From The Dark End of the Street

Deep Soul Top 25

2009-12-18T10:31:00.021-06:00

A couple of months or so ago, this mailing list I subscribe to about Southern Soul challenged the members to come up with a top 25 Deep Soul cuts. It started out with a call for the one song that might define Deep Soul, and my first thought was (Little) Johnny Truitt's "Your Love Is Worth the Pain." A truly amazing performance that really just has to be heard to believe.

I should say that any discussion of Deep Soul begins with all the great work done by John Ridley, aka Sir Shambling, whose Deep Soul Heaven website is a mammoth and largely altruistic effort to share great rare 45s with the rest of the world. I personally owe hit a big thank you and haven't even gotten through even half the tunes on the site.

Without further ado, the radio show was the top 25, only in the order of what sounded natural.

Little Johnny Truitt; Your Love Is Worth the Pain; A-bet 9433

Kip Anderson; I Went Off and Cried; Excello 2303

Jimmy Braswell; I Can't Give You My Heart; King 6374

Doris Allen; A Shell of a Woman; Minaret 149

Arthur Conley; In the Same Old Way; Fame 1007

Carl Marshall; I Can't Live Without You; Double Hit 801

Thomas Bailey; Wish I Was Back; Federal 12567

Z. Z. Hill; (Home Just Ain't Home at) Suppertime; Atlantic 2659

James Carr; That's the Way Love Turned Out For Me; Goldwax 338

Ruby Johnson; Come to Me My Darling; Volt 140

Otis Redding; I Love You More Than Words Can Say; Volt 146

Otis Clay; Is It Over; Cotillion 44104
O. V. Wright; This Hurt Is Real; Backbeat 604

Bobby Boseman; Cheaters Never Win; Eve Jim 1941

Irma Thomas; Your Until Tomorrow; unissued (Down at Muscle Shoals; Chess)

Tony Ashley; We Must Have Love; Decca 32342

Candi Staton; Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man; I'm Just a Prisoner; Fame

Johnny Copeland; Let Me Cry; unissued? (At His Best)

Herman Hitson; You Are Too Much For the Human Heart (unsweetened version); Soul-Tay-Shus

Rudolph Taylor; Doorsteps to Sorrow; Roman 311

Touissant McCall; Nothing Takes the Place of You; Ronn 3

Joe Simon; Looking Back; Sound Stage 7 2622

Don Bryant; Is That Asking Too Much; Hi 2131

Laura Lee; Hang It Up; Chess 2062

Margie Hendrix; Do Right Baby; unissued (Southern Soul Sisters; SS7/Charley)

Department of Discography: I limited myself to one tune per artist, so it was difficult to chose just one song from the following artists. So if I were going to start anywhere with Deep Soul, I would choose these reissues:

O. V. Wright; The Soul of O. V. Wright; Fontana

James Carr; The Complete Goldwax Singles; Kent

Otis Clay; Hi Records; Hi

Irma Thomas; Down At Muscle Shoals; Chess/Charley

And of course, any Otis Redding compilation

Speaking of compilations, two of these songs (Jimmy Braswell and Thomas Bailey) come off a great Deep Soul compilation that tends towards the more obscure 45s: King's Serious Soul: Too Much Pain,

put together by John Ridley with the good folks at Kent. The tracks on the CD were not done (for the most part) in house at the label's home in Cincinnati, but rather leased from all over the great Southland. Furthermore, both the Johnny Truitt and Kip Anderson tunes are on the first volume of Excello soul cuts, entitled

The Heart of Southern Soul: From Nashville to Memphis and Muscle Shoals.

A few songs that I think of in the same breath that I left off the list since they are more precursors than fitting exactly into the genre:

Bobby "Blue" Bland; I'll Take Care of You; Two Steps from the Blues; Duke (that haunting organ!)

Sam Cooke; I Lost Everything; Night Beat; RCA

Percy Mayfield; Memory Pain; Tangerine 935

Earl King; Those Lonely, Lonely Nights; Ace

And there are omissions that I can't justify: Bettye LaVette ("Let Me Down Easy" or "Your Turn to Cry"), the late Earl Gaines ("Hymn #5"), Johnny Adams ("Sometimes a Man Will Shed a Few Tears Too"), Ella Washington (so many), Dan Penn (any version of "It Tears Me Up"), Willie Hightower ("You Used Me"), The Dells' "Stay in My Corner," and others. And the best thing about any list like this is that it's a moment in time. There's always more songs to discover (I just bought the Ollie Nightingale Memphis 45 with the very O. V. Wright-ish "Standing On Your Promise" that could've made the list).

I can't give enough credit though: if I was starting anywhere for obscure Deep Soul cuts, I would go to Sir Shambling's Deep Soul Heaven.

Sorry it's taken so long to update, but I've got some archived radio shows including tributes to the late greats Willie Mitchell and Bobby Charles, as well as a tribute to Eddie Hinton that coincided with the reissue of "Very Extremely Dangerous."

Little Bob and the Lollipop's "Nobody But You" b/w "I Got Loaded"

2009-03-22T11:32:00.001-05:00

While I put together the forever promised Spooner show, I figured I'd take a week and focus on one of those great two siders from Southwest Louisiana: Little Bob and the Lollipops with the sweet R&B ballad, "Nobody But You" b/w their hit stomper "I Got Loaded."

Little Bob, born Camille Bob in Arnaudville in 1937, was (and still is) one of the great R&B and Swamp Pop singers of Southwest Louisiana. As quoted by Herman Fuselier, Lafayette music journalist, Little Bob came to our ears the honest way after trading a horse for his first set of drums: "My thing was to make a dollar. Help my mother and father get off that farm, man. When you're a sharecropper, you don't make no money, working on half. About the time the crop come in, the white man had it all. I was tired of going in that field. Dew on your hands in the morning, bending your back digging potatoes and breaking corn, running from snakes. It was a lot easier playing music. In '55, I was making $85 a week playing music. That was big bucks back then."

After some time backing Good Rockin' Bob on drums, Little Bob decided to break out on his own. He wanted to name the band Lil' Bob and the Tigers, but on the advise of a club owner and tapping into the popularity of Cookie & the Cupcakes, he wanted something with a little more girl appeal: and Lil' Bob & the Lollipops was born. I wish bands could still have names like that today. The band got quite a following playing the fraternity and dancehall circuits in the gulf area.

In 1964, Little Bob & the Lollipops recorded for Carol Ranchou's La Louisianne label in Lafayette, pumping out 5 stellar tracks in July, including today's song: "Nobody But You" along with its B-Side, "I Got Loaded." "Nobody But You" was a minor hit (Top 40) nationally in 1959 for Chicago R&B singer Dee Clark. Although somewhat forgotten to history, Clark had a number of smaller hits in the hey day of R&B, culminating in 1961 No. 2 hit, "Raindrops." Clark's version of the song is very urbane R&B (you can listen to it here) complete with extraneous production (including a flute and almost constant backing singers) and his super smooth tenor with the occasional falsetto. There's no doubt it's a sweet, sweet song.

Little Bob & the Lollipops do a bit more with the tune, by doing less. The band is the straight R &B line-up, guitar, bass, drums, and horns--recorded with nothing else (most likely 'cause they couldn't afford any more). The interesting thing about this recording to me is that Little Bob's vocals sit right on the crossroad of the influences on Southern Soul: the material being the urban R&B with a hint of those doowop harmonies in the falsettos, mixed with a little Sam Cooke climbing those notes and a little Bobby "Blue" Bland in the phrasing.

It's also got a couple of the elements of Swamp Pop that I love. Little Bob starts with the money making falsetto hum, achieving that instant recoginition of a song that is so important to the great Swamp Pop tunes. And, although this is more of an accident than an intention, the sound of the singer going into the red on the modulator in those early recordings is endearing to me--there's that piece of compression when Little Bob gets loud that (for no good reason) I find compelling. And then there's the B-Side.

"I Got Loaded" is a great Southwest Louisiana party tune: relentlessly upbeat, repetitive enough in its structure to keep the dance going strong, and anthemic for that sing-a-long. Fellow blogger, Funky 16 Corners, captures that feeling by admitting how he can't help but sing in the car at the top of his lungs everytime this track hits him. I also like the bravado and simplicity of the tune: there's no narrative, no reason, no sad tales--it's just what happened and will happen. Dance to it or not. Don't think about it.

The tender, slow dance ballad on Side A, the stomper on Side B. Now that's what a 45 should be.

There's a bunch more to the story: Little Bob endured some very tough times being a black performer in the early 60s in the South, which is well told by Shane Bernard in his excellent book, Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues, and by Fuselier in the liner notes to the La Lousianne cd. But this story has a good ending, Little Bob still plays to this day and the La Louisanne record label still exists to this day.

Department of Discography:

That same label, La Louisanne has a great cd of 26 tracks recorded by Little Bob and the Lollipops recorded between 1963 and 1969. Check out their website here. The label seems to be run still in the family, as David Rachou is listed as the re-masterer of the tracks. It's got all those great Swamp Pop songs: blues, New Orleans soul (including one by Eddie Bo, who I just learned yesterday, sadly passed away), some originals that sound like crosses of Sam Cooke and Art Neville, and mid 60s soul cuts.

Lil' Bob also recorded for Goldband, Whit, Jin and others. Sir Shambling has posted some of those tracks here.

The great Southern Soul singer, Willie Hightower, who Barney Hoskyns described as "Sam Cooke after a night on the tiles," also recorded a stellar version of "Nobody But You" in 1968 for Capitol, which has been reissued by the London record store Honest Jon's in collaboration with Astralwerks on a self-titled cd.

"I Got Loaded" has been kicking around for a while in other forms, on a New Orleans (sic) party mix cd from Rhino, covered by Los Lobos (whose version was in Bull Durham), Elivis Costello and others.

Thanks for listening and reading. The set list:

Roy Hamilton; From the Dark End of the Street; Tore Up: The AGP Recordings (Shout!)

Little Bob & the Lollipops; Nobody But You; I Got Loaded (La Louisianne)
Arthur Alexander; Anna (Go To Him); Ultimate (Razor & Tie)
The Masqueradors; I Got It; Bell 733
Kelly Brothers; You're That Great Big Feelin'; Sims 265 (Heart of Southern Soul; Excello)
Little Willie John; Let's Rock While the Rockings Good; King 5142

Irv Le June, Jr.; One Scotch, One Bourbon, One Beer; The Greatest of the Greats; Goldband
Cleveland Crochet; Sugar Bee;
Ted Taylor; Don't Lie; Okeh 7154 (Shout!)
Bobby Powell; Who's Your Lover; Whit
Sleepy LaBeef; You're Humbuggin' Me; Electricity; Rounder

Joe Tex; Don't Let Your Right Hand Know; Dial 4006
Buddy & Julie Miller; The River's Gonna Run; Best of the High Tone Years
Carla Thomas; Baby I Like What You're Doing To Me; Stax 0024
Doug Sahm; She Put the Hurt on Me; Juke Box Music; Antone's
Doris Duke; Feet Start Walking; I'm a Loser; Canyon (Kent)

Johnnie Allan; Your Picture; Promised Land (Ace)
Mighty Sam McClain; Talk To Me; Amy 984 (Sundazed)
Bobby "Blue" Bland; You Got Me (Where You Want Me); I Pity the Fool; (Duke/MCA)
Barbara Lynn; There's Something on Your Mind; You'll Lose . . . Jamey Recordings

Arthur Conley; I'm Gonna Forget About You; Sweet Soul Music; Atco
Earl Gaines; Have Faith (In Me); I Pity the Fool;
The Raelettes; I'm Getting Along Allright; Tangerine
Larry Coney; More Time (To Explain); (Down & Out; Trikont)
Tommy McClain; I Can't Take It No More; Essential (Jin)
Johnny Cash; I Couldn't Keep From Crying; Now There Was a Song; Columbia

James Carr; Love Attack; Goldwax (Kent)
Bettye LaVette; What Condition My Condition Is In; (Dirty Laundry; Trikont)
Wilson Pickett; Stagger Lee; I'm In Love; Atlantic
Bobby Womack; Arkansas State Prison; My Prescription; Minit

Bobby Womack: "I'm Gonna Forget About You"

2009-01-30T10:36:00.025-06:00

A couple of weeks ago, The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame announced it's 2009 Inductees, and lo and behold, 3 Dark End of the Street Favorites are on the list: Bobby Womack, Wanda Jackson (as early influence), and Spooner Oldham (as sideman). So this week, we did a set of Womack songs, to be followed in the coming weeks by ones on the other two. The song that starts this week's show is Bobby's version of an unreleased (at the time) song by his mentor Sam Cooke, recorded at American Studios for his second solo record, My Prescription.

