BATON ROUGE — The Falcons, a swamp-pop group from the Pointe Coupee area dating back to the '50s, were inducted into the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame Monday, joining the ranks of Mahalia Jackson, Louis Armstrong and Randy Newman.

The Falcon's surviving members accepted the honor with tears in their eyes. Leroy "Rocky" Jarreau, 76, and Donald "Duck" Miletello, 73, were there to accept on behalf of the members who have since died.

"I've never done any drugs in my life so this is probably the highest high I've ever felt in my life," Jarreau said. "Being with these guys, The Falcons, we became like brothers. It's just an amazing, amazing high. It's hard to explain."

Growing up on a farm with a first generation Italian-American father with roots in New Orleans radio, Milletello and a few of his older brothers started what would become The Falcons in 1956. The family group that started out playing beat-up instruments from school eventually landed their first paid gig at a wedding in 1957.

"When we left there, that (horn case) was plump full of change," Miletello said. "And we ain't looked back since."

The band then grew outside the Miletello clan to include a bassist, guitarists and horn players. It was around this time in 1962 that Jarreau joined the outfit as a pianist and saxophone player.

Newly christened The Falcons, named after the senior Miletello's love for the recently-released Ford Falcon, they went on to play backup for Dale & Grace, who later became the most recognized name in the R&B subgenre of swamp-pop.

It was during this time The Falcons crossed paths with other R&B icons of the time, playing some of the same venues as Elvis Presley, as well as Louisiana natives The Boogie Kings and Buddy Guy. Their music even crossed the Atlantic, Miletello said, with songs like "High School Ring" playing on radio stations in France and Germany.

Jarreau, Miletello and their bandmates' immortalization in the Louisiana Music Hall of Fame comes decades after the band stopped playing gigs together. By the '80s, some Falcons got jobs at the plants and some played together when they could.

Leaving The Falcons in 1967, Jarreau continued to play music on the road with Hank Williams Jr. and Merle Haggard across the country, even travelling to Saudi Arabia to perform before settling in North Carolina.

"I drove down here," Jarreau said. "I wasn't gonna miss this for all the money in the world."

After being inducted into this fraternity of Louisiana musicians, Jarreau said the band and its legacy are officially a part of Louisiana's history. The plan is to display the plaque at the Baton Rouge Metropolitan Airport or in the Old State Capital, he added.

"We've been doing this since we were very young," Miletello said. "And this right here, this is like the final piece of the puzzle of all the hard work and effort we put in."