Geater Davis - Sadder Shades of Blue

Let's rerun Preslives original post and get another dose of Geater
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Geater Davis is one of those voices from the Chitlin’ Circuit  that is much loved by his peers and hard core Blues/Soul fans, but hardly known to the general music-loving public.  Fortunately, his recorded legacy has been issued on CD on a couple of fine compilations.  His first recordings can be found on a CD from Soundscape Records that I believe is still in print, “I’ll Play the Blues For You: The Legendary House of Orange Sessions.”   This older compilation on West Side, which is now out of print, compiles mostly recordings done in Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals for John Richbourg’s Sound Stage 7 label.    There is only a small overlap between these two compilations.  If you really like this one, be sure and buy the other one!   One song that is on both compilations is the first recording of a number that later became closely associated with Albert King – “I’ll Play the Blues For You. “

 

--> Geater Davis owes an obvious strong debt to Bobby Bland.   But his sound is more rural, with more Southern sanctified grit.   The voice is unique.  Once it grabs you, you’re hooked.    I can still remember the very first time that I heard Geater Davis on “Sadder Shade of Blue,” while listening to a "Lost Soul" compilation LP.   It blew my mind right from the get go.  I've been hunting down everything that I could find by Geater Davis ever since.   

  Geater Davis was born and raised in Texas.  He worked the Circuit for most of the 60s without a recording contract.   Allen Orange heard Davis in the late 60s and was so impressed that he started his own record label to record him: House of Orange.  In the early 70s, Davis moved to the Sound Stage Seven label where he recorded most of the tracks found here. Geater Davis died in 1984 at the young age of 38.

Willie Clayton - Let's Get Together

As long as he's been recording (from 1969 through the 2000s), one might think that Willie Clayton is an old geezer. No way -- he was just past the age of 40 when he hit his commercial stride with a couple of blues-soul albums for Ace that sold well to the Southern market (where the two interrelated idioms have never been deemed mutually exclusive).

After his debut single for Duplex, "That's the Way Daddy Did," went nowhere, Clayton left Mississippi for Chicago in 1971. Like his older Windy City compatriots Otis Clay and Syl Johnson, the young singer ended up contracted to Hi Records in Memphis, where he worked with producer Willie Mitchell and the vaunted Hi rhythm section. Hi issued a series of fine Clayton efforts on its Pawn subsidiary, including "I Must Be Losin' You," "It's Time You Made Up Your Mind," and "Baby You're Ready," but none of them hit.

Finally, in 1984, Clayton enjoyed a taste of soul success when his "Tell Me" (produced by General Crook) and "What a Way to Put It" for Compleat Records nudged on to the R&B charts.

Let's Get Together, Clayton's 1993 album for Johnny Vincent's Ace logo, was a smooth soul-blues hybrid dominated by originals but titled after Al Green's immortal hit. Simply Beautiful, his Ace follow-up, found Clayton mixing dusties by Rev. Al, Aretha Franklin, and Arthur Crudup with his own stuff. It's About Love followed in 1999.

Earl King - Earl's Pearls

Another Guitar Gus contribution and a big one! These Westside sets were hard to find when they were in print and now just forget it! I was also pleasantly surprised to discover that I had yet to do a biographical post for Earl and now it will be paired with his first recordings as it should be.

Earl King (February 7, 1934 – April 17, 2003) was an American singer, guitarist, and songwriter, most active in blues music. A composer of well known standards such as "Come On" (covered by Jimi Hendrix) and Professor Longhair's "Big Chief"...King was born Earl Silas Johnson IV in New Orleans, Louisiana. His father, a local piano player, died when King was still a baby, and he was brought up by his mother. With his mother, he started going to church at an early age. In his youth he sang gospel music, but took the advice of a friend to switch to blues to make a better living.

King started to play guitar at age 15. Soon he started entering talent contests at local clubs including the Dew Drop Inn. It was at one of those clubs where he met his idol Guitar Slim. King started imitating Slim, and his presence gave a big impact on his musical directions. In 1954, when Slim was injured in an automobile accident (right around the time Slim had the #1 R&B hit with "The Things That I Used To Do"), King was deputized to continue Slim's band tour, representing himself as Slim. After succeeding in this role, King became a regular at the Dew Drop Inn.

His first recording came in 1953. He released a 78 "Have you Gone Crazy" b/w "Begging At Your Mercy" on Savoy label as Earl Johnson. The following year, talent scout Johnny Vincent introduced King to Specialty label, and he recorded some sides including "Mother's Love" which created a little