Over at his excellent B-Side blog, Red Kelly did a two part post of the early career of Bobby Womack, from his time singing gospel with his brothers as the Womack Brothers, to his early secular forays under the tutelage of Sam Cooke as the Valentinos, through his time as a studio musician in Memphis and association with Wilson Pickett, up to his first couple of records. Matter of fact, Red posted the B-Side (aptly enough) of this week's song, the similarly incredible, "Don't Look Back" (which to Red's discerning ear, may be the best track of all the great ones he's put up on the site). There's no need to rehash all that information here, just click on over to Red and get back to me.

First of all, the song: Mr. Cooke recorded it in late August, 1962 at the same time as "Nothing Can Change This Love," at RCA studio with Rene Hall coordinating the arrangements. As far as I can tell, it was never released in his lifetime (it doesn't even get mention in Peter Guralnick's extensive biography, "Dream Boogie: The Triumph of Sam Cooke" which I heartily recommend). Coming on the heels of some time in Chicago with family and a 2 week tour of the West Indies, this studio session to record the follow up to the incredible gospel flavored reworking of Charles Brown's blue number "I Want to Come Home" as "Bring It On Home" b/w the stomper "Having a Party." It was a double sided hit and Mr. Cooke wanted to rush into the studio for "Nothing Can Change This Love," which I must admit, is the flowing pop standard side of his repertoire that I don't find as compelling as his other work (as a brief aside the song itself doesn't have to fit that mold, as evidenced by the live recording on "Live at the Harlem Sqaure Club"). Depite the lush orchestration and the sugar Romantic lines, Mr. Guralnick does well to describe the other side of the coin in the "sorrowful deliberation" of the ending: "It ends with as straight forward an admission of the lover's plight as you're ever likely to get from Sam."

I can't recall where I read this (might have been in Womack's autobiography), but apparently Bobby was playing guitar at this session. And, well, I'm not sure if that makes chronological sense, but the opening guitar line sound like vintage Womack: that elegant mix of a hard plucked line with the simplicity of a vocal melody. It really just sets the tone for the number perfectly: both looming and instantly recognizable. The organ (the brooding seems so unlike the recordings of the time, and is enthralling) and and rhythm section fill out behind the introduction and Sam just sings it with all the multifarious sentiment that made Sam such an incredible singer: each line starts with a new emotion. Most if it, Sam brings such a strained sense to the difficultly of the song's narrative.

Lyrically, it also has that very Sam Cooke sense of the universal scene, such common lines as taking her picture off the wall, the same old line, and fishes in the sea take on such an internal feel with Sam that emanates to all his listeners. (Aside: the lack of detail in Cooke's songwriting is probably more a product of his time and background music than a lack of creativity--I occasionally make the unsubstantiated claim that the era of specificity in songwriting begins with Chuck Berry, but that's probably another post).

Sam had recognized early the talent that Bobby had, as quoted by Guralnick in conversation with his brother, L. C. Cooke, after just signing the Womack brothers to SAR, "Now let me show you something about Bobby. It's different when you close your eyes and listen to him. When Bobby sings, he demands attention -- whether you like him or not, you're going to listen to him." In such a short statement, that really sums up Bobby Womack best for me: he demands attention. Bobby was no innovator in soul or rock music, but the size of his talent is immense. To borrow a metaphor from baseball, he's the rare 5 tool player: singer, songwriter, musician, arranger and showman. His guitar playing, beginning with the work with Sam, through his time as session musician in what I would argue is the greatest production/backing group ever at American studios under Chips Moman, to his own solo work was always so distinctive--simple, hard hitting and unforgetable and the same time. His singing always demanded an extra listen.

The way he reworks "I'm Gonna Forget About You" is a showcase for all that talent. He keeps the guitar introduction, but moves the backing vocals echoing the line with the chorus before the vocal lead, a trick that Dan Penn had learned earlier (and this may be part of what made this an "American Group Production"), about putting the hook of the title right up front for instant recognizability. The horns swell and punch then the genius of those backing vocals (echoing the horns) to counterpoint the attention grabbing gutteral vocal sound. And that's where Bobby can hiy hard everytime, it's not the deep growl of a Bobby Bland or his deep soul followers, it's something else entirely: it's stuck in his throat while being secondary to the catch of the melody, "If you stay, I'm gonnnna move" and especially the "Don't try to tell me that you're sor-ry / Whoooa don't give me the same old line" where the organ gives way to the drums coming up in the mix and really push his register up by the time the horns come back. And then to top it all off, he just smoothly eases into the chorus again. Wow. In one word: resilent.

The more and more I listen to these recordings from My Presciption, I'm just in awe of how tight the group is, how complex the layering of the arrangements are, and how well Bobby just brings it all together with the vocals. The American Group Production at its height and Bobby at his best. I just can't say enough about his talent (mostly cause I just don't have the words). This talent did him well for the rest of his career, scoring hits throughout the decades. A Hall of Famer indeed.

Department of discography: The Bobby Womack version on My Prescription is available (cheaply too in most cases) on a Charley double cd called Bobby Womack in Memphis which includes that record along with Fly Me to the Moon. It's absolutely essential Southern Soul. And for my money, My Prescription is the best solo record--great originals, stunning preformance and production that highlights both of those.

Also essential for the Womack Brothers/Valentinos and how unique Bobby's talent was even then is the double cd set Sam Cooke's SAR Story, which includes the first big commercial splash (although for some other band supposedlty), "It's All Over Now."

For his songwriting skills, the Wilson Pickett Atlanitc records from the late 60s are peppered with Womack songs--my personal favorites are The Sound of and I'm In Love, which each have 3 great Womack songs. As for his guitar playing at American Studios in the mid 60's, that's a whole nother post (or website for that matter).

If you want a whole overview of Bobby's solo career, the 2cd set, Midnight Mover: The Bobby Womack Collection has all the hits and more (including some just flat out incredible songs like the country soul "Arkansas State Prison" and the lightning in a bottle "What Is This" as well as the best of his later recordings).

The Sam Cooke version of the song appears on the even more essential 4cd set, The Man Who Invented Soul, which is really for my money the best place to start for those interested in Sam (although Live at the Harlem Square Club is a cheaper alternative if you're more into the gritty Cooke). Actually, the one problem (licensing) with that set is that it doesn't include the excellent recording done at the end of Sam's career for Abcko, so I would say buy the above mentioned 2, as well as the compilation Just Moving On, and really who at this point in our history can live without "A Change Is Gonna Come." Someone out there has put up a easy to navigate discography of Sam Cooke's recordings here.

Arthur Conley also recorded a version of "I'm Gonna Forget About You" on Sweet Soul Music, which has its own merits, and sounds worlds away from Bobby's version--more resigned than rebellious.

And check out the entertaining (although not that informative) autobiography of Bobby Womack: Midnight Mover: The True Story of the World's Greatest Soul Singer (modesty is apparently not a requirement for the HoF). If you want to learn about his recordings at American, you wouldn't find much, but if you want to hear funny stories about his experiences with prostitutes or his coke dealer, you'll be well rewarded.

Thanks for reading and listening, and I promise a Spooner Oldham show soon. Here's the set list:

James Carr; Dark End of the Street; Goldwax 317

Bobby Womack; I'm Gonna Forget About You; My Prescription; Minit
Wilson Pickett; I Found the One; The Sound of; Atlantic
Ella Washington; I Can't Afford To Lose Him; Sound Stage 7 2597
Gene Taylor; Don't Go Away; Minit 32073
Percy Sledge; Baby, Help Me; Atlantic 2383
The Valentinos; I Can Understand It, Part 1; Clean 60005

Aretha Franklin; That's the Way I Feel About 'Cha; Rare & Unreleased (Atlantic/Rhino)
Don Covay & the Goodtimers; Can't Stay Away; Rosemart 801
Geater Davis; I'm Gonna Change; Lost Soul Man (AIM)
Johnny Copeland; Dedicated to the Greatest; Wand 1114

Arthur Conley; Funky Street; Soul Directions; Atco
O.V. Wright; Into Something (Can't Shake It Loose); epon; Hi
Little Johnny Taylor; Zig Zag Lightning;
Peggy Scott & JoJo Benson; Love Will Come Sneaking Up On You; Soul Shake; SSS
Z. Z. Hill; Think People; Hill 222

Jimmy Hughes; Time Will Bring You Back; Fame 1015
The Wallace Brothers; You're Mine; Simms 174
Chris Kenner; What's Wrong With Life; The Name of the Place (Bandy)
Spenser Wiggins; Sweet Sixteen; Goldwax Years (Kent)
Otis Clay; Love Don't Love Nobody; Live in Japan; Rooster

Eddie Hinton; Cover Me; The Songwriting Sessions
Eldridge Holmes; Love Affair; Caroline Soul Survey (grapevine)
Joe Medwick; Secretly; Crazy Cajun Recordings (Edsel)

The Valentinos; I've Got a Girl (with chatter); Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story; ABKCO

Happy Holidays, From the Dark End of the Street 12/19/2008

2008-12-20T10:57:00.003-06:00

Happy Holidays to all. I don't find Xmas music that compelling, it always seems more camp than substance, so I decided (partly out of laziness), not to do a Holiday music show this year. So if you're looking for many days of Xmas, check out my colleague Brian's excellent blog, The Real Big Rock Candy Mountain.

I did, however, start the show off with one Xmas song, Otis Redding's excellent "Merry Chirstmas, Baby."

Happy Holidays to you and yours. I've got a backlog of some shows and posts which I'll start putting up more regularly in the New Year. I've also got some shows lined up, including some of the best releases of 2008, a deep soul focus on the influence of Bobby Blue Bland, an Eddie Hinton penned show, and more.

Thanks for sticking with me through this long year.

Here's the playlist:

Percy Sledge; From the Dark End of the Street; The Percy Sledge Way; Atlantic

Otis Redding; Merry Christmas, Baby; Atco 6631
Sam & Dave; You Don't Know What You Mean to Me; I Thank You; Atlantic
Doris Allen; I'll Just Keep On Loving You; Shell of a Woman: The Legendary Playground Recordings (Soulscape)
Don Varner; Down in Texas; Finally Got Over (Shout!)
Toussiant McCall; I'm Gonna Make Me a Woman; Ronn 20 (West Side)

O.V. Wright; A Nickel and a Nail; Backbeat 822
Homer Banks; Fighting So Hard To Win; Minit (Stateside)
Bobby Womack; Arkansas State Prison; My Redemption; Capitol (Charley)
Steve Young; Montgomery in the Rain; No Place To Fall (BMG Canada)
Johnny Addams; Real Live Hurtin' Man; Body & Soul; SSS (VampiSoul)

Joe Tex; A Sweet Woman Like You; Dial
Aretha Franklin; It Was You; Rare & Unreleased; (Rhino)
Sam Baker; Safe in the Arms of Love; I Believe in You (Soulscape)
Lucille Mathis; Somewhere Out There; Abet 9431 (Excello)
Van & Grace; Set Me Free; Louisiana Legends (Jin)

Roscoe Shelton; Running From My Life; Deep in My Soul (AIM)
King Curtis; Hold On, I'm Coming; Plays the Great Memphis Hits; Atco
Sweet Inspirations; Sweet Inspiration; Atlantic 2476
Joe Simon; Further On Down the Road; SS7 (Shout!)
Eddie Hinton; Happiness Is Just Around the Corner; Dear Y'all; Zane
Syl Johnson; Let Yourself Go; Hi 2269

Solomon Burke; Seems Like You're Gonna Take Me Back; Nashville; Shout Factory
Grace Braun; Do Right; It Won't Hurt; Rykodisc
Lloyd Price; Restless Heart; Profile; Specialty
Doug Sahm; Sell a Song; Complete Mercury Recordings; Rhino

Yes, We Did! Obama's Got Soul

2008-11-08T18:49:00.007-06:00

At 10:oopm Central Time on Tuesday, November 4th, 2008, all of my anxiety and anger for the past few years was suddenly eased with a chill in my spine. I have been moved by the voice of this country:

"Tonight we proved once more that the true strength of our nation comes not from the might of our arms or the scale of our wealth, but from the enduring power of our ideals: democracy, liberty, opportunity and unyielding hope"

On Friday morning, I did a radio show--the HPK stands for Hyde Park-Kenwood, home of the President Elect!--of soul songs that, in part, encompass many of the feelings that accompanied this historic event: freedom, redemption, optimism, unity, service, and mostly, hope for a new day. So many songs from the Civil Rights Era, echoing those same sentiments, seemed suddenly appropriate and re-energized to me, much as many of those themes were for this country during these past 22 months of campaigning. In the enduring words and spirit of Sam Cooke, "It's been a long, long time coming, but I know A Change Gonna Come, Yes it will." Let us all hope it has.

And not to get ahead of our selves, let us remember:

"This victory alone is not the change we seek. It is only the chance for us to make that change. And that cannot happen if we go back to the way things were.

