Johnny Rawls - Red Cadillac

Johnny Rawls has been delivering his own brand of Memphis blue soul (soul blues) for four decades now.  He is somebody who still lives and breathes the music.    Red Cadillac is my personal favorite Johnny Rawls album, which deservedly received the "Best Soul Blues Album" award from Living Blues in 2008

Johnny Rawls has deep credentials for blues and soul.  He was born and raised in Mississippi (Columbia, Pruvis, and Gulfport) and began his career as a professional musician while still a teenager in the late 60s.  His big break came in the mid-1970s, when O.V. Wright made him the leader and musical director of his band.   He stayed in that position until O.V.'s death.  He began his own solo career in the mid-1980s.

Johnny Rawls produced a string of solid albums for JSP records during 1996-2005, which began to showcase his multiple talents as singer, guitarist, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist.  Nevertheless, those JSP albums pale by comparison to what came later.   Rawls really hit his stride about 17 years ago, beginning with the No Boundaries album on Top Cat Records, which he then took to the next level on Heart and Soul. Red Cadillac was the killer follow up to that album.  Since then, Johnny Rawls has produced four more albums, all of which are very worthwhile and received critical praise.

The infectious and highly danceable title track on Red Cadillac is a perfect piece of Chitlin' Circuit pop, and was extremely popular on the Circuit at the time that it was released.   There are some other truly fine songs here as well.  I am particularly fond of "Wash Your Hands," "Get It While You Can (not to be confused with the Howard Tate song)," and "No One Gives A Damn."  All in all, Red Cadillac is a fine portrait of the talents of Johnny Rawls, somebody who can still deliver the whole package of 20th century blue soul sensibilities wrapped up in a 21st century package.