How do you describe an accordion to someone who has never seen one?More difficult: How to paint a portrait of the fabled instrument, prominent in folk cultures from Mexico to Montenegro and bands from Paris, Texas to the City of Lights – for young people who can’t see at all?The esteemed Southern writer Flannery O’Connor [1925-1964] said of literature – metaphorically – that “for the almost-blind, you draw large and startling figures.”How startling an instrument is the accordion? It has 120 buttons to make it toot like a tugboat or bellow like a fog horn; piano keys for laying down chords and coaxing melodies and baffles that allow it to purr like a house cat or breathe like a dragon. All hanging from the player’s shoulders while laying on their chest.Master accordionist and Hammond B-3 organ player Lynn August, now 76 and blind since early childhood, explained it all for students last month at the Maryland School for the Blind on Taylor Avenue near Double Rock Park.“Blind people have an inner intelligence and these kids were fascinated by what I was telling them,” said August, a native and resident of Lafayette, Louisiana, land of Creoles, Cajuns and crawfish and the zydeco music capital of the world. “I guess the fact that I’m blind was a big consolation for them.“It’s my big obligation to open the path for other blind people,” particularly children, said August, who briefly attended the Louisiana State School for the Blind in Baton Rouge.Lynn August shows an accordian to student Ariah Cole Credit: Jennifer Bishop“They wanted to teach me to read,” said August, who left after a few years, earned his GED and went on to master braille and musical notation. “I wanted to play music.”The blues and soul vibes of the 1950s South captured August at a young age. The early R&B singer Carol Fran was a neighbor and at about the age of six he heard Guitar Slim – born Eddie Jones and famous for the 1954 hit “The Things I Used to Do” – at a church bazaar.When Lynn was just about five-years-old he entertained family and neighbors on hot summer nights in swampy Louisiana before the days of air conditioning. “My father would make a fire to smoke out all of the mosquitoes and I’d play harmonica and sing,” he said.Before long, the elder Mr. August traded one of his horses for a set of drums, Lynn’s instrument after the harmonica and a washtub he played in his uncle’s garage.“I’m sure you know by now that I am totally blind,” he told the students. “I was able to see large things until I was about five. I used to lie down in the backyard just looking at the sky. So, I know what blue is. I have a memory of it.”While music was the subject of the day, August’s most important lesson was possibility and self-determination.“Some people think that because you’re blind you can’t speak. And if you do speak, they don’t think you can speak intelligently,” he said. “So many blind people are told you can’t do this or that and wind up where they can’t.“My parents never ever told me that,” he said, noting his skills as a cabinet maker and a schedule of some 280 shows a year before recently slowing down. “When my sister was old enough to ride a two-wheel bike they bought me one too.”August was in Maryland for a series of shows that included an October 19th “Louisiana Roadhouse” extravaganza at the Cheverly American Legion Hall featuring Corey Arceneaux and the Zydeco Hot Peppers, former Chuck Berry pianist Daryl Davis, and Mark Wenner’s Blues Warriors.His School for the Blind performance was a more intimate affair, a fun and scholarly version of let the good times roll, laissez les bons temps rouler in the parlance of the Pelican State.Lynn August on stage at Maryland School for the Blind Credit: Jennifer BishopBefore his one-man show of blues, first-generation rock and roll and zydeco for about 120 students in the school’s Knefely Gymnasium, August spoke with a dozen teenagers near the stage at the front of the gym. Between him and the kids lay his white and sparkling gold Royal accordion – an “L” model designed for women – on a table.“It’s small but it has all 37 keys on the piano side, all 120 buttons on the left, it’s a full accordion but it’s lighter than my mother one, which weighs about 40 pounds,” he said. “An accordion might not look like much [of a burden] but you hold one for a full hour-and-a-half show and that’s a lot for a guy my age.”Standing near August was the school’s music teacher, Lynnie Hoffman. Last year she put together an “instrument petting zoo” for her pupils to touch and feel the difference between a trombone and a trumpet among other instruments. As form follows function, the shape of an instrument determines the sound it makes.Hoffman was unable to locate an accordion, once very popular in the old Italian, German and Polish neighborhoods of Baltimore and now making a comeback in the city’s Latino communities. In villages around the world, the instrument — the prototype of which dates to 1822 in Berlin – has never gone out of style.“I think everyone in Persian culture has a cousin who plays accordion,” said Neimah Djourabchi, a New Jersey-based actor who played Baltimore’s Center Stage in 2020. “Most Persian family gatherings end up with singing and dancing – the accordion is absolutely a mainstay.” Not only was an accordion within reach last month at the School for the Blind – founded in 1853 in Baltimore City and in its current home since 1907 – but one of the country’s premier players was there to make it talk.In the crowd was Antoine Sanfuentes, a Washington-area drummer. A photographer and former cable news journalist, Sanfuentes talked drumming with Lynn before the show. Early in his career, August was persuaded by Little Richard’s mentor Esquerita [Eskew Reeder, Jr. 1935-1986] to ditch the drums and “get out in front of the audience like Ray Charles.”“Lynn shares a common experience with these incredible kids. They’re on the same wavelength,” said Sanfuentes. “He shared deep experiences through the instrument.”Hoffman introduced the students one-by-one and August repeated the name of each with enthusiasm – “Olivia!” – while greeting them. They were then called to the table to run their hands over the accordion while he guided their hands over the important parts.Nearby, Lynn’s wife – Judy Burch August, also blind – sat with her guide dog, Treasure. After leaving Maryland the couple headed to Texas where Lynn recorded a track for an album celebrating the 50th anniversary of Antone’s, a fabled blues club in Austin. And then it was back to Lafayette, where in addition to gigs at schools and nightclubs he brings some squeeze-box joy to nursing homes.“I play all the old songs and speak French to them,” he said. “I try to cover my expenses but my real pay is watching a 90-year-old woman get up from her wheelchair, held up by aides while she dances.”And sometimes cries. “I said, ‘Ma’am, I didn’t come here to make you cry,’ and she said, ‘It’s not a sad cry, it’s a wonderful cry.'”Treasure, a guide dog, on stage with Lynn August’s accordian Credit: Jennifer BishopRafael Alvarez is a fan of zydeco accordion player Rosie Ledet, known for the song “Take Care of Your Dog.” He can be reached via [email protected]