Little Milton - Grits Ain't Groceries (Stax)

Milton was born James Milton Campbell, Jr., in the Mississippi Delta town of Inverness and raised in Greenville by a farmer and local blues musician. By age twelve he had learned the guitar and was a street musician, chiefly influenced by T-Bone Walker and his blues and rock and roll contemporaries. In 1952, while still a teenager playing in local bars, he caught the attention of Ike Turner, who was at that time a talent scout for Sam Phillips' Sun Records. He signed a contract with the label and recorded a number of singles. None of them broke through onto radio or sold well at record stores, however, and Milton left the Sun label by 1955.

After trying several labels without notable success, including Trumpet Records, Milton set up the St. Louis based Bobbin Records label, which ultimately scored a distribution deal with Leonard Chess' Chess Records. As a record producer, Milton helped bring artists such as Albert King and Fontella Bass to fame, while experiencing his own success for the first time. After a number of small format and regional hits, his 1962 single, "So Mean to Me," broke onto the Billboard R&B chart, eventually peaking at #14.

Following a short break to tour, managing other acts, and spending time recording new material, he returned to music in 1965 with a more polished sound, similar to that of B.B. King. After the ill-received "Blind Man" (R&B: #86), he released back-to-back hit singles. The first, "We're Gonna Make It," a blues-infused soul song, topped the R&B chart and broke through onto Top 40 radio, a format then dominated largely by white artists. He followed the song with #4 R&B hit "Who's Cheating Who?" All three songs were featured on his album, We're Gonna Make It, released that summer.

Throughout the late 1960s Milton released a number of moderately successful singles, but did not issue a further album until 1969, with Grits Ain't Groceries featuring his hit of the same name, as well as "Just a Little Bit" and "Baby, I Love You". With the death of Leonard Chess the same year, Milton's distributor, Checker Records fell into disarray, and Milton joined the Stax label two years later. Adding complex orchestration to his works, Milton scored hits with "That's What Love Will Make You Do" and "What It Is" from his live album, What It Is: Live at Montreux. He appeared in the documentary film, Wattstax, which was released in 1973. Stax, however, had been losing money since late in the previous decade and was forced into bankruptcy in 1975.

After leaving Stax, Milton struggled to maintain a career, moving first to Evidence, then the MCA imprint Mobile Fidelity Records, before finding a home at the independent record label, Malaco Records, where he remained for much of the remainder of his career. His last hit single, "Age Ain't Nothin' But a Number," was released in 1983 from the album of the same name. In 1988, Little Milton was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame and won a W.C. Handy Award. His most final album, Think of Me, was released in May 2005 on the Telarc imprint, and included writing and guitar on three songs by Peter Shoulder of the UK-based blues-rock trio Winterville.

The name 'Little Milton' was reused for Gerald Bostock, the fictional boy poet central to Jethro Tull's 1972 record Thick as a Brick. Milton died on August 4, 2005 from complications following a stroke.








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Hey gang!  I must admit that I had some reservations about posting this.  Why?  Well it's more about timing than anything.  You see, this is our introductory Little Milton post, and I wasn't sure if this album was the right choice.  I realise that most of you are ultra familiar with Milton and probably have this side in your stacks already.  But we must approach this with the interests of the newbies in mind as well.

So I decided to give it a real hard listen, and pit it against some of his classic albums.  Admittedly I only have a couple on the Chess imprint, but this live album takes the cake.  If there is a better, more definitive sampling of Little Milton on wax... please tell me what it is.  This album cooks on all levels!!

As with all of my rips, I have included the back cover which reveals the details around this historic gig.  I will leave that portion out of the post, but musically speaking?  OOOOOOOoooooooooweeee!!!  As I already mentioned, I can't profess to be an expert when it comes to the entirety of his career, but I just can't see how this LP wasn't recorded during its peak.  Aside from his big hit Grits Ain't Groceries, the band expand on each song with wonderful musicianship.  Incredibly deep and stirring breakdowns eventually rise up and explode into wild and tormented passion - in a way which only this brand of  music can deliver.  I found myself in great envy of the audience at a couple of points.  It must have been a real treat to have been in the presence of this group on that fateful night.

The other great news is that my LP is an ultra minty dream come true.  Dynamically it certainly profiles the better aspects of vinyl - we have, in part, to thank the engineers for an excellent recording both at the source and at the mixing table.  Ripped at 24/44.1 wav and dithered to 16/44.1 FLAC, this is sure to please... enjoy!!!

