band and on many special occasions for special tour groups visiting that historical facility. She has appeared on many local, state and national networks, including Fox TV, QVC Shopping Network and LPB. In 2012, she was part of a program filmed by the Australian Today Show along with her husband “Nonc” Jules Guidry, D’Jalma Garnier and Burnel Moreau.
Guidry has performed Cajun music at Vermilionville Bayou Historic Attraction, Natchitoches Folk Life Festival, Mulates Restaurant, Enoch’s Restaurant, Waco Community College, Action Cadjiene Cajun Association, Grant Street Dance Hall, Acadian Village, Cloutierville Heritage Festival, Swamp Festival, National Waterways Convention, Prejean’s Restaurant, Chez Pastors Restaurant, Mudbugs, Jackson Brewery & Crystal Palace, the Cajun Queen Tour Boat, the Hilton, the Triangle Club, and the Louisiana Crawfish Convention.
Guidry learned the Rodney Balfa style of guitar playing and is a highly respected musician who has enjoyed music and has great respect for all musicians and the different styles of Cajun Music. On many occasions she has shared her Cajun culture & heritage by greeting locals and tourists as a tour guide. She teaches Cajun dance, ragdoll workshops, making Mardi Gras Masks and Cabochons, quilting, rosary making, jewelry making and heirloom hand sewing. She lives her Cajun traditions and customs through her work at Vermilionville.
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