Jo-El Sonnier, the singer and accordionist who revived Cajun music within popular culture with hit versions of Richard Thompson's Tear-Stained Letter and Slim Harpo's Rainin' in My Heart, and with appearances on recordings by Mark Knopfler and Elvis Costello, died on Jan. 13 after a performance in Llano, Texas. He was 77.
A two-stepping tour de force, Mr. Sonnier's version of Tear-Stained Letter reimagined Mr. Thompson's hurtling Anglo-Celtic original as a Cajun romp. Back then, country music was steel, fiddles, drums, and lead guitars, so it was a challenge to put the accordion up front, Mr. Sonnier said of the making of the single in a 2009 interview with the blog 88 Miles West.
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