After his career-defining tenure at Chess Records in the 1960s, Little Milton moved to Stax Records in the '70s. Interestingly, one of the first recordings Milton made for Stax was part of the 1972 Watts Summer Festival in Los Angeles. While top names on the Stax roster (Isaac Hayes, etc.) played at the L.A. Coliseum, the label set several of their stars up at the nearby Summit Club. GRITS AIN'T GROCERIES is taken from Milton's performance at the Summit, and finds the artist's searing guitar and impassioned, bluesy singing in top form.
Milton is backed here by horns and a hard-driving rhythm section that add brassy punctuation in classic Stax style. Milton's signature sound, established at Chess, was a fusion of blues and soul that owed a debt to B.B. King and Bobby "Blue" Bland, though Milton plays with more edge than either of those artists. That edge is on perfect display on this date. Milton's gutsy vocal performances are highlighted on the burning title track and on "Blind Man," while his guitar is as raw and in-your-face as on his early Sun singles. The energy--from both the band and the audience--is palpable on this live date.

- taken from CDUniverse

Larry Darnell - I'll Get Along Somehow

When the Chubbman first posted this I promised that I had an addendum. Of course, being me, it took a little longer than anticipated and so I am driven to move this back to the front so y'all will notice.

I have great affection for these Rt 66 LP's so I won't duplicate anything, but Unky Cliff (aka Captain Excess) has another of those cheapo Bayou Records discs that has stuff unseen elsewhere. Every label has it's niche.

The add-on has 14 additional tracks, almost doubling you up.

link in comments

The Modern Downhome Blues Sessions, Vol. 2: Mississippi and Arkansas

The story of the Bhari family and RPM - Modern Records is an American tale. The Bihari's were Hungarian Jewish refugees. The six or seven children (it has been a while since I read this) where sent here without their parents with the idea that the eldest would take care of the rest, but the family was split up and scattered across multiple orphanages.

Undeterred the two eldest boys, Jules and Lester, made it out to Los Angeles with the eldest girl as well, if memory serves, and set themselves up in the jukebox industry. Everything was in the family and as each sibling grew old enough to leave their respective orphanages, they were brought to L.A. and into the business. Eventually the entire clan was reunited as their parents had intended.

Over time, Jules and Saul grew frustrated with the inability of their distributors to keep them supplied with the quality 'country blues' that they found was selling on their boxes and realized that they could make money on both ends of the game if they started making their own records. They managed to build their own studio, pressing and distribution facility all in one. Now they needed artists and while they mined some of the local talent in L.A., they had a fair amount of competition there. They found some people to record through Bob Geddins up in Oakland, but they needed more to grow the label.

This is where youngest brother Joe Bihari comes in. Joe and the youngest sister had been sent to orphanages in New Orleans and so grew up amongst the sounds of the Crescent City. Where as his older siblings viewed this solely as a business to be milked for as much cash with as little outlay as possible (Jules would brag about making thousands off of sessions that cost him nothing but a bottle of whiskey and a cheap whore), Joe actually knew the music and what he was hearing and could tell if it was good or not. That is how Joe became the choice to go on these talent seeking road trips through the South.

I don't recall the details of how Joe found the teenage Ike Turner, but the ambitious and talented youngster was a godsend for sure. There is no way that Bihari could have found the people he did without Ike and the music world of today would be a very different landscape without the contributions of Ike Turner. It is also true that no other member of the Bihari family would have been able to tolerate driving around and staying with a black man other than the New Orleans raised Joe.

Other than perhaps Cleanhead Love, most of the fellows on this particular volume are documented real people, but on some of the later sets the names and song titles are completely made up due to the haphazard record keeping, both on the road and back at the Modern headquarters.

Sister Ernestine Washington 1943-1948

Sweet Soul Music 1962

And
da
beat 
goes
on!

The Best of Gotham R&B

This one from Unky Cliff is well out of print and selling for stupid money now.