It can't happen without you, without a new spirit of service, a new spirit of sacrifice.

So let us summon a new spirit of patriotism, of responsibility, where each of us resolves to pitch in and work harder and look after not only ourselves but each other."

Many of these songs speak to that for me, and I hope they can for you. Yes, We Can!

Mel & Tim; Yes We Can!; Starting All Over Again
Sam Cooke A Change Is Gonna Come; The Man Who Invented Soul
Aretha Franklin; People Get Ready; Lady Soul; Atlantic
Gene Allison; You Can Make It If You Try; You Can Make It If You Try; Vee Jay
Bettye LaVette; All The Black And White Children; Child Of The Seventies; Rhino
Otis Redding; Amen; Definitive
The Impressions; This Is My Country; This Is My Country; Curtom
Notations; A New Day; Eccentric Soul: Twinight's Lunar Rotation (Numero Uno)
The Chambers Brothers; Time Has Come Today [Single Ed]; Time Has Come: The Best of the; Mercury
James Carr; Freedom Train; The Complete Goldwax Singles (Kent)
Solomon Burke; Maggie's Farm; Atlantic 2288
Bill Moss; Sock It To 'Em Soul Brother; Eccentric Soul: The Capsoul Label (Numero Uno)
Wilson Pickett; You Can't Stand Alone; The Sound of Wilson Pickett; Atlantic
Otis Clay; If I Could Reach Out (And Help Someone); Hi 2252 B;
Johnny Copeland; Blowing in the Wind; Wand 1114
Willie Hightower; Walk a Mile In My Shoes; s/t (Astralwerks/Honest Jon's)
Syl Johnson; Talk Bout Freedom; Is It Because I'm Black; Twinight
Eddie Hinton; We Got It; Very Extremely Dangerous
will.i.am; The Yes We Can Song (Obama for America); www.barackobama.com
Bob Dylan; Chimes Of Freedom [Live at Newport Folk Fest, 1964]; No Direction Home: The Soundtrack (Columbia)
Mahlia Jackson; We Shall Overcome

(This time I put up a version of the show that eliminates my talking--thanks for listening. And the excess of Dyland songs are in part because Mr. Obama has spoken of how his songs speak to him, specifically, the rebellious spirit of Maggie's Farm).

In that spirit, I have been talking about, and sharing, the following quote from Robert F. Kennedy, while campaigning for President in 1968. And it is my sincere belief and hope that it will be this President who can bring America to judge itself by "the enduring power of our ideals":

"We will find neither national purpose nor personal satisfaction in a mere continuation of economic progress, in an endless amassing of worldly goods. We cannot measure national spirit by the Dow Jones Average, nor national achievement by the gross national product. For the gross national product includes air pollution and advertising for cigarettes, and ambulances to clear our highway carnage. It counts special locks for our doors, and jails for the people who break them. The gross national product includes the destruction of the redwoods, and the death of Lake Superior. It grows with the production of napalm and missiles and nuclear warheads . . . It includes Whitman's rifle and Speck's knife, and the broadcasting of television programs which glorify violence to sell goods to our children.

And if the gross national product includes all this, there is much that it does not comprehend. It does not allow for the health of our families, the quality of their education or the joy of their play. It is indifferent to the decency of our factories and the safety of our streets alike. It does not include the beauty of our poetry or the strength of our marriages, the intelligence of our public debate or the integrity of public officials . . . the gross national product measures neither our wit nor our courage, neither our wisdom nor our learning, neither our compassion nor our devotion to our country. It measures everything, in short, except that which makes life worthwhile; and it can tell us everything about America -- except whether we are proud to be Americans."

You can listen to a different version of this speech here.

Another Lost Gem: Don Varner's He Kept On Talking

2008-10-15T21:55:00.014-05:00

More and more excuses, so I figured I post a recent show that starts with a great track from Don Varner. I was reminded of this track from the yahoo southern soul chat list email, and as it turns out, it's only from that group that Don Varner was rediscovered in 2000.

All the information I have on Don Varner comes from David Cole in the liner notes to the excellent CD reissue of Don Varner's recordings, Finally Got Over: Deep Soul From the Classic Era (Shout!), which he took from a longer article in his excellent In the Basement Magazine. There's no need to recount all that here (go pick up a copy of the cd), just in short to say, Don Varner bounced around a few of the more obscure 45 labels in the South in the late 1960s and early 1970s (Downbeat, South Camp, Quinvy, House of Orange), did almost all of his recordings with Eddie Hinton at Quin Ivy's studio in Muscle Shoals, and just generally, seemed to be a great guy with a warm heart and an incredibly stark raspy, baritone voice. As I said, pick up the CD and check out the wealth of great tracks, from the Northern Soul favorite, "Tearstained Face," a great country soul swinger, "Down in Texas", a couple of Dan Penn gems, and some self-penned shakers like the title track. Even some of the cliched parts of the recordings, like the 60s tremloed guitar or the hip shaking, are overshadowed by the edge of his voice.

The track here, "He Kept On Talking," never got released in its day. According to Don (as interviewed by David Cole), "I thought that was the one. Everybody else thought that was the one, but it just didn't happen, it didn't even get a release." Quin Ivy prodcued the track himself, and it's written by another member of that southern soul mailing list, Jerry Williams, aka Swamp Dogg. It definitely has that commercial appeal with the arrangements and doesn't have the edge of the Eddie Hinton produced tracks. That's not the appeal the song has for me: it's the downward spiral that Don Varner takes from the lyrics.

I admit that I have a soft spot for the narrative song, especially when its initial emotion is revealed and subtly shifted during the telling, and this is one of those that sticks in the throat just right. The kind of songs that are country strong: Looking back and wanting everything to change, allowing the anger to swell, then consigning yourself to the harsh end. The first song that came to mind was "Mansion on the Hill," but after thinking about it I realized I could name about 15 Hank Williams songs that word. Although the performance reminds me more of the young, vulnerbale Johnny Paycheck ("Apartment #9" or "The Late and Great Me").

Don's got it all over too: the innocence; trembling shock as he soars over all the bridges, "We were just talkin' . . .", "So go on with him . . .", "I'll just swallow my pride . . ."; a waver as he tries to hold himself together even after the fact "I kept on smiling and turned my head / 'cause a man ain't supposed to cry." Finishing it all off with the brutality of the last line:

"But the memory of you face
Is gonna be hard to erase
'cause everytime I come see my children
I'll see you.

I'll see your face, baby."

It doesn't get any harder than that.

Don Varner passed away in 2002, but his wife keeps his legacy alive. It was a post to the southern soul email list in 2000 by Mrs. Francine Varner that led to David Cole's contacting Don and the reissue cd, so go out and grab a copy. David Cole also has a new issue of In The Basement out, which I haven't gotten a chance to get my hands on yet, but I have no doubt to its depth and quality.

The song appears not only on the Shout! reissue, but also on Down & Out: The Sad Soul of the Black South, a real solid southern soul compilation put out in Germany by the Trinkont label.

Well, here's the playlist:

Linda Rondstadt; The Dark End of the Street

Don Varner; He Kept On Talking; Finally Got Over! (Shout!)
Sam Baker; Sometimes You Have to Cry; SS7 2550
Major Smith; Paying With My Own Tears; Lewis 2807
Solomon Burke; These Arms of Mine; Proud Mary (Atlantic)
Mighty Sam McClain; Silent Tears; Amy

Eddie Giles; So Deep In Love; Silver Fox 9
Clarnce Carter; Too Weak To Fight; This Is; Atlantic
Bill Brandon; Full Grown Loving Man; On Rainbow Road (Soulscape)
Roy Head; She's About a Mover; Introduction to (Fuel)
Sam & Dave; You Left the Running; (Atlantic Unearthed)

Ella Brown; A Woman Left Lonely; Lanor 566
Joe Simon; Further On Down the Road; SS7
Arthur Alexander; Call Me Honey; The Momument Years (Kent)
Kinky Friedman; Sold America (live); Lasson From El Paso
Joe Tex; I'll Never Do You Wrong; Soul Country; Atlantic
Merle Haggard; My Past Is Present; Sing Me Back Home; Capitol

Johnnie Allen; I'll Never Love Again; Promised Land (Kent)
Touissant McCall; I'll Do It For You; Ronn 10 (West Side)
Lattimore Brown; I Wish I Felt This Way At Home; Renegade 101
George Jones; Heartaches By The Number; Mercury Recordings

Don Covay; Just Because; Mercy; Atlantic
Van Broussard; Tell Me the Truth; Van and Grace (Jin)
Johnny Truitt; There Goes the Girl (alt); Excello
Roscoe Shelton; I Can Cry If I Want To; AIM
Bobby Charles; Your Picture; Chess Masters

The Ovations; You Had Your Choice; Goldxaw Recordings (Kent)
Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Dunn; You Can't Blamc Me; CapSoul 22 (Numero Uno)
Impressions; You Want Somebody Else; This Is My Country; Curtom

And don't forget to vote next week.

R.I.P. Jerry Wexler, 1917-2008

2008-08-29T08:53:00.004-05:00

Another sad post here on From the Dark End of the Street. The music giant, Jerry Wexler passed away a couple of weeks ago. There's no way I can come close to summing up the broad influence of his big ears on American Music. From the early days of R&B to the heyday of Southern Soul, the world wouldn't have been the same without him.

This show is made up of many of the hits from the golden era of Atlantic R&B. I forgot the set list at the station, so just sit back and enjoy the fruits of Jerry's hard work.

Rolling Stone has written a good obituary here.

R.I.P. Isaac Hayes: From the Dark End of the Street, 08/15/2008

2008-08-15T17:01:00.007-05:00

The great Isaac Hayes passed away last Sunday at the young age of 65. While there are a lot of very fitting tributes out there to this immensely talented man, this show focusses on his songwriting while at Stax. The first two sets of the show are all songs written by Isaac. While there, Issac Hayes wrote over 200 songs with longtime collaborator David Porter, the breadth and depth of which are simply hard to come to grips with. His legacy is a huge one, and that's not even to mention the piano playing, session work, arrangements and solo performances.

The set list:

Aretha Franklin; Do Right Woman - Do Right Man; I Never Loved a Man The Way I Love You; Atlantic

Ruby Johnson; Left Over Love; I'll Run the Blues Away; Stax
Johnnie Taylor; I Had a Dream; Stax 186
Mable John; Same Time, Same Place; Stax 215
William Bell; It's Happening All Over; Soul of a Bell; Stax
Carla Thomas; Something Good (Is Gonna Happen For You); Stax 207
(Sir Isaac & the Do Dads; Blue Groove; Volt 129)

Homer Banks; Lad of Stone; Minit 32030 (Hooker on Love; Stateside)
Judy Clay; You Can't Run Away From Your Heart; Stax 230
The Astors; Twilight Zone; Stax 179
Wilson Pickett; Toe Hold; Hey Jude; Atlantic
Sam & Dave; Hold On, I'm Comin'; Stax 189
Danny White; Keep My Woman Home; Natural Soul Brother (Kent)
(Booker T. & the M.G.s; Winter Snow; Stax 236)

Isaac Hayes; I Don't Know What To Do With Myself; The Isaac Hayes Movement; Enterprise
Geater Davis; I'll Play the Blues For You; House of Orange Recordings; Soulscape
Bettye LaVette; Your Turn To Cry; Let Me Down Easy in Concert; Munich
Don Varner; Here Come My Tears Again; Down Beat 102 (Finally Got Over; Shout!)
Arthur Conley; Sleep On Otis; Soul Directions; Atco

James Carr; Stronger Than Love; Complete Goldwax Singles (Kent)
Dwight Yoakam; Stayin' Up Late; Population Me; Koch
Tony Borders; Headman; Cheaters Never Win; Soulscape
Chuck Jackson; Any Other Way; Wand (Mr. Emotion; Kent)
Jimmy Donley; Just a Game; Born to Be a Loser; Crazy Cajun/Edsel

Chris Kenner; That's My Girl; Instant
Clarence Murray; Dancing to the Beat; SSS 778
Chuck Mitchell; Let Me Be Myself; The Birmingham Sound: The Soul of Neil Hamphill, volume 2
Bill Wright; You've Got a Spell On Me; Eccentric Soul: The Tragar and Note Labels; Numero Uno
Sir Douglas Qunitet; Sixty Minutes; 1+1+1=4; Mercury

This show does not way come close to the genius of Isaac Hayes, but I hope y'all enjoy it.

I got an email on my way up the stairs to the radio station that Jerry Wexler had passed away during the night. Next week, I'll do a show on his giant legacy. Red Kelly has already done a great tribute here.

Thanks for listening and I've got a back log of shows (that aren't memorials thankfully) and some posts started which I'll finish up someday.

