When the band he formed in high school was paid in all the crawfish they could eat, Port Arthur’s Jivin’ Gene Bourgeois was already on the path toward swamp pop stardom.

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A few years earlier, Gene’s older brother had come home from a hunting trip with a guitar. Gene bought a how-to book, taught himself to play, and soon started a garage band called Gene and the Saints. His friends John Piggot joined on guitar and Butch Landry on drums; pianist Jimmy Fowler came soon after. The group played sock hops, high-school functions, and teen dances at the Beehive in Port Arthur—often compensated with little more than crawfish and applause.

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Gene and the Saints eventually evolved into Gene and the Jokers. During this period, Bourgeois had already written and was performing the songs that would become his two biggest hits: “Out With the Tide” and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do.” With no major label backing and limited resources, his early recordings were done on a shoestring—vocals tracked in whatever room provided usable acoustics, including makeshift spaces at local radio stations. The unique circumstances gave the records a raw, emotionally direct quality that suited his voice, and it was during this time he picked up the stage name “Jivin’ Gene.”

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“Going Out With the Tide” and “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” became regional hits, both released in 1959. “Breaking Up Is Hard to Do” went on to be recorded by numerous artists, including Cookie and the Cupcakes, Freddy Fender, and Jimmie Vaughan, securing its place as a Gulf Coast standard.

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During the 1970s, Bourgeois stepped away from the music scene to work on the Trans-Alaska Pipeline. For many years afterward he worked construction through Insulators Local No. 22 alongside his friend and fellow musician John Piggot. When Piggot encouraged him to play a few dances, Bourgeois returned to performing and later recorded an album aptly titled It’s Never Too Late.

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Jivin’ Gene continues to perform and can still be seen at venues around Southeast Texas and occasionally at Antone’s in Austin, carrying forward the swamp pop tradition he helped shape.