A pioneer of rockabilly music, he is best known within Louisiana for his songs based on politics, sports, and his love for his home state.
In 1954, Chevalier enlisted in the United States Marine Corps where he formed his first band, which appeared in 1957 on Jimmy Dean's national day-time television program on CBS.
On Halloween Night, 1959, Cannon electrified a partisan LSU crowd and stunned the Ole Miss Rebels with a fourth-quarter, 89-yard punt return to give the Tigers a 7–3 victory.
Chevalier attended the game with Governor Long and while he was not really a football fan, he witnessed the pandemonium of the Tiger Stadium crowd after the touchdown and wrote the song that night.
By 1967, Chevalier had returned to his native Alexandria and was operating a large nightclub on upper 3rd Street named "The Branding Iron".
In 1968 he closed the nightclub and announced his intentions to run for mayor of Alexandria, a campaign that was later won by John Snyder.
In 1968, Chevalier and his close friend Dub Guimbellot open a large night club in Forest Hill, Louisiana named Lake Shamarie.
Chevalier managed a number of political campaigns and operated a travel company named Super Country USA.