R.I.P. Chris Gaffney: Cowboys to Girls

2008-06-06T22:10:00.012-05:00

Well, I've been completely remiss about updating this blog, between travel, work and some 16" softball, I haven't had much free time. But, well, that's no real excuse not to put up the podcasts, so apologies are in order.

The podcast is from the show a couple of weeks ago when still mourning the death of the great "Western Soul" singer, songwriter and accordionist, Chris Gaffney. So here's his first recorded version of the Gamble-Huff classic, "Cowboys to Girls."

Everyone knows The Intruders' version of this song, written and produced by Kenny Gamble and Leon Huff, the song was so big (#1 R&B; #5 Pop), that it defined Philadelphia Soul and allowed it to develop freely. It was the perfect song for the beginning of the movement's shift to prominence--full of street corner doo-wop swing with equal hints of urban gospel and teenage dancehall. And a timeless nostalgia that took people's minds off the tumult that was 1968 in America ("This whole world has been rearranged"). Whether that's good or bad in the bigger cultural picture is probably a subject for another blogger. As is the ensuing development of Gamble and Huff's productions (and Sissy Soul) after this song convinced Columbia to throw some money their way and establish the (very profitable) Philadelphia International Label.

The version here, from Chris Gaffney's great 1995 album, "Loser's Paradise" has much of the same elements of the original, but the mood is entirely different, and a much more emotional performance. Produced by his good friend and collaborator, Dave Alvin, the record showcases the various Southern influences on Gaff's music: Honky-Tonk, Tex-Mex, Southern California Roots Rock, Doo-Wop, and even some Cajun (he does a real nice job wailing the vocals and accordion on a version of the classic runner "Sugar Bee"). The song inserts those elements smoothly--the Tex-Mex picked guitar over a decidedly soul organ intro, the backing doo-wop backing vocals replaced by some haunting, and delicate, singing by Lucinda Williams, and of course, Chris' gruff vocals. The Intruders version has no sense of sadness, and what's nostalgia without that? I love the way Gaff breaks in after the intrumental fill, with "Oh I remem-hem-ber" just drenched in how much he missed a simpler time. And then there's that added verse at the end: "making love till long after dark / all day / all day."

Gaff's most recent project, The Hacienda Brothers also added "Cowboys to Girls" into their repertoire, and it was a huge hit. The three times that I saw them, this song always got people up to slow dance and sing along in whispered voiced to his/her partner. It was just such a beautiful sight for what a song can do.

They also released a version on the great cd, "What's Wrong With Right." The Hacienda Brothers are going to continue on without Gaff and will be playing some shows throughout the summer in what promises to be an emotional tour. They are also releasing a new record in a couple of weeks, "Arizona Motel," which if you buy from www.helpgaff.com a portion of the proceeds will go to alleviating some of the medical costs to his family.

There are a couple of other versions of Cowboys to Girls that I know of: Gene Chandler did a upbeat version on his Brunswick LP, "Now There Was a Time," that's a pretty hard hitting version for Chicago soul with some great sliding falsettos. Joe Bataan also did a version, and apparently, the song was a big hit with Latino youth in Southern California in the late 60's, which I know nothing about (but intrigues me muchly).

Thanks for listening and I promise I'll be better in the future about posting the shows (even if I don't have time to write anything).

And please visit www.helpgaff.com

Here's the playlist:

James Carr; The Dark End of the Street; Goldwax 317

Chris Gaffney; Cowboys to Girls; Loser's Paradise; Hi-Tone
The 5 Royales with Willie Mitchell; Show Me; Take Me With You Baby; (Purple Pyramid)
Betty Everett; Getting Mighty Crowded; VeeJay 628
The Ovations; Qualifications; Gold Wax 306 (Kent)
Wilson Pickett; Something You Got; The Exciting Wilson Pickett; Atlantic

Joe Simon; Long Hot Summer; SS7 2608
Little Johnnie Taylor; There is Something on Your Mind; Ronn 59
Homer Banks; 60 Minutes of Your Love; Minit 32008 (Hooked On Love; Stateside)
Spenser Wiggins; He's Too Old; Gold Wax 337 (Kent)
Solomon Burke; (No No No) Can't Stop Loving You Now; Atlantic

Geater Davis; Sweet Woman's Love; House of Orange 2401
Johnny Truitt; That's What Love Will Do; Abet 9423 (Excello Soul Story; P-Vine)
George Jones; Sometimes You Just Can't Win; Trouble in Mind; United Artists
Ruby Johnson; How Strong Is My Love; (I'll Run Your Hurt Away; Stax)
Tony Ashley; We Must Have Love; Decca 32342

Clarence Carter; That Old Time Feeling; Atlantic 2876
Jerry Lee Lewis; Another Place, Another Time; Another Place, Another Time; Smash
Otis Clay; Trying to Live My Life Without You; Hi 2226
Johnny Soul; Lonely Man; SSS 785 (Souther Soul Showcase; Kent)
Ralph "Soul" Jackson; 'Cause I Love You; Atlantic 2597

Otis Rush; Gambler's Blues (long version); Cotillion 44032
Ted Taylor; The Road of Love; You Can Dig It!; Ronn
Don Varner; Handshakin'; Diamond 264; (Finally Got Over; Shout!)
Joe Hinton; You Gotta Have Love; Backbeat
Jan Howard; I Still Believe in Love; s/t; Decca

Donnie Fritts; You Gonna Love Yourself in the Morning; Prone to Lean; Atlantic
Bobby Charles; Everyone Knows; Walkin' to New Orleans; (Edsel)
Johhny Ace; Saving My Love For You; Memorial Album; MCA

R.I.P. Chris Gaffney, October 3, 1950-April 17, 2008

2008-04-30T20:38:00.005-05:00

A sad day for Western Soul. Chris Gaffney, singer, songwriter and accordionist, passed away a few days ago after a brief battle with liver cancer.

Most recently, Chris was the lead singer of the Hacienda Brothers, a country soul band based out of Tuscon, Arizona. Anyone who was lucky enough to see Chris perform know he sang the songs the way they had to be: with direct, honest emotion.

If you would like to send a message to Chris's family or help contribute to the medical expenses, please visit this website: http://www.helpgaff.com/

The Years That Got Away: "I never saw them coming, I never felt them leave, they came and went just like a whisp of smoke upon the breeze."

He will be greatly missed.

For Those Who Can't Make the Ponderosa Stomp: Barbara Lynn's Oh Baby (We Got a Good Thing)

2008-04-27T11:28:00.009-05:00

The Ponde rosa Stomp is just a few days away, and, unfortunately, I can't make it down to the Crescent City for this annual showcase of Soul, Blues, Rockabilly, Country, and Swamp Pop. So I featured a bunch of the artists playing for the first hour of the show this week, starting with a great early hit for Barbara Lynn.

Barbara Lynn's story is another great one from the I-10 stretch that unites East Texas with New Orleans, with stops along the way in Lake Charles and Lafayette: born to Creole parents in Beaumont, discovered by a Crazy Cajun, and recorded in New Orleans.

After Joe Barry caught "Bobbie Lynn and the Idols" at Lou Ann's, a roadhouse in Dallas, he suggested she get in touch with his manager Huey Meaux (who had just taken Barry's "I'm a Fool to Care" to the national charts). Well, the Crazy Cajun was impressed (although I have a sneaking suspicion he also though he could sell the novelty of a girl group fronted by an attractive woman playing guitar left-handed) and he took her to the fames Cosimo Matassa studio. After one failed release, put out "You'll Lose a Good Thing" on the Philadelphia based Jamie label. Almost miraculously, the song spent 3 weeks at the top of the R&B charts in the summer of 1962. It's hard to underestimate what a feat that was back then: a woman playing her own guitar and topping the charts (And it still always strikes me today--every once in awhile late at night, I catch that Jerry Butler hosted infomercial for a soul cd box set and am always pleasantly taken aback when they show that brief clip (from The Beat I believe) of Barbara singing her hit).

Check out this performance from You Tube (no lip0synching here!) and you can see what a magnetic performer Barbara is:

Today's selection was one of the follow up singles to "You'll Lose a Good Thing" that didn't live up to the that single's previous success but still kicks it. It's another Lynn original that always strikes me as a mixture of all the good sounds of the Gulf Coast--a little bit Bobby Bland R&B, a little bit B. B. King guitar, some Lake Charles 2-step, a touch of teenage dancehall, and that driving rhythm guitar (probably from Miss Lynn herself).

And it's a song that reinforced the noble nature of Barbara back then (and still today). While she was doing extensive touring to back up "You'll Lose a Good Thing" with heavyweights like B.B. King and Sam Cooke, her mother went everywhere with her (Barbara was only 20 when the song hit), and kept her on the straight and narrow. As quoted in a recent interview by Scott Jordan in the Lafayette Independent Weekly, her mother would "tell all those guys, 'My daughter don't smoke or drink,' and they all called her 'Mother Dear,' because they heard me calling her Mother Dear." And here's a sweet song about fidelity that no matter how much her old flame might want her, she's "right here at home" because "Oh Baby, we got a good thing goin' on." She sounds so resolute I absolutely love it, especially when the music drops to the background and she implores her man, "Baby make me know that you're mine, all mine, all mine."

I'm not the only one who loves this song, as Mick Jagger called up Huey Meaux and asked to cover it, which of course Barbara gave immediate permission. It came out on The Rolling Stones, Now in the U.S. and on Out of Our Heads in the U.K. Well, the Stones don't add much to the song, except some Chicago blues guitar to replace the horns, but they did add to Barbara's pockets. She was able to buy the house in Beaumont where she still lives today, and according to the Scott Jordan interview: "I still get royalties from that song."

After some decent charting singles on Jamie, and a few for smaller labels for Meaux, and a brief stop by at Atlantic in the early 70's that failed to produce any big hits, Barbara retired to the West Coast to raise her family. After a couple of decades silence, she made a live record while touring Japan that put her back on the map, and has continued to record off and on since. And she plays the Ponderosa Stomp just about every year, and according to all the the reports I hear, she still has a good thing going on.

Thanks for listening!

Also, you can check out the track here from another great blogger.

A Couple of More Notes: The Tommy McLain version of Bobby Charles's "Before I Grow Too Old" is one of my favorites and is the type of Swamp Pop cover of Charles that I mentioned in the Sahm post a couple of months ago. The slight waver in his voice is just perfect, especially on "gonna kiss all the pretty girls," and "'cause it will take a lot of prayers to save my soul." Also, I failed to mention that Ralph "Soul" Jackson (no relation) has a newer CD out called "The Phenix City Sessions," which y'all should pick up to support this good, good man.

Also, it's been quite a while since I updated this and I apologize (I've got excuses), but I've got a couple of shows and posts backlogged now, so I'll be ready for any more breaks in the action. Including one of odd Bob Dyaln covers to celebrate his Pulitzer.

The Set List:

Lazy Lester; The Dark End of the Street; Harp and Soul; Alligator

Barbara Lynn: Oh Baby (We Got a Good Thing Goin'); You'll Lose a Good Thing: The Jamie Recordings
Tommy McLain; Before I Grow Too Old; Essential; Jin
Warren Storm; Prisoner's Song; King of the Cajun Dance Halls; Crazy Cajun
Roscoe Robinson; We're Losing it Baby; Paula 378
Syl Johnson; We Did It; Hi 2229

Sonny Burgess; Red Headed Woman; Sun 247 (Rounder)
Joe Clay; You Look That Good To Me; (Ducktail; Bear Family)
Hayden Thompson; Love My Baby; Sun
Roy Head; I'm Not a Fool Anymore (Introduction; Fuel)
Bettye Harris; Bad Luck; Sansu 461 (Get Low Down; Sundazed)

Ralph "Soul" Jackson; Take Me Back (The Birmingham Sound; Rabbit Factory)
William Bell; It's Happening All Over; The Soul of a Bell; Stax
Willie Mitchell; Baby, You Turn Me On; Soul Serenade; Hi
The Collins Kids; Hoy Hoy Hoy; Columbia
Barbara George; Love (Is Just the Chance You Take); A.F.O.

Chris Kenner; That's My Girl; Instant 3252
Bobby Powell; Tell Me Who's Your Lover; Whit 6900
Art Neville; What's Goin On; Specialty 656
Wallace Johnson; Something To Remember You By; Sansu 467
Lee Dorsey; So Long; Amy 945

Irma Thomas; Let's Do It Over; Down at Muscle Shoals; Chess
Big John Hamilton; I Have No One; Minaret 129 (Southern Soul Showcase; Kent)
Spencer Wiggins; Old Friend; Goldwax 312
Merle Kilgore; When Your Love Stopped; Ring of Fire; Pickwick
Joe Tex; Set Me Free; Soul Country; Atlantic
Wilson Pickett; It's All Over; The Exciting; Atlantic

Joe Medwick; Barefootin'; (Crazy Cajun; Edsel)
George & Greer; Good Times (Gold Wax Story, Volume 2; Kent)
Arthur Conley; Funky Street; Soul Directions; Atco

"Let's Do It Over": Joe Simon, John R., Dan Penn & Spooner Oldham

2008-04-01T18:45:00.013-05:00

My apologies out there: I've been busy with out of town visitors and various meetings and such and didn't get a chance to update the blog last week. And, to make things worse, haven't really gotten the chance to prepare anything for this week. So, I fall back on one of my stand-bys: the best of Dan Penn hits. This week, the first partnership with Spooner Oldham, the first hit for Joe Simon, and an early encounter with Muscle Shoals: "Let's Do It Over."