1. Butch's Blues - Ernie Fields Orch.
2. Milton's Boogie - Roy Milton's Solid Senders
3. I Ain't Mad At You - The Jones Boys
4. Creepin' And Peepin' (Tippin' In) - Jeese Price
5. Fool's Blues - Jimmy Rushing
6. Rock It - Lil Armstrong
7. Sparrow In The Barrel - Johnny Sparrow
8. Movin' Out Today - Cats And The Fiddle
9. Why Did You Waste My Time? - Screamin' Jay Hawkins
10. Hey Now - J.B. Summers
11. Alexandria, Va - Bill Jennings
12. It's Been A Long Time - Harry Crafton
13. Rock The Joint - Jimmy Preston
14. Woody - Leo Parker
15. Three Little Words - The Three Peppers
16. Bow Wow Wow - Frank Motley
17. Jitterbug Jump - Panama Francis
18. She Walk Right In - T.N.T. Tribble
19. Love Muscle Boogie - The Rhythm Rockers
20. Disc Jockey's Boogie - Mike Pedicin Quartet

I wasn't able to find even a scrap of information about this release, sorry.

The Modern Downhome Blues Sessions, Vol. 1; Arkansas & Mississippi

 You got your first taste of these sessions with Traveling Record Man but that was just the tip of the iceberg, there are 5 subsequent volumes! Many of these artists are only known through these field recordings made by Joe Bihari and Ike Turner as they drove through the deep South scouting for talent. Not every guy is some unknown genius or anything like that, but in most cases you can certainly hear why they recorded them.

" The Modern Downhome Blues Sessions Vol.1: Arkansas and Mississippi 1951-1952 features recordings that Joe Bihari and his young talent scout Ike Turner made between November 1951 and January 1952 in North Little Rock, Arkansas and in Greenville and Canton, Mississippi. The featured artists include Elmore James, Boyd Gilmore, Drifting Slim, Junior Brooks, Sunny Blair, Houston Boines, Charley Booker and Ernest Lane."

Barbara Carr - Late Bloomer

 Sometimes good things come late in life, Barbara Carr didn't really hit her stride until she was in her fifties, an age when most of her peers were winding down or completely retired.

"After decades of toiling in obscurity (including a low-profile stint on Chess), Barbara Carr finally began to make a name for herself in the late '90s as a brassy, often X-rated belter in the Southern soul-blues vein. A native of St. Louis, Carr was born Barbara Crosby on January 9, 1941, and began singing in church as a choir girl, eventually forming a family gospel group called the Crosby Sisters. She joined a singing/dancing troupe in grade school and went on to sing in the high school choir, around which time she also helped start a singing group called the Comets Combo that played popular material at local clubs. In 1963, she joined a locally popular group called the Petites, which opened for Smokey Robinson & the Miracles. She met St. Louis-based saxophonist/bandleader Oliver Sain through her brother-in-law (she adopted her husband's last name, Carr) and successfully auditioned to join Sain's band.

Helped by her connection with Sain, Carr signed a solo contract with Chess in 1966 and recorded soulful singles like "Don't Knock Love," "I Can't Stop Now," and "Think About It Baby" over the next few years. Initially excited just to have a record deal, Carr grew frustrated with Chess' seeming lack of interest in promoting her; she stopped recording for a period in the late '60s to raise her children, and then returned to Chess circa 1970, albeit still without much recognition. She left Sain's band in 1972, and sang with a number of other, mostly short-lived groups around the St. Louis area. Carr recorded another single for Gateway in the late '70s, "Physical Love Affair," but again found little promotional support. She and her husband eventually formed their own label, Bar-Car, in 1982, and Carr issued a number of singles over the next few years, many recorded at the legendary Muscle Shoals studios in Alabama. This material helped form the basis for Carr's first full-length album, 1989's Good Woman Go Bad, which was later reissued on the Shreveport-based Paula label in 1994. A second collection, Street Woman, was released on Bar-Car on cassette in 1992, then upgraded to CD in 1994.

Word of Carr's recordings began to spread, and she wound up signing with the Ecko label in 1996, releasing her label debut, Footprints on the Ceiling, in 1997. The follow-up firmly established Carr's new tough, bawdy blues-mama persona; issued in 1998, both the title and the lyrics of Bone Me Like You Own Me left little to the imagination. Carr was becoming popular on blues and retro-soul radio stations around the South, positioning herself as something of a female counterpart to Marvin Sease; her success finally enabled her to quit the day job she'd held for over 20 years at an electronics company. Having hit upon a winning formula, Carr stuck to it for a succession of follow-ups, which included 1999's What a Woman Wants, 2000's Stroke It, 2001's The Best Woman, 2002's On My Own, 2003's Talk to Me, and 2006's Down Low Brother." AMG

Ann Peebles - 99 pounds of Soul

 A diminutive singer with a powerful voice and an even stronger attitude, Ann Peebles was one of the artists who defined Willie Mitchell's legendary Memphis soul label Hi Records, along with Al Green and, later, O.V. Wright. Easily the best female singer in the Hi stable, Peebles ranked among the finest deep Southern soul singers of the decade, notching an instant classic with her 1973 hit "I Can't Stand the Rain." She co-wrote a generous share of her own material with husband Don Bryant, and while she cut plenty of love and heartbreak tunes, her persona was built on the grit and resilient strength she displayed on songs like "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down." Peebles wasn't always as appreciated on the charts as her work often merited, especially among pop listeners, but her best recordings hold up among the best of their era.

