Lamoureux, 95, lives dream of jamming with Duke Robillard

CUMBERLAND – The night of Monday, Feb. 6, Donna Lamoureux sat in the living room of her ex-sister-in-law, Diane Costa, watching her ex-father-in-law, Normand Lamoureux, tickling the guitar strings with nationally-renowned musician and Roomful of Blues’ co-founder Duke Robillard.

But first, if you’re wondering about all of that “ex stuff” and thinking, “Man, that’s weird!” you can stop. In this case, it isn’t. Donna still adores Normand, and she was moved beyond tears.

“As he played with Duke

Robillard, that feeling, you could tell it was once-in-alifetime for him,” she recalled of the jam session. “You could see his elation. I just can’t imagine what he was feeling. I was so happy for him.”

Fast forward to Saturday afternoon, and Normand Lamoureux – “just call me Norm like that show Cheers,” he says – described what he felt himself, jamming with his idol.

“Without question, it was a dream come true, playing with my hero,” grinned Lamoureux, who’s 95 going on 96 but doesn’t look it, act it or sound it. He’s as sharp as a tack, and so is his pick. “I never dreamed I would be playing with such a famous guitarist. I don’t know how long I’ve wanted this to happen, as I’ve been following Duke for well over 40 years, but it’s been at least since the mid-1970s.

“We’re sitting there playing, and I was thinking, ‘This is amazing!’” he added. “The Duke let me play whatever song I came up with; he made me feel so comfortable. He was so cordial and so nice; it was quite a night. Now I can cross this off my bucket list. Trust me, it’s been on it for a long, long time.”

It should be noted Donna and her ex-husband Norm are divorced, but she still considers herself part of the family. The reason: Her love for and devotion to the older Lamoureux. With help from Pawtucketer Herb Weiss, the Leon Mathieu Senior Center Assistant Director, Donna brought the two together.

“I contacted Duke five years ago, just before Norm turned 90, to talk to him about playing with Norm, and he got back to me,” Donna said. “He told me he couldn’t right away because he was having surgery. I called him back last year when Norm was about to turn 95 – that was last September – and he said he’d do it in January.

“Diane and I, the whole family, we were so pleased! But then we got another call from Duke, saying he had returned home from a trip to Sweden and he was having breathing issues,” she continued. “He said we’d have to postpone it again.”

Added Diane: “For years and years, all Dad has done is talk about Duke Robillard; he’s been a fan of his for as long as I can remember. Donna and I talked last October, and we had it all set up. It was going to happen in early January, but he returned from a trip to Sweden and he was having breathing issues, and he said it would be postponed for now. He did say it was going to happen.”

When Robillard and his wife walked in, he greeted his jam partner.

“He shook my hand, and I was in disbelief,” Lamoureux said. “I couldn’t believe it. All I could keep thinking was, ‘Why does a legend like him want to jam with me?’”

The elder Lamoureux credited his dad for his longtime dream becoming reality. If it wasn’t for Alcide Lamoureux, he may never have picked up a sixstring.

“I got my first guitar when I was 13; my father got a hold of it somehow and gave it to me,” Lamoureux said. “I was thrilled. I tried to play it, but I knew nothing about it. When I started playing, I fell in love with it. I will say Gene Autry was my favorite cowboy.”

As he aged, he tried to emulate new favorites, including Chet Atkins, Merle Travis and Roy Clark, the latter because “he had amazing abilities as a string plucker. He could play anything – guitar, banjo, violin, you-name-it,” he said.

After a stint in the U.S. Army at the tail end of World War II – his final rank was corporal within the Army of Occupation – he returned and worked at Lincoln’s old Maplehurst Dairy for 16 years. During that time, he met and fell in love with his wife, Jeanne Provencher; the couple spent 68 years together before her death on May 17, 2019, which broke his heart.

They had seven children together, including Joyce, Bob, Paul, Danny, Diane, Norm and Steve. They also have numerous grandchildren and great-grandchildren.’

Lamoureux, who grew up in Central Falls, later worked at Bliss Brothers Dairy in Attleboro for five years, then spent another 16 as a maintenance director at the old Apex department stores before retiring in 1992.