The success of Vee-Jay 694 is another story of the confluence of many talents with great timing and circumstance.

Joe Simon had recorded a few unheard singles for the California based Hush label, which got him the notice of Chicago based Vee-Jay records. If it were 1963, Vee-Jay would have been a good home for his smooth easy singing style, with a roster boasting Jerry Butler, Jimmy Reed, The Dells, Betty Everett, Gene Chandler, and the Four Seasons, not to mention distributing the early Beatles 45s. But by 1965, Vee-Jay was in many legal battles with EMI and Capitol over the Beatles and being sued for back payments by Frankie Valli. Although good singles were still being released, the company was on the verge of losing it all in 1965. Simon had moderate success with "The Adorable One" (609) and "When I'm Gone" (663), but it wasn't till he met John R. that things began to get rolling.

John Richborg, known throughout the South, especially in the black community, simply as John R., was one of the disc jockeys on the ultra-powerful WLAC Nashville. John R. broke many an R&B artist in those days with his 50,000 watts of power and, of course, a great ear. Otis Redding, James Brown, Chuck Berry are just some of the greats that owed part of their success to the man. When Joe met John, he suggested to Vee-Jay, as he had begun to do for others, to take Joe down to a small Northern Alabama city, Muscle Shoals, to record.

Muscle Shoals wasn't quite on the map yet for soul music in 1965. Things had gotten started, but things were also going away, and the studio, well Rick Hall in particular, was unsure of their sound (and thus their future). Arthur Alexander and Jimmy Hughes (coincidentally, "Steal Away" was being distributed by Vee-Jay) had already broken big out of Muscle Shoals, but Arthur was in Nashville and so soon was original group. In late 1964, David Briggs, Jerry Carrigan, and Curly Putnam had been lured away by the bigger paychecks in the Music City, But with their departure, some of those waiting in the wings stepped up in influence at FAME, notably Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham.

Dan and Spooner had been around Muscle Shoals for a few years, playing the fraternity circuit in white R&B bands and hanging around the studio. By early 1965, Dan had a job as house writer for Rick and, as quoted by Barney Hoskyns: "All I really cared about was the studio. I hadn't thought of cuttin' my own records or anything for a long time. I wanted to be a writer and a record produced." Spooner was playing second fiddle (or piano as it were) to Briggs, but getting big calls whenever he could. But with their departure for Nashville, Dan's band (formerly the Mark Vs, then Dan and the Pallbearers) petered out and Spooner was now the keyboard player. The rest of the FAME gang were also brought in around this time, with Jimmy Johnson and Roger Hawkins joining the fold. And along came a Joe Tex hit and a Joe Simon follow.

Buddy Killen had brought down Joe Tex with an iffy song. Joe recorded "Fresh Out of Tears," and according to Killen it took forever, then they threw together a song Joe had penned himself and been kicking around: "Hold On to What You Got." Killen told the musicians he "wanted straight out country chords." After some overdubbing and messing around with the tapes up in Nashville, Killen released the record and it sold 50,000 copies in the first day. Joe Tex was on the map and the idea of country soul was in full force in Muscle Shoals. Much as with the early career of Jimmy Hughes and the Wallace Brothers, it was Dan Penn and the musicians who pushed the famously hard-headed Rick Hall into producing a different kind of song. Not coincidentally, according to Dan, it was the kind of music he had been hearing on WLAC.

"Let's Do It Over" was the first real song Dan and Spooner wrote together. And it was the first real hit for Joe Simon, spending 17 weeks on the R&B charts, peeking at #13. The song really spotlights what's so great about Joe Simon--his delivery. Joe may be the most underrated of all the great soul singers because everything seems to come so effortless and natural to him. His rich baritone just ebbs and flows with the song, constantly bringing the song up ("Full of your prec-cious love"), then settling himself ("Looking back"). The imploring nature of the lyrics really allows Joe to ease back and be emotional at the same time--it's almost as if he's singing in an audible whisper with immaculate clarity. Upon each listen, I find new lines of the song that stick out differently than the last time.

As far the band goes, there's a couple of hints of what FAME would become, with Jimmy Johnson's gentle county pick and the ease of the backing vocals and horns. But there isn't any of the cliches that would later come to represent the Muscle Shoals sound, but I think that works in Joe's favor, allowing him to set the phrase and tempo of the song. Anyway, I just love how he gently he pleads with his woman, asking her yet in that calm tone of voice that just oozes confidence. And that to me is one of the great aspects of the Penn-Oldham collaborations: the emotion can always go either way. Depending on the strength of the singer, "Let's Do It Over" could be either the desperation or the conviction as the dominant element. But when they're done right, it's never that simple. No matter how easy the singer sounds.

Irma Thomas also recorded a version of "Let's Do It Over" when she was sent by Chess to Muscle Shoals in 1967. Although it was never released as a single, it was put out on the album "Down At Muscle Shoals," and it shows the band in full force by that time--with all the cutting riffs and edge even on the ballads. Don't get me wrong, Irma's version is stellar, but I prefer Joe's because she doesn't quite implore that emotional ambiguity to the tune. Hers is definitely heart-felt and renching, but the vocals never reveal that other side of the lyrics. (Toussiant McCall also recorded a good version of the song, that didn't get released by Ronn at the tie, but that's for another post).

Soon after this singe Vee-Jay went belly up and things worked out for everyone (well, everyone else), as Joe went to Sound Stage 7, the new R&B label from Monument with John R. as the head of the A&R department and released a ton of great singles and had bigger hits. Dan and Spooner continued to write and play together in Muscle Shoals, then in Memphis, and had bigger hits. And FAME brought in everyone and had bigger hits. John R. died in 1986, but his impact still rings out over the airwaves. Dan and Spooner still play (together and apart), write, and produce. And Joe, well, he's a Bishop in Flossmore, Illinois, about 20 minutes south of where I live, and records Gospel albums. Check it out and you'll immediately recognize that voice and, well, he's still got it.

There's a great discography with some sound clips, including "Let's Do It Over" by a great purveyor of Deep Soul, Sir Shambling, here.

One of these days, I'll just throw up a podcast of the quintessential recordings of Dan Penn songs: everything from the obvious (James Carr's "Dark End of the Street," Aretha's "Do Right Woman," Percy Sledge's "Out of Left Field," "Solomon Burke's "Take Me (Just As I Am)") to the lesser known (Ralph Soul Jackson's "Cause I Love You," Tony Border's "Cheaters Never Win," Van Broussard's "Feed the Flame," Clarence Carter's "She Ain't Gonna Do Right").

The setlist:

The Flying Burrito Brothers; Dark End of the Street; Sin City

Joe Simon; Let's Do It Over; Vee-Jay 694
Jimmy Hughes; Why Not Tonight; Fame 1011
Willie Hightower; If I Had a Hammer; (s/t; Astralwerks)
Irma Thomas; Yours Till Tomorrow; Down at Muscle Shoals; Chess
Percy Sledge; It Tears Me Up; Atlantic 2358

Johnny Ace; Pledging My Love; Memorial Album; MCA
Bobby Charles; On Bended Knee; Chess Masters
Al Prince; True Love; Ronn 39
Johnny Adams; I Won't Cry; (Reconsider Me; Collectibles)
Bobby Bland; How Does a Cheating Woman Feel; The Duke Recording

Oscar Toney, Jr.; Turn On Your Love Light; For Your Precious Love; Bell (Rev-Ola)
Wilson Pickett; You Can't Stand Alone; The Sound of . . .; Atlantic
Little Carl Carleton; Competition Ain't Nothing; Backbeat 588
Arthur Conley; One Night Is All I Need; More Sweet Soul; Atlantic
Tony Borders; What Kind of Spell; South Camp 7009 (Cheaters Never Win; Soulscape)

Solomon Burke; You Can Make It If You Try; Atlantic 2185
Eldridge Holmes; Love Affair (Carolina Soul Survey; Grapevine)
Warren Storm; Tennessee Waltz; King of the Cajun Dancehalls
Joe Perkins; I'm Not Gonna Leave; Sapton 100
Cookie & the Cupcakes; Got You On My Mind; Chess 848 (King of Swamp Pop; Ace)

Bettye LaVette; I Still Want To Be Your Baby (Take Me Like I Am); Scene of the Crime; Anti
Tony Joe White; Whomp Out on You; Black & White; Monument
Sam & Dave; I Get What I Want; Complete Stax Singles; Rhino
Mighty Sam; Baby Come On Home; Amy 11,022 (Complete Amy Recordings; Sundazed)
Candi Staton; I'd Rather Be An Old Man's Sweetheart . . .; I'm a Prisoner; Fame

Percy Wiggins; Book of Memories; Atco 6479 (Atlantic Unearthed: Soul Brothers)
Wanda Jackson; Funny How Time Slips Away; Love Me Forever; Capitol
Aaron Neville; For the Good Times; Make Me Strong (Charley)

Townes Van Zandt "No Place to Fall" with Chips Moman at American Studios, Nashville

2008-03-16T11:44:00.014-05:00

My good man Red Kelly over at the B-Side just finished up his superb four part series on the career of Chips Moman with a great post on the Chips' move to Nashville and an epilogue to Tommy Cogbill. Since Red is one of the people that inspired me to do this, I though this week I'd write an addendum to that series with Townes Van Zandt's "Flyin' Shoes" recordings at American Nashville.

Townes's story story is well-documented: the rise and perpetual fall of the great American songwriter from his well-off family background in Fort Worth, to the mental breakdowns and insulin shock therapy, to the life on the road, to the retreats from the world, to his attempted returns and finishing with, sadly, his inevitable early death. Due to his reckless attitude and deep involvement with various vices (both external and internal), everyone who spent time with him has numerous stories of Townes' antics, and combined with the heavy, heavy nature of his songs, the myth is just as big as the life.

In most cases of the early death of the artistic "genius," the myth is much larger than the life (see Gram Parsons for example), but in Townes's case, the legend just as true. From the various footage of him off stage recorded over the years, you get the sense that everyday was an adventure just as deep or humorous as the songs. And, by most first hand accounts, the legend was already in place when he was alive. Townes himself even helped build it: according to is friend and guitarist, Mickey White: "He knew he was creating the myth. I would always be amazed by those incredible tales Townes told me. then we'd be on the road and run into some old friends who would bring up these stories without prompting, and they were exactly the same, word for word. My impression was he really didn't have to make that much up. It was so outlandish in the first place." For that story, definitely check out the 1975 Austin music documentary, "Heartworn Highways," and the more encompassing documentary, "Be Here To Love Me" by Margaret Brown, and John Kruth's To Live Is To Fly: The Ballad of the Late, Great Townes Van Zandt.

"No Place to Fall" has three distinct versions: recorded (1973) and first released (1977) as part of the "Live at the Old Quarter, Houston, Texas" album; recorded by Cowboy Jack Clement for the "7 Come 11" album (1973), but unreleased until "The Nashville Sessions" (1993); and recorded by Chips Moman and released on "Flyin' Shoes" (1978).

By the that time, Townes had recorded, and Kevin Eggers had released on his Poppy label, an album a year since 1968. All of those 6 records have there own high, low and in between (pun intended) moments in all aspects: the songwriting, the performance, and the production, done by Cowboy Jack Clement, Kevin Eggers, or Jim Malloy or some sort of combination of the three (except for his fourth record, Delta Mama Blues, which was recorded and produced in New York by Ronald Frangipane). For the hardcore Townes fans, the production of these records is a distraction: Jack Clement took a good deal of risks on the first two records (For the Sake of the Song and Our Mother the Mountain), adding bellowing strings, background vocals, harpsichords, flutes (?), and just about everything in his bag of tricks. Ironically, most of this stuff was recorded live and not overdubbed, but most people heavily criticize the overproduction, feeling it takes away from Townes' songs. And that's probably true: they bury the vocals with reverb, because that's the way it was done--Townes had a voice with very little range or polish and any producer would've done the same at the time to enhance the vocals. But as one of Townes' closest friends, Guy Clark said, as quoted by Kruth, "It breaks my heart to hear the way they overproduced his stuff. He was not unaware of it. Townes is really the one who's responsible. You can't let him off the hook. He didn't have the time to mix the fuckin' records 'cause he was too busy drinkin' and shootin' dice."