Peebles was born April 27, 1947, in East St. Louis, Missouri. Her father was a minister and her mother a singer, and naturally Peebles began singing at a young age in her father's church choir. She also sang with the family group, the Peebles Choir, which had been touring the gospel circuit since Peebles' grandfather founded it a generation earlier. As a teenager, she sang secular music on the St. Louis club circuit, supported and accompanied by her father. There she met blues bandleader Oliver Sain, a local legend, and eventually joined his revue. Peebles caught her big break in 1968 on a trip to Memphis, where she asked to sit in on a club set by trumpeter Gene "Bowlegs" Miller. Miller was already signed to Hi Records at the time, and duly impressed with Peebles' voice, he brought her to Hi house producer Willie Mitchell for a tryout. Mitchell, who was still in the process of shifting the label from country to R&B (and had not yet discovered Al Green), immediately offered Peebles a contract; she was still shy of her 21st birthday.

Mitchell teamed Peebles with singer and house songwriter Don Bryant, seeking a bit more seasoning in her R&B phrasing. Peebles and Bryant soon began writing together (and would also end up dating). In the meantime, Peebles recorded her debut single, "Walk Away," a song written by Sain that just missed the Top 20 on the R&B chart in 1969. The follow-up, "Give Me Some Credit," was also a minor hit. Both songs were featured on the singer's debut album, This Is Ann Peebles. Her fourth single, 1970's "Part Time Love," was her first R&B Top Ten. 1972's Straight from the Heart was her first artistically realized LP, however; it featured several minor R&B hits in "I Pity the Fool," "Slipped, Tripped and Fell in Love," "I Feel Like Breaking Up Somebody's Home" (later covered by Bette Midler), and "Somebody's on Your Case," plus the signature album track "99 Lbs." Her hot streak continued with 1973's I Can't Stand the Rain, which many critics still regard as her finest work. "I'm Gonna Tear Your Playhouse Down" was a decent-sized hit, and the brilliant title cut -- written by Peebles, Bryant, and disc jockey Bernard Miller -- became her biggest hit, peaking at number six R&B and famously becoming a favorite of John Lennon. She also charted with "(You Keep Me) Hangin' On" and "Do I Need You," but more importantly, married Bryant in 1974.

In the wake of "I Can't Stand the Rain," Peebles was a star on the soul circuit, even if she never duplicated its commercial success. "Beware," "Come to Mama," and "Dr. Love Power" were all charting singles from 1975's Tellin' It, but the rise of disco and the sale of Hi Records in 1977 would conspire against Peebles' career momentum. 1977's If This Is Heaven produced only one single in the title cut, which was more polished than Peebles' usual fare; none of the singles from 1979's The Handwriting Is on the Wall cracked the R&B Top 50. With Mitchell and most of the Hi house band gone, Peebles took a hiatus from the music business to concentrate on her family.

Peebles reunited with Mitchell in 1989 for Call Me, an album released on Mitchell's short-lived new label, Waylo; however, longtime fans generally found it a disappointing comeback overpowered by sterile electronic instrumentation. Peebles returned to a more organic approach by signing with roots label Rounder's Bullseye Blues subsidiary for 1992's Full Time Love. Another effort, Fill This World with Love, followed in 1996, which featured guest spots from Mavis Staples and Shirley Brown. During the '90s, Peebles guested on several albums by Maria Muldaur. Meanwhile, "I Can't Stand the Rain" was covered by numerous artists, including Tina Turner, and revived by Missy "Misdemeanor" Elliott via sampling on her 1997 smash "The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)."

Denise LaSalle - On The Loose

Denise LaSalle (born July 16, 1939, Belzoni, Mississippi, United States) is an American blues and R&B/soul singer, songwriter, and record producer.

