For those familiar with Louisiana Cajun music, D.L. Menard’s name will surely ring a bell. D.L. is one of the most respected artist in French Louisiana today. His song, "La Port en Arriére" (The back door), has challenged "Jolie Blon" as the Cajun national anthem. In the eighteen years since "La Porte" was first recorded, it has sold over half a million copies.

Of his singing, D.L. says, "It came natural … people said I sang like Hank Williams, but it was just my way of singing."

D. L. has sung at festivals in Quebec and France and scores of Louisiana clubs. He has recorded for Louisiana and French labels as well as northern "fold" labels in the United States.

D.L. was born in 1932 in Erath where he resided with his wife, Louella. They had seven children, seventeen great grandchildren, and one great-grandchild. Louella’s kitchen was the Heartthrob of the hospitable Menard household, where one could sit for hours drinking fine Cajun dark roast coffee while rocking to and fro in comfortable homemade rocking chairs. The chairs are a product of the D.L. Menard chair factory, a rambling one-man shop located next door. D. L. is a master craftsman.