Following the 1972 release of the Late Great Townes Van Zandt, Kevin took Townes and his newest songs back into the studio with Cowboy Jack as producer and Chuck Cochrane as arranger. It was a great batch of songs (perhaps the strongest yet), including "At My Window," "Rex's Blues," "White Freightliner," "Loretta," "Two Girls," and "No Place to Fall." But much to his later regret, Kevin Eggers didn't pay Cowboy Jack, who in turn wouldn't turn over the tapes. The album, originally called "7 Come 11," didn't get released until 1993 (Not surprisingly, Eggers shame is conspicuously absent from the CD: there's no information on the recording session, the date, or the players; all it gives is the lyrics, produced by Kevin Eggers, recorded by Jack Clement, and the original issue date of 1993). Any of the national momentum that had been building for Townes just went up in smoke, and hazy reasons: Eggers claims he didn't release it because he "had such a bad feeling." While undocumented, I believe that it was a lack of money (Eggers was famous for constantly moving around money), having nothing to do with Townes' drinking and drug use. But that's just speculation.

In the time following these sessions, Townes continued his life on the road, found a new girlfriend who would become his second wife, and began a musical tailspin. The touring was just too crazy with in fighting, unfinished shows, smashed fiddles, bad comedy, and Townes' destructive behavior. According to Mickey White again, "Townes' business was goin' out the window. The gigs sucked. He started to lose interest in bein' the great Townes Van Zandt, and he become careless." [Note the picture on the left, above comes from Townes' road manager, Harold F. Eggers, Jr.'s website. Check it out] Eventually, he settled down in a cabin in the mountains of Tennessee (with Cindy and his trusty dog Geraldine) procured for him by the young Steve Earle. Even though out in the middle of nowhere, he had plenty of visitors and the myths and stories continued to grow, including the now famous game of Russian Roulette in front of Earle. During this time, in 1977, Eggers released "Live at the Old Quarter" to regain the fan base (after all no record had come out in 5 years), with or without Townes' assent. Following that, John A. Lomax III (of the family that we all owe so much to) who had taken over the managing job, brought Townes into the studio with some new material and the re-hashing of songs from the unreleased sessions. Lomax got Chips Moman, and Chips got some of the American studios tried and true great musicians for the session, along with some bluegrass help for the album "Flyin' Shoes."

Here's part of the roll call: Phillip Donnelly (guitar), Tommy Cogbill (bass), Bobby Emmons (keyboards), Randy and Gary Scruggs (guitar, mandolin and harmonica), Spooner Oldham (piano), and Chips himself producing and playing guitar. And, in my opinion, it's the best production that Townes ever got. The production is gentle with little added to Townes' voice except some background vocals to enhance the choruses. Most of all, the production really allows the simple melodies of the songs to shine. For example, the first track from the album, "Loretta," layers multiple guitars picking and strumming the melody with a nice slow harmonica foreshadowing the vocals, slowly adds the backing vocals, a steel guitar (from Jimmy Day), a nice interplay between the ebbing organ and the return of the harmonica, then strips them back away for "Sweetest at the break of day . . ." The drumming gets more prominent as the song approaches its climax and the harmonica returns with a touch of that high lonesome (hey, after all, Gary is Earl Scruggs' son). And the song just stays even and cool over all that with the hopeful and whistful finale repetition of "Loves me like I want her to . . ." It's country round picking that you could image being heard with a group of great musicians on the porch of Townes' cabin, as shown in the photograph on the back of the LP.

"No Place To Fall" is one of the many songs in the Townes canon that plays with the idea of love, full of unabashed natural joy and frightening insecurity, against the passage of time. It recurs throughout the early records with varying degrees of simplicity and obtuse imagery: "I'll Be Here in the Morning" from For the Sake of the Song (and the self-titled third LP); "Be Here to Love Me" and "Second Lover's Song" from Our Mother the Mountain; "Only Him or Me" and "Come Tomorrow" from Delta Momma Blues; "Greensboro Woman" from High Low and In Between; "No Lonsome Tune" and "If I Needed You" from The Late Great Townes Van Zandt. It's one of the more simple songs in Townes' canon, and maybe that's why it appeals to me so much. The honesty is all there: "I'm not much of a lover, it's true / I'm here then I'm gone and I'm forever blue / But I'm still wanting you." So is the hope in spite of all that Townes is and does--time will pass "a fast old train," but together it doesn't matter, "wouldn't you take my hand." Like many of his songs, it still hints at that mystery: Is that fall death? Who is he really singing too then? By the time he repeats the first verse at the end, the meaning has changed.

As above, the production takes a nice back seat to the vocals and the melody, slowly building around the guitars, with a touch of reverb on the mandolin to bring it back as the dramatic fill following the second last verse and before the final repetition of the first verse. I particularly love the nice interaction between the swelling organ and the touch on piano from Spooner that dramatizes Townes' reserved vocals. While Kruth calls Townes "laconic" on the record, I hear it differently: it's resigned to the fate of the songs. While it almost sounds detached, Townes has settled into "the same old songs, it wouldn't be long"--the songs have their own natural momentum. And Chips produces and arranges around that--letting the ease of the Tennessee mountains and its musical tradition swirl around the lyrics, building them up and pulling them back as the lyrics go.

For comparisons sake, the version that was recorded by Cowboy Jack Clement, starts with a more plodding beat under a more expressive Townes, suddenly throws a heavy, dirge organ on the second verse against the finger picking and emphasizes the lyrics at odd places with heavily reverbed backing vocals. There's also the hint of a classical sounding string quartet deep in the mix. Everything seems in the background on the track. Here the music seems laconic with really only Townes trying to hold the melody. The hope of the song as opposed to the desolation before it is nowhere to be found.

Obviously, the Old Quarter version is the simplest, with just Townes and his guitar picking and strumming through it. He really hits the lonesome on "I ain't much of a lover," goes stronger on "Time she's a fast old train," then hits gentle on the final verse. Recorded on the last night in 1973 of a 5 night gig at the small club in Houston run by his good friend (and subject of the song "Rex's Blues"), "Wrecks" Bell, the album was released before Flyin' Shoes. Unfortunately, I have no idea about the original reaction to the LP but over the years it has become "the rosetta stone" to Townes fans, since it's got most of his best songs in the simplest setting. To me, that's just the myth of the songwriter rearing its ugly head: if anyone else is involved in a recording, then it takes away from the genius. I just can't believe that: in the right setting (and I think Chips and American was it), the more talent involved can compliment the original song. And frankly, I'd rather hear the collective effort than the auteur.

Off my soapbox, the record was not successful, they're were problems with the tour, Townes ran into more personal problems and the rest of the story is more valleys than peaks. He did, however, leave some of the most incredible songs I've ever heard and some truly great records, with or without the myth.

Thanks for reading and listening. Here's the set list. The first set is all American Studios work in different contexts. And don't forget to check out Red's blog.

Oscar Toney, Jr.; The Dark End of the Street; For Your Precious Love; Bell (Rev-Ola)

Townes Van Zandt; No Place to Fall; Flyin' Shoes; Tomato
Norman West; Words Can't Say; Smash 2123
Sam Hutchins; I'm Tired of Pretending; AGP 106
Rudolph Taylor; Doorsteps To Sorrow; Roman 311
Wilson Pickett; I've Come A Long Way; I'm In Love; Atlantic
Waylon Jennings; Till I Gain Control Again; Ol' Waylon; RCA

O. V. Wright; Heartaches, Heartaches; Backbeat 583
Ester Philips; Try Me; Atlantic 2370
Ray Price; Don't You Ever Get Tired of Hurting Me; The Other Woman; Columbia
Solomon Burke; Baby Come On Home; Atlanitc 2314
Willie Mitchell; Willie's Mood; Soul Serenade; Hi

Etta James; Tell Mama; Cadet 5578
Mighty Sam; Fannie Mae; Amy 963 (Papa True Love; Sundazed)
Eddie Hinton; Brand New Man; Very Extremely Dangerous; Capricorn
Bettye LaVette; Shut Your Mouth; Atlantic 2160
Tony Borders; Polly Wally; Revue 11045 (Cheaters Never Win; Soulscape)

Doug Sahm; Crazy, Crazy Baby; Jukebox Music; Antone's
Brenda George; Everybody Don't Know About My Good Thing (Pt. 1); Ronn 60
Mel Tillis; The Games People Play; Sings Old Faithful; Kapp
Clifton Chenier; Release Me; Cajun Swamp Music Live; Tomato
Johnnie Allan; Tennessee Blues; (Promised Land; Ace)

Magic Sam's Blues Band; That's All I Need; West Side Soul; Delmark

Department of Apologies: The podcase starts about 8 minutes in--I was late, sorry.

Department of Additions and Favors:

As chronicled by Backroads of American Music, some of the good fellas in the Southern Soul Group have started a fund to get O. V. Wright a proper head stone at his (as of now) unmarked grave in Memphis. O. V. is one of the true greats and has enhanced all our lives, so let's take a minute and give something back to him and his family. I'll leave the button up on the sidebar.

Doug Sahm Covers Louisiana Legend Bobby Charles "On Bended Knee"

2008-03-09T08:40:00.022-05:00

I'll let Doug Sahm introduce this one, "Here's a song by a Louisiana legend, a great compadre of ours, from Lafayette, Louisiana, Mr. Bobby Charles."

Oh, what to say about Bobby Charles? The accolades roll in from other artists, from Fats Domino to the Band to Paul Butterfield to Ray Charles to just about every local Southwest Louisiana swamp popper. Bobby first burst on the scene with his 1955 hit "See You Later Alligator," a song that local record shop owner Charles "Dago" Redlich had sent up to Leonard Chess (who, as was his habit, was traveling through Louisiana a couple of years prior and asked record store owners to send him anything with promise). Chess signed him, thinking he had found another unknown Delta black artist. Well, he thought that until Bobby got off a plane in Chicago and finally met Leonard face to face. Leonard introduced him to a different catch phrase, one that starts with "mother."

Well, despite that initial reaction, "See You Later Alligator" with the flip side "On Bended Knee" did real well locally and nationally, then took off when Bill Haley and his Comets recorded a version. This is where the story gets interesting, as Bobby was, according to John Broven in his essential South to Louisiana: The Music of the Cajun Bayous, "in a musical no-man's land--a white artist singing an R&B type song on a black label." Matter of fact, he was the only white artist with Chess at the time. After putting out a few more sides for Chess with less success (with titles trying to build on his initial success, like "Watch It Sprocket" and "Take It Easy Greasy," collected on the currently unavailable Chess Masters CD), he could have just faded away like many of the one-hit songsters of the teenage R&B days. But Bobby's talents as a songwriter, and the fertile airs of Louisiana music world just wouldn't let that happen. And we're all happy for that!

In the early 1960s, Bobby began working with one his idols, Fats Domino, penning a few tunes for him, including the one included in the show, "Walking to New Orleans." As quoted by Shane K. Bernard, "That was a real rush for me, to write a song for someone that was an inspiration to me, like Fats Domino." His friendship and talent led to more singles on the Jewel and Paula labels,
and an extended stay in Woodstock led to an album with members of the Band and Dr. John for Albert Grossman's fledgling label Bearsville in 1972, alternately called "Bobby Charles" or "Small Town Talk." He also makes an appearance and sings on "The Last Waltz." After a brief retirement in the late 1970s back in Louisiana, his talent again brought out the stars for an (unreleased) album with Neil Young and Willie Nelson in 1984. Since then he has written written more songs, recorded one retrospective album (with a couple of the Young/Nelson songs) called "Last Train to Memphis," but lives off his royalties in retirement in Louisiana near the Gulf of Mexico. I'm sure we'll here from him again and it'll be great. (Although, don't go seeking him out).

But that's the national story, with big names and covers from national artists, the local story is still being written. The list of great Swamp Pop musicians who have done Bobby Charles songs is too long to type and continues to grow.

A brief aside about Swamp Pop definitions: the origins of the phrase are murky (pun intended) and Shane K. Bernard does a nice job in his great Swamp Pop: Cajun and Creole Rhythm and Blues tracing them to some English music critics, not to the people who made the music or the people who danced to it. Most of them just referred to it simply as "Southern Louisiana Music," since there is no need to separate Fats Domino, Cookie and the Cupcakes, Slim Harpo, Belton Richard, Guitar Gable, Clifton Chenier, Earl King, Warren Storm, and on and on. It's just academic. As Bobby told Bernard, "Somebody told me I was a swamp pop musician, I said, 'Oh really?' I mean, I didn't know what the hell they were talking about . . . . If you've got to name your children, I guess you've got to give it a name too!" I like to refer to it (to myself that is), as Southern Louisiana Juke Box Music. In my mind's eye, I envision it as the music you and your date play on the juke box or go to a club and see--all for the dancing, both to the uptempo shakers and the slow ballads. As Harry Simoneaux told John Broven, "It is common today for partygoers who dance to Johnnie Allan's music on a Saturday night to go to the Triangle Club in Scott on Sunday afternoon and dance to French Cajun music only. Fans who like one type of music will generally like the other too. One thing about the swamp-pop style is that there are few musicians that every play it right if they are not born in raise in South or Southwestern Louisiana."