Most sources give her name at birth as Denise Craig, although it has also been stated that she was born Denise Allen, and that the name Craig derives from an early marriage. Raised in Belzoni, Mississippi, she sang in local churches before moving to Chicago in the early 1960s. She sat in with R&B musicians and wrote songs, influenced by country music as well as the blues, before winning a recording contract with Chess Records in 1967. Her first single, "A Love Reputation" was a modest regional hit.

After establishing an independent production company, Crajon, with her then husband Bill Jones, her first major success came in 1971 when her self-penned song, "Trapped By A Thing Called Love" was released on Detroit-based Westbound Records. This reached #1 on the national R&B chart and #13 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. The song ranked at #85 on the 1971 year-end chart. The RIAA gold disc award was made on 30 November 1971 for a million sales.

She also wrote successful follow-ups, "Now Run And Tell That" and "Man Sized Job" which made #3 and #4 in the R&B Top Ten and also charted in the Hot 100. Her early hits were recorded at the Hi recording studios in Memphis, operated by Willie Mitchell, using the cream of southern session players. She continued to have hits on Westbound and then on ABC Records through the mid 1970s, including "Love Me Right" (#10 R&B, #80 pop) She continued to produce and perform live. Her co-penned song, "Married, But Not to Each Other" (#16 R&B) was included in the 1979 The Best of Barbara Mandrell, compilation album.

In the early 1980s, she signed as a singer and songwriter with Malaco Records, for whom she released a string of critically acclaimed albums over more than 20 years, starting with Lady in the Street (1983) and Right Place, Right Time (1984). Both albums became major successes among soul blues, R&B and soul fans and on urban radio stations. In 1985, she enjoyed her only recognition in the UK Singles Chart, when her cover version of Rockin' Sidney's, "My Toot Toot", reached #6.

LaSalle appeared at the 1984 and 1993 versions of the Long Beach Blues Festival, and also in 1993, she performed at the San Francisco Blues Festival. Her 1997 album Smokin' In Bed was an unexpected commercial success. After more than a decade away, when she recorded three albums with small Memphis-based soul-blues label, Ecko, she returned to Malaco for her 2010 outing called "24 Hour Woman".

She continues to work as a live performer, particularly at festivals, and more recently has issued more gospel-tinged material. In 2011, she was inducted into the Blues Hall of Fame. LaSalle now lives in Jackson, Tennessee, with her husband, James E. Wolfe.

Betteye Swan - The Money Recordings (1964-1967)

She grew up in Arcadia, Louisiana, one of 14 children, and moved to Los Angeles, California in 1963. Although some sources state that she was in a vocal group known as The Fawns who recorded for Money Records in 1964, she has refuted this, saying that she sang with a trio in Arcadia by that name.

In 1964 she started a solo singing career, as Bettye Swann, at the prompting of local DJ Al Scott, who became her manager. After a minor hit with the self-penned "Don’t Wait Too Long," her big breakthrough came with "Make Me Yours", which topped the Billboard R&B charts in July 1967, and also made #21 on the Billboard Hot 100. In 1968 she split with Scott, moved to Georgia, won a new contract with Capitol Records and had another hit with "Don’t Touch Me" (#14 R&B, #38 Hot 100).

In 1972 she transferred to Atlantic Records, and had a couple of minor hits with "Victim of a Foolish Heart" (later revived by Joss Stone), and Merle Haggard’s "Today I Started Loving You Again." She continued to record until the mid 1970s, but with little commercial success. Her last public performance as Bettye Swann was in 1980, the year her husband and manager, George Barton, died.

As Betty Barton, she then worked in the education sector in the Las Vegas, Nevada area, and became a Jehovah's Witness. She is now retired and, according to a 2005 interview, suffers from a degenerative spinal condition.

Jimmy Hugnes - Why Not Tonight?: The Fame Recordings, Vol. 2

 At the beginning of Muscle Shoals, one of the other important guys besides Arthur Alexander was Jimmy Hughes.His song 'Steal Away' was the studio's first hit and set the model for what was to come.

Hughes, a cousin of Percy Sledge, was born and raised in Leighton, Alabama, close to Muscle Shoals. He began singing in a gospel quartet, The Singing Clouds, while at high school. In 1962, he auditioned for record producer Rick Hall at his FAME Studios. Hall was impressed, and recorded Hughes on a song, "I'm Qualified", that Hall had co-written with Quin Ivy. The record was leased to the Guyden label in Philadelphia, but was not a hit. Hughes returned to his day job at a rubber factory, and began singing secular R&B songs in local clubs.