Not long after that retirement, the family found out its patriarch had been diagnosed with colon cancer, and his operation happened on Aug. 1, 1992. According to Lamoureux, they simply cut out the segment that had been cancer-infested, then went on chemotherapy shortly after that.

Approximately 12 years later, he needed a second surgery, as the scar tissue that had built up began to strangle another part of the colon. Diane admitted her dad was quite sick, but in all that time, he never stopped following Robillard, a native Woonsocketer, or his bands.

According to Wikipedia, he started as Mike “Honey Bear” Robillard and worked for the Guild Guitar Co. before co-founding Roomful of Blues with Al Copley in 1967.

After more than a decade with Roomful, he became the guitarist for Robert Gordon, then a member of the Legendary Blues Band. He started the Duke Robillard Band in 1981, eventually adopting the name Duke Robillard & the Pleasure Kings; he toured with that group throughout the ‘80s and recorded for Rounder Records.

In 1990, he became a member of the Fabulous Thunderbirds, replacing Jimmy Vaughan.

All the while playing for assorted bands, he simultaneously pursued a solo career and recorded albums in other genres, including jazz and blues. He formed a duo with jazz guitarist Herb Ellis, then the swing trio named New Guitar Summit with Jay Geils and Gerry Beaudoin.

He even explored jump blues in “A Swingin’ Session with Duke Robillard, returned to his R&B roots with “Stomp! The Blues Tonight” and covered blues songs from the 1940s-50s in “Low Down and Tore Up.”

Briefly, in 2013, he was the guitarist on legend Bob Dylan’s tour.

“I admit I was disappointed the second time Duke had to postpone, in January, because I was really gearing up to jam with him,” Lamoureux said. “In late January, Donna called me and was all excited. She said, ‘We’re on for Feb. 6! I told her, ‘Finally, let’s do it! I was thrilled.”

When asked why, Lamoureux didn’t hesitate.

“He’s a famed guitarist; I’ve been to see him at least three-four times at Chan’s, and I saw him at the Blackstone River Theatre a couple of times,” he said. “I remember one night, Duke asked everybody who was going to his concert to bring their guitars so we could play along during certain tunes. I thought that was fantastic!

“I remember the Duke once told my son, Norm – he used to live right near his drummer – he wanted to play with someone who was older and played longer than he had. He said he started playing at a young age, too. He certainly got his wish with me!

“I followed him all that time because, well, it was just his fantastic ability to play the guitar,” Lamoureux said. “He was a hometown boy from Woonsocket, now living in Pawtucket, and he never took lessons, either. I’m self-taught as well, so we have that in common.”

Prior to the premier event, Diane and her husband, Tony, Donna and others prepared Diane’s home – her father lives downstairs in an “in-law” apartment – for the gathering, and they did so in style: Plenty of wine and other beverages, crackers and cheese, more charcuterie and other snacks.

Naturally, Duke and Norm supplied the entertainment, starting with “I’m Confessin’” then moving on to others, such as “Ain’t Misbehavin,’” “If I had You,” “All of Me,” “Exactly Like You,” “All I Do is Dream of You” and plenty of others.

“They were all good, but my favorite was ‘I’m Confessin’” Diane said. “I started crying a little and the others did, too. As I watched them, I was thinking, ‘We didn’t think we’d have him here this long, and there he was, playing with Duke.”

Truth be told, Lamoureux has a bit of a following himself, as he plays in a senior group named the “Rhode Island Strummers,” led by dear friend Georgina Hepburn. They play every

Friday at the Lincoln Senior Center, but they also play area nursing homes and other senior centers.

“She comes here every Monday afternoon with her ukulele and mandolin to play with my dad, and they practice the songs they’re going to play at the following Friday’s gigs in Lincoln,” Diane said.

That’s when Lamoureux himself picked up the story.

“On Wednesdays, I also have a couple of ladies who play with the Strummers come over to sing and play music,” he said. “They like it when I accompany them on the guitar. And, on Thursdays, I have a couple of guys come over and show them some of my tricks. I even give some lessons.”

Ask him, at his age, what the most memorable moment of his life was, and he immediately says, “Playing with Duke ranks first in my life.”

It didn’t take long for him to rescind that statement.

“Nope, maybe not. Getting married to my beautiful wife and raising seven children with her was.”

He hesitated again, then responded, “But Duke is right behind.”