Anyway, that brings us back to today's opening number: a live version of "On Bended Knee" performed in 1998 by Doug Sahm, with Augie Meyers and the Gourds backing him up. Even though Doug is from West (and not East) Texas, he still plays it the right way. While the story of Doug and his various exploits, influences, and great, great music are a subject for another show and post, one thing I'll mention here in brief: Doug Sahm's music encompasses all the descriptions of this show over there on the right under the Digs: Country, R&B, West Texas Shuffle, Texas Border stepping, California Hippie Rock, Heavy White Guy narratives, East Texas Blues, and of course Swamp Pop (matter of fact, he recorded a whole album of Swamp Pop tunes called, appropriately enough, "Juke Box Music.") While most of the writing on Doug focusses on the hippie days and the cosmic cowboy and the collaboration with Dylan, there is just so much more to his story that I'll leave for another day. What I want to point out though is, no matter what he's covering from Freddy Fender to T. Bone Walker to Dale Hawkins to Bob Wills to Porter/Hayes, he does it with no pretense and a reverence that shows his love for all of Texas music. As far as I can tell, this is the only recorded version of Doug doing a Bobby Charles song and I love it.

This is the type of Bobby Charles (and swamp pop in general) song that appeals to me the most: the gutsy ballad. It's all in the first line: "Please forgive me if I cry." It's so bold and vulnerable at the same time. And it's that signature first line that gets everyone in the dance hall to recognize the song. Doug pushes the tempo up a bit from the original version of the tune, but that's just the beauty of the Swamp Pop repertoire. Since everyone knows the songs, it takes a lot of courage to get up there are sing the standards for a discerning audience. Unfortunately, Doug's audience probably wasn't well versed in South Louisiana music, but he does a great job none the less, especially on "I got to pray to God above, send me back the gir-hurl I lo-ove," with Augie banging out those Louisiana triplets the whole time. He truly is begging for that. Another line from Harry Simoneaux, " None of the singers had the quality voice--that is, with vibrato. None of them had formal training. However, they made up for this by singing what they knew about, and what they lived through . . . " I can't describe it for Doug or Bobby any better than that.

Here's the Playlist:

Linda Rondstat; Dark End of the Street; s/t; Capitol

Doug Sahm and the Texas Tornados; On Bended Knee; S.D.Q. '98; Watermelon
Clarence Henry; Why Can't You; Argo 5395
Muddy Waters; Why Are People Like That; The Woodstock Album; Chess
Paul Butterfield; Done A Lot of Wrong Things; Better Days; Bearsville
Joe Cocker; The Jealous Kind; Stingray; A&M
Fats Domino; Walking to New Orleans; Best of; UA
Bobby Charles; Everyone's Laughing; Jewel 728 (Walking to New Orleans; Westside)

Roy Head; She's About a Mover; Crazy Cajun (Introduction to; Fuel)
Joe Medwick; Get Soulful; Crazy Cajun Recordings; Edsel
Helene Smith; What's In the Lovin'; Deep City (Eccentric Soul: The Outskirts of Deep City)
James & Bobby Purify; Shake a Tail Feather; Bell 669
Gene Chandler; Cowboys to Girls; There Was a Time; Brunswick

Hannibal & the Headhunters; Land of 1000 Dances; Rampart 642
Waylon Jennings; Jole Blonde; Brunswick 9-55130 (Phase One; Hip-O)
Jerry Lee Lewis; Mathilda; Memphis Beat; Smash
Cookie & the Cupcakes; Breaking Up Is Hard To Do; (Kings of Swamp Pop; Ace)
Clint West; Sweet Susanna; Swamp Pop Hits; JIN

Percy Sledge; Feed the Flame; Take Time To Know Her; Atlantic
The Five Royales; Don't Let It Be in Vein; K-10147 (Roots of Soul; Charley)
Oscar Toney, Jr.; Any Day Now; For Your Precious Love; Bell (Rev-Ola)
Carla Thomas; I've Got No Time To Lose; Atlantic 2238
Ernest Tubb; The Way You're Living; Thanks a Lot; Decca

Wilson Pickett; Time Is On Your Side; The Wicked Pickett; Atlantic
Johnny Copeland; On Bended Knee; (Down and Out;
O. V. Wright; You're Gonna Make Me Cry; Backbeat 548

Dale Hawkins; La-la La-la; L.A., Memphis, & Tyler Texas; Bell

Department of Appreciation: Thanks to my good friend Gene for introducing me to Bobby Charles. If he ever makes good on his threat to write the Bobby Charles biography, I'll be first in line to buy one.

Department of Favors: Sign this petition!

Department of the Future: The first set focuses on some of the bigger names covering Bobby Charles, at some point in the future I'll play the Rod Bernard and Warren Storm and other Southern Louisiana versions of his tunes.

Department of Corrections: Gene pointed out to me that Doug Sahm also did Bobby Charles's "Tennessee Blues" (another great song) for his second Atlantic LP: Texas Tornado. He also pointed me to this good article on the latter days of Bobby's career. Thanks again!

Get It When I Want It: Candi Staton and George Jackson in Muscles Shoals

2008-03-03T21:32:00.009-06:00

Running out of time this week for anything researched, I figured I'd throw out this gem from Candi Stanton's phenomenal Fame LP, "I'm Just a Prisoner."

There's a lot of great things to say about this LP, from the kicking title track to the Clarence Carter penned (autobiographical? since the two were soon to be married) "I'd Rather Be an Old Man's Sweetheart (Than a Young Man's Fool") to a gentler country soul of "Another Man's Woman, Another Woman's Man" and her take on "That's How Strong My Love Is." Hell, there isn't a weak track on the whole thing!

With so much talent, personalities and great material, there's a wealth of stories. All I want to mention about "Get It When I Want It" is the great meeting on the Southern Soul Route 72 between Memphis and Muscle Shoals. These sessions took place in late 1968 (and maybe early 1969), after Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham had flown Muscle Shoals to join Chips Moman up in Memphis, and Rick Hall had hired Geroge Jackson from Memphis as a staff writer after Goldwax had disintegrated. While Dan and Spooner brought their country soul sensibilities to Memphis, George Jackson and his newest close collaborator, Raymond Moore, brought more of that Memphis shake to Muscle Shoals. It worked out for both with Dan taking The Box Top's "The Letter" to Number 1 and, in 1971, Rick Hall producing a George Jackson song with the Osmonds up to Number 1. Not too shabby.

Here's the lack of information I've got (or, don't have): This is the only version of the song I know; I don't know the session players exactly (although it sounds like one "David" Allman, and he was round the studio at this time); I have no good biographical information on Raymond Moore (anybody out there with links?).

Regardless, the cut is smokin' with that trademark George Jackson launch into the first verse. Where Dan Penn tunes tend to ease in the verse and build into the chorus, George Jackson's best work tends to get right up on ya. [The plainest example of this difference I can think of is James Carr's "Dark End of the Street" vs. "Coming Back to My Baby"]. Just check out how Candi bursts into that first line, "For a LON-NG time . . . " and pushes that Southern twang "ruh-hunninh around . . . " And she pushes the vocals as hard as the guitar and horns: "You you you!" That's the meeting of Memphis and Muscle Shoals that I love about these sessions and this LP. After all, as the liner notes to the LP state, "Candi Staton's a young girl, a cute eyefull of a girl. But most of all she's a Southern girl." And it's just so damn sexy, like the best Southern girls.

I backed up the Staton here with a similar track from Wilson Pickett recorded around the exact same time at Fame, but this one written by David Porter and Isaac Hayes from the "Hey Jude" LP. It's probably almost exactly the same group working on the sessions (Wilson did 4 tracks written by George Jackson and Raymond Moore). While I like "Toe Hold," it doesn't quite hit the same way as the Staton despite a great effort by Pickett: the record is great, but doesn't quite have that gentle drive against the punch. A counterpoint I guess.

Barney Hoskyns has a great quote from Candi about working with Rick Hall: "Rick was never mean, but he would make me sing a song over and over again until I was hoarse. He wanted to work up the emotions out of me so that I got a hoarse kind of Wilson Pickett sound." Well, he got that and much more.

Here's the set list:

Joe Tex; Dark End of the Street; Country Soul; Atlantic

Candi Staton; Get It When I Want It; I'm Just a Prinsoner; Fame
Wilson Pickett; Toe Hold; Hey Jude; Atlantic
Don Varner; Finally Got Over; Downbeat (Finally Got Over; Shout!)
Wallace Brothers; You're Mine; Simms 174
Charlie Rich; Lonely Weekends; Sun

Bobby Womack; How Does It Feel; Atlantic 2388 (Atlantic Unearthed: Soul Brothers (Rhino)
Wanda Jackson: Lost Weekend; ST 1511 (Right or Wrong; Bear Family)
William Bell; It's Happening All Over Again; The Soul of a Bell; Stax
Dan Penn; Ain't No Love; Nobody's Fool; Bell
Bobby Lee; I Was Born a Loser; Sue 144

Delbert McClinton; This Boy; Crazy Cajun Recordings; Edsel
Ted Taylor; It's Too Late (She's Gone); Ronn 34
Van Broussard; She's Just Teasing You; (Van and Grace: Louisiana Music Legends)
Wynn Stewart; (Above and Beyond) The Call of Love; Hilltop; (California Country: The Best of the Challenge Masters)

Johnny Truitt; Your Love Is Worth the Pain; Avet 9149 (The Heart of Southern Soul; Excello)
Otis Clay; Trying To Live My Life Without You; Hi 2226
Eddie Hinton; Brand New Man; Very Extremely Dangerous; Capricorn
Syl Johnson; The Love You Left Behind; Back for a Taste of Your Love; Hi
Joe Tex; Don't Let Your Left Hand Know; Dial 4006

O. V. Wright; Nickel and a Nail; Backbeat 622
Tony Joe White; My Kind of Woman; s/t; Monument
Bettye LaVette; It Ain't Easy; Child of the 70's; Rhino
Bobby Charles; Street People; s/t [Small Town Talk]; Bearsville
Doug Sahm; Medley: One Too Many Mornings / Got To Sing a Happy Song; Together After Five; Smash

Outro: Ry Cooder; Dark End of the Street; Boomer's Story; Warner Brothers

Department of Apologies: Due to some confusion of djs and unexpected guests, this show is pretty sloppy. Oh well, there's always room for improvement. That, and (probably because of the alliteration) I always pronounce Staton with an extra n. Sorry.

Department of Further Apologies: The podcast starts a few minutes late as I had trouble parking.

Department of the Future: Next week, Doug Sahm does Bobby Charles!

Fast as Falling: Arthur Alexander's Rainbow Road (Donnie Fritts/Dan Penn)

2008-02-22T16:55:00.011-06:00

Arthur Alexander's "Rainbow Road."

No theme this week, but I've been listening this week to Donnie Fritts's solo album "Prone to Lean" and reading "Get a Shot of Rhythm and Blues: The Arthur Alexander Story" by Richard Younger and figured I'd write a little about Arthur's version of the Fritts/Penn song "Rainbow Road."

Donnie and Dan wrote this song early on in their Muscle Shoals careers (1965), and loosely based the beginning on Arthur's sudden ascent to stardom, when "You Better Move On" hit the charts, peaking at No. 24 (1962). Arthur was still working as a bellhop at the Muscle Shoals Hotel (and selling moonshine in a dry county!) when he recorded the song, and by the time Donnie and Dan penned the tune, The Rolling Stones had covered "You Better Move On," the Beatles had done "Anna (Go To Him)," and Arthur had toured the South and East Coast, released a handful of singles and one LP on Dot, been on American Bandstand, and, most importantly, had inspired everyone in the small city of Muscle Shoals.

(Hey, I'm no expert, but to back up that last claim, when I saw Dan Penn (with Bobby Emmons) about a year and a half ago at Fitzgerald's, there was only one song that he played that wasn't one of his own: "You Better Move On." It was an impromptu move, and he explained by saying, "This song put Muscle Shoals on the map and got everything happening.")