Early in 1964, he returned to Hall with a powerful ballad he had written, "Steal Away", partly based on the gospel song "Steal Away to Jesus", and recorded the song in one take, backed by the studio rhythm section of Terry Thompson, David Briggs, Norbert Putnam and Jerry Carrigan. Hall and his friend Dan Penn then promoted the record around radio stations in the South, and it rose to # 17 on the Billboard Hot 100. The record has been cited as "a prototype not only for subsequent great soul singers such as Johnnie Taylor and Al Green, but also would help define the signature Muscle Shoals sound." On the basis of Hughes' record, Hall signed a national distribution deal with Vee-Jay Records for his FAME label. Hughes' follow-up record, "Try Me", reached # 65 on the Hot 100, and he recorded an album, Steal Away, released on the Vee-Jay label, which included the first songwriting collaborations between Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham. He also toured with Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson, Bobby Womack and others.

Hughes' next few singles were unsuccessful, as Vee-Jay Records diverted their attention to The Beatles and The Four Seasons, and then folded. However, in 1966, after the success of Percy Sledge's "When a Man Loves a Woman", Hall negotiated a new deal for his label to be distributed by Atlantic Records. Hughes returned to the charts with "Neighbor, Neighbor" (# 65 pop, # 4 R&B), "I Worship the Ground You Walk On" (# 25 R&B), and "Why Not Tonight" (# 90 pop, # 5 R&B), before moving to the Atlantic label itself with "It Ain't What You Got" (# 43 R&B, 1968).

Early in 1968, Hughes moved to Stax Records, where his recordings were issued on the subsidiary Volt label. His first record for the label, "I Like Everything About You", reached # 21 on the R&B chart, but later records were less successful. At the time, Stax was undergoing a major reorganisation with new management and new artists. Although his records, including a 1969 album Something Special, were produced by label boss Al Bell, Hughes later stated that he felt like the "low man on the totem pole" at the label, and became frustrated by what he saw as a lack of promotion. He also tired of touring and being away from his family, and in 1970 gave up recording and performing. He retrained, and got a government job making parts for nuclear power plants in the Tennessee River Valley, in later years only singing as a member of the congregation of his local church in Leighton.

Paul Gayten - Ain't Nothing Happenin'

The more you listen to this man, the more you are aware  of how great he and his bands were, easily on a par with even Louie Jordan and his ensemble. Just as Jordan was always an underrated horn player, you will discover than Gayten was a terrific piano player as well as a singer and band leader.

Between this set and the one offered previously you have pretty much all Gayten's Deluxe and Regal sides, his entire 'sweet spot'. After this material, Paul accepts an executive position at Chess and is far less active as an artist although his Chess sides are also worth seeking out even though it is no longer a working band.

Once again some of these tracks feature the great singer Annie Laurie, but many others feature another Gayten discovery, singer and occasional female impersonator Larry Darnell. I won't go into a lot of detail yet about Darnell, he's getting his own post which will also give you more Gayten. Paul was really the first king of New Orleans R&B, Dave Bartholomew, Lee Allen, and Roy Brown all come out of Gayten and he influenced every piano player in a town full of bad-ass piano players!

Memphis Blues; Important Postwar Blues, part 4

Memphis Blues: Important Postwar Blues, part 3

 What more need be said about this series? You have a couple of the earliest Little Milton tracks here, some rare treasures with Walter Horton, an appearance by Frank Strozier on the two Houston Stokes tracks....a whole lot to explore.

Memphis Blues; Important Postwar Blues, part 2

 Okay church is out and it is time for some more Blues!

When I split these things up into pieces it gets a lot harder to figure out what to say when you kind of shoot the works on volume one and now you have nothing left for numba two. Then I started looking at the list of studs who are on this one and realized it was pretty much a moot point....this one speaks for itself.

Cool freakin' picture eh?

Gospel Evangelists: God's Mighty Hand

Well it's Sunday anyway, rough week but there is a light thru those clouds and we march on!

Good Morning my brothers and sisters and welcome once again to the Elder Clifford Gospel Hour brought to you by Deacon Kiungcake. Our sponsor this morning is Boudreaux's Butt Paste, a balm good for all sorts of discomforts of the nether regions!