By the time Arthur stepped into American Studios in 1971 to record for Warner Brothers, he hadn't charted a song in about 10 years, had been arrested a few times for drugs, been through a divorce, been in Bryce Hospital three times for mental breakdowns, been through electo-shock (probably), and just about everything that could go wrong with his life had. In reading Younger's biography, one of the few consistent things in Arthur's life throughout these times was his friendship with Donnie Fritts. Donnie had done just about everything with Arthur, from driving him around the South to radio stations during the rise of "You Better Move On" (not a task for the thin skinned in early 1960s Alabama--check out the stories in Sweet Soul Music) to getting him a job at the great Nashville publishing company, Combine (home to tons of great songwriters, but that's another show), right before these recordings.

The song had been done by a few before Arthur finally got around to recording it for himself (I vaguely remember Dan Penn saying that he and Donnie had written the song for Arthur), most notably by Joe Simon, Percy Sledge, and Bill Brandon. While the first part of the song is based on Arthur, the rest about the great Little Willie John (but that story is yet another show). In my opinion, this is the definite version.

First off, that country sliding intro from Reggie Young, and the soft keys from Bobby Emmons on the electric organ set the tone perfectly for Arthur's voice. Some overdubbed strings build that great gentle tone of the first two verses. Both wistful and nostalgic with a sense of the hard edge of experience (normally I hate it when music writing gets too much into biography to explain a song, but in this circumstance I can't help it). How Arthur simply draws out "Roa-hooad, Lord Now," right out of the WSM and gospel of his youth, straight into the quick change of "But then one night . . . " It's perfect.

When your rise is that sudden, "fast as falling" everything changes.

There's a lot more to that story and there's a lot more of Arthur Alexander and Donnie Fritts. Buy yourself a copy of "Get a Shot of Rhythm and Blues" by Richard Younger, it's full of great information on the whole Muscle Shoals scene, as well as Nashville, and it's just plain out well-written and a great read.

Some day I'll do a full show of Donnie Fritts songs (there's a lot of good ones out there), and I'll we'll tell some more of his story.
Thanks again for listening and reading!

Here's the playlist:

Percy Sledge; The Dark End of the Street; The Percy Sledge Way; Atlantic

Arthur Alexander; Rainbow Road; s/t; Warner Brothers
Kris Kristofferson; Epitaph (Black & Blue); Silver Tongued Devil & I; Monument
Ray Charles; We Had It All; Love & Peace; Atlantic (Complete Country and Western Recordings; Rhino)
Donnie Fritts; Prone to Lean; Prone To Lean; Atlantic

Cleveland Crochet & the Hill Billys; Sugar Bee; Goldband 1106
Jimmy Donley; A Woman's Gonna Have Her Way; Born To Be a Loser; Crazy Cajun
James & Bobby Purify; I Was Born To Lose Out; Bell 721 (Shake a Tailfeather; Sundazed)
Ted Taylor; Somebody's Always Trying; Okeh (The Ever Wonderful: Okeh Soul 1962-1966; Shout!)
Joe Simon; Come On and Get It; SS7 2628

Otis Redding; I Love You More Than Words Can Say; Atlantic Unearther: Soul Brothers (Rhino)
Otis Clay; Is It Over; Cotillion 44104
Jean Shepherd; Leave Me Alone; Heartaches and Tears; Capitol
Solomon Burke; Then You Can Tell Me Goodbye; I Wish I Knew; Atlantic
Freddy Fender; Since I Met You Baby; Since I Met You Baby; GRT

Johnson, Hawkins, Tatum & Durr; You're All I Need To Make It; Capsoul (Eccentric Soul 001; Numero Uno)
Roscoe Shelton; I'm In Too Deep; SS7 2582
Johnny Adams; You Can Depend On Me; Reconsider Me (Charley)
Augie Meyer's Western Head Band; Release Me; Finally in Lights (Edsel)
Tony Borders; Lonely Weekend; Uni 55180 (Cheaters Never Win; Soulscape
The Hacienda Brothers; Cry Like A Baby; What's Wrong With Right; Proper

George Jackson; My Desires Are Getting the Best of Me; Fame 1457
Conway Twitty; Another Man's Woman; Look Into My Teardrops; Decca
Bill Brandon; It's All Wrong, It's All Right; Moonsong 9005 (On the Rainbow Road; Soulscape)
Anne Peebles; I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down; Hi 2232

Department of Additions: Here's the Soul Detective Case on Allen Orange I mentioned. Check out the podcasts--they're great.

Department of Future Corrections: The audio on my podcast is just horrible. Sorry. I've talked to some people, and I'll hopefully be getting mp3s straight off the board in the future, so they should eliminate the hum.

No Sad Songs!

2008-02-15T19:16:00.007-06:00

Hey, it's the day after Valentine's Day and what better than this tapper from Oscar Toney, Jr. to "show me how baby love can be."

The version appearing on the show was recorded at American Studios with Chips Moman engineering and Papa Don Schroeder at the producing helm in early 1967. It's the American all-star band with Bobby Emmons (organ), Reggie Young (guitar) and Tommy Cogbill (bass) and Gene Chrisman (drums). Right as Toney's great rendition of Jerry Butler's "For Your Precious Love," the Purifys' "Shake a Tail Feather" and The Box Tops' "The Letter" had put American Studios as the center of the soul recording universe. The band is kicking and, although this song was never released as a single, it works perfectly as the end of the full length LP: Oscar renders the dark depths of Dan Penn's "Dark End of the Street" and "Do Right Man, Do Right Woman" with surprising compassion, punches "Down in Texas" right onto that line between pleading and loving, and hits that deep deep soul with "For Your Precious Love." And here's his conclusion.

On "No Sad Songs," I can't get over the nice (most likely Sweet Inspirations over-dubs courtesy of Papa Don) backing chorus against that upper rasp of Oscar when he sings the chorus. It throws the lyrics perfectly against those pulse horns (thanks Chips!) and the alternating chug and swirl of Reggie Young's guitar. Not coincidentally, the arrangement is much like the Joe Simon version that came out on Sound Stage 7 as both a single and on the LP of the same name (well, it's no coincidence since Chips arranged them both). The Joe Simon recording mutes some of the highs, adds the touch of strings, and eases much more from the chorus to the verses. The difference between the recordings shows Chips' ear for the singer: While Oscar's version pushes that edge towards unabashed rejoice, Joe's (even though the song is a bit out of his great wheelhouse), slides smoothly into that country soul resignation of great things.

There's also one lyrical difference where I prefer Oscar Toney's version:

"Now there's no sad song in my heart / You took away the pain that tore me apart / You put love sunshine where there used to gray / And the Lord will love you Baby for being that way."

Thanks for listening (and reading). Feel free to comment.

Hope y'all's Valentine's were as moving as that song.

The Playlist:

Bobby "Blue" Bland; I'm Not Ashamed; Two Steps from the Blues; Duke (MCA)

Johnnie Taylor; I Need A Lot of Love; D1010 (Sam Cooke's SAR Records Story; ABCKO)
Carl Marshall; I Can't Live Without You; Double Hit 801
Solomon Burke; What Am I Living For; Bell 783
Bettye LaVette; He Made a Woman Out of Me; Silver Fox 16 (Take Another Piece of My Heart; Varese Saraband)
Waylon Jennings; 'Cause You Asked Me Too; Honky Tonk Heroes; Buddha

Homer Banks; 60 Minutes of Your Love; Minit 32008 (Hooked On Love; Stateside)
Jimmy Hughes; I'm A Man of Action; FAME 1011
Arthur Conley; I Can't Stop (No No No); Sweet Soul Music; Atlantic (Collectables)
Mighty Sam McClain; I Need A Lot of Lovin'; Amy 984 (Papa True Love; Sundazed)
Don Varner; The Power of Love; (Finally Got Over; Shout!)

Percy Sledge; Out of Left Field; Take Time To Know Her; Atlantic
Joe Ely; Treat Me Like a Saturday NIght; Joe Ely; MCA
Joe Tex; I'll Never Do You Wrong; Soul Country; Atlantic (Complete Dial Recordings 3; Shout!)
O. V. Wright; I'll Take Care of You; Backbeat 007
Hersey Taylor; Let Me Make You Happy; Future Stars 1001

Touissant McCall; Nothing Takes the Place of You; Ronn 3 (Nothing Takes the Place of You; WestSide)
Don Gibson; I Love You So Much It Hurts; I Love You So Much It Hurts; RCA
Tim Hardin; Reason to Believe; The Verve Recordings
Arthur Alexander; Another Place, Another Time; SoundStage7 2626 (The Monument Years; Ace)

Oscar Toney, Jr.; No Sad Songs; For Your Precious Love; Bell 6006-S (Rev-Ola)
Bobby Womack; What Is This; Minit (Midnight Mover; Capitol)
Irma Thomas; We Got Something Good; Chess 2036 (Down At Muscle Shoals; Chess/P-Vine)
Wilson Pickett; I Found The One; The Sound of . . . ; Atlantic
The Impressions; Talking About My Baby; Keep On Pushing; ABC (Kent)

Department of Additions: Here's the Joe Ely link I mentioned.

Radio Show February 8, 2008

2008-02-11T15:13:00.000-06:00

From The Dark End of the Street, February 8, 2008

A scattershot throw into the depths of Louisiana Music in honor of Mardi Gras:

Allen Toussaint; Go Back Home; ALON 9021

Earl King; Those Lonely, Lonely Nights; Ace 509 (Earl's Pearls; Westside)
Lee Dorsey; So Long; 45 Amy 945
Betty Harris; I'm Gonna Get You; Sansu 471
Curly Moore; Goodbye; Sansu 468
Percy Mayfield; Louisiana; Best of; Specialty

Professor Longhair; She Walks Right In; Atlantic 897 (Getting Funky; Proper)
Art Neville; Too Much; Instant 3236
Chris Kenner; Something You Got; Instant (The Name of the Place; Bandy)
Warren Storm; Prisoner's Song (rerecording); King of the Dance Halls; Edsel
Mac Rebennack; Go Ahead On; (Dr. John Storm Warning; Westside)

Johnny Adams; Showdown; RIC 3507
Wallace Johnson; Baby Go Home; Sansu 476 (Get Low Down; Westside)
Eddie Giles; Baby I Care; Alarm (Sound City Soul Brothers; Soulscape)
Roscoe Robinson; We're Losing It Baby; Paula 378
Ted Taylor; I'm Gonna Hate Myself In the Morning; Alarm 114 (Sound City Soul Brothers; Soulscape)

Jerry Lee Lewis; Louisiana Man; She Still Comes Around; Smash
Fats Domino; All By Myself; Stomping; Sunset
Thedeus DeClouet; All Night Long; Greatest of the Greats; Goldband
Clarence Henry; Why Can't You; Argo 5395
Johnnie Allan; Somebody Else; Promised Land; Ace (UK)

Bobby Powell; C. C. Rider; Excello (The Heart of Southern Soul; Excello)
Merle Spears; It's Just a Matter of Time; Whit 713
Don Rich; My Lover's Prayer; Bayou Soul; Jin
Belton Richard; Get Me Another Chance; Essential; Swallow
Jimmy C. Newman; Daydreamin'; Dot 1237 (Bop A Hula; Bear Family)

Lloyd Price; Lawdy Miss Clawdy; Specialty
Joe Medwick; After Hours Man; Crazy Cajun Recordings; Edsel
Ray Algere; In My Corner; Sansu 467 (Get Low Down; Westside)
Sleep LaBeef; Ain't got No Home; Electricity; Rounder

Aaron Neville; Mojo Hanna; Make Me Strong; Charley

I left some music in my car, so alas no Irma Thomas, Bobby Charles, Cookie & the Cupcakes or Jimmy Donley, but there'll be plenty more weeks to show them off. This show has got a little bit of everything from La.: Blues, Soul, R&B, SwampPop, Cajun and Country. Note: The Podcast unfortunately cuts off before the last 3 cuts.

Well, Here Goes . . .

2008-02-08T13:40:00.000-06:00

Hey y'all,

I've been threatening myself to do this for a while and now it's all up and running (despite some technical difficulties).

I've been doing various radio shows to the Greater South Side of Chicago for years on WHPK 88.5 FM Chicago, and have re-launched the show as "From the Dark End of the Street." Taking the name (obviously) from the Chips Moman-Dan Penn composition first (and best) done by the unequalled James Carr, and later covered by a variety of artists from California Hippies to Country-politan Duets to 70's Hit Makers to Group Harmonizers to Indie Rockers. The heroes of the music of the Great Southland--from Muscles Shoals to Memphis to Nashville to Macon to Austin to Lafayette, Louisiana. Some shows will have vague themes, but most of all the theme is gonna be the music, with a little bit on content thrown in for knowledge's sake.

I do a new show (just about) every Friday morning from 10:00-11:30am. You can tune in on-line at the above link, or just subscribe to the podcast which I'll attempt to update every Friday afternoon. Hopefully I'll be beefing up this blog with links, commentary and other stuff, but first things first: The Music.

Thanks for tuning in. And check out the podcast.