"If you like your gospel on the wild side, then these preacher-singers will shake you to your soul. Included are 25 tracks by the likes of the spectacular Sister O.M. Terrell, Rev. Utah Smith, Brother Willie Eason, and the stupendous Elder A. Johnson, coming on like an evangelizing Hasil Adkins with "God Don't Like It." Accompaniment is sparse -- mostly just guitar; the mood is raw and intense. This is charismatic stuff, not for the faint of heart."

Really powerful service here with a whole lot of emotion charged guitar evangelism. Some new names added to some of the now familiar powerhouses like Elder Utah Smith. Reverend Anderson Johnson is a soulful wonder who pops up on three selections, Evangelist Sister Winn will damn sure command your attention, Elder R. Wilson and his Family introduce us to harmonica evangelism and sure leave me wanting more. Brother Willie Eason, Joe Townsend, Rev. Charles White, Henry Green, there are too many gems here to count, they just keep coming. If you have yet to sample any of these raw Gospel sets, this would be a terrific place to start.

Amen

The second part of our program will follow shortly, I am feeling the spirit this morning....

Memphis Blues: Important Postwar Blues, part 1

 It really is amazing what JSP is doing in making such a wealth of historical and precious recordings available and at a reasonable price too! This 4 part set is pretty straight forward in it's scope, it is just what the title says it is; early postwar Blues recorded in Memphis.

"As usual, JSP is not shy with the quantity of titles provided in this amazing 4-CD set of Memphis Blues. All of the songs in this collection were recorded by Sam Phillips at his Memphis Recording Services studio between 1951 and 1954, with some of them getting released on his home-grown Sun label. Many of the titles however, were not released until years after they were recorded, due to recording quality issues or due to Phillips' reluctance to market them as hit-parade material.

While some of these songs overlap the ones issued on the Varese 3-CD set "Sun Records: Ultimate Blues Collection", there is plenty of stuff here for collectors and non-collectors alike to go crazy with. The sheer volume of material itself is almost overwhelming but the musical integrity suffers not in spite of.

Sam Phillips had a sensitive nose for talent and this attribute ensured that many who came to his studio looking to make a record were not overlooked. Even Sam Phillip's janitor/plumber got to put down 2 songs (Mose Vinson) and the evidence is that the guy could have made a living as a musician. The long term result of all of this musical activity is that JSP have compiled here, a priceless miniature archive of indigenous Memphis area blues circa post-WW2.

Here also, are some rare and early titles by better-known artists like Earl Hooker, James Cotton, Little Jr. Parker, Little Milton, Howlin' Wolf, Rufus Thomas, Big Walter Horton, Ike Turner, Bobby Bland, and Johnny Ace. All of these artists went on to other labels and more success following the demise of Memphis Recording Services.

The real treasures however, are the numbers waxed by the artists who made a few titles then left the business or vanished. The listener of this set will be treated to much additional pleasure from Doctor Ross, Joe Hill Louis, Jimmy DeBerry, Sammy Lewis, Willie Johnson (who became Howlin Wolf's working guitarist for a while), Willie Nix, and Houston Stokes.

Liner notes by long-term blues booster Neil Slaven are comprehensive and do a good job of drilling directly to the political times, the music business, and to the historical significance of this fine music. Collect this music now while it is still available in an artistically presentable format; it won't stay around like this forever." Amazon

Live at Tipitina's 1982

 I think most people from 'other places' are more than a bit surprised and confused that The Neville Brothers aren't particularly popular in New Orleans, at least not like they are across the rest of the country. We love The Meters, Cyrille's Uptown Allstars, Art and Aaron's earlier solo work, but somehow the general feeling seems to be that 'The Brothers' are commercial New Orleans lite.

I know that Art is more than a little confused and hurt by that and I can understand why. Hell, I not even sure that it is particularly justified but that is the way it has developed and it doesn't seem likely to change. Folks are proud of them and all that, but they don't pay much attention to their albums.

It was not always that way, however. Here in the early years of their existence is an utterly epic, powerhouse performance in front of friends and family at Tipitina's in 1982. The joy and love pouring out from the crowd is still audible 30 years later. Listen carefully to the crowd and you hear an absolute love-fest; the ladies are particularly vocal. The band would have been nearly 3 years into their experiment as a family band and just starting to really jell.

No matter what your opinion of any other Neville's you have heard, this is a different animal entirely and an absolute Must Have set of music; my mother still treasures the 2 discs I gave her 15 years ago!

It's startling how young everyone looks, even Art; of course I looked a lot different in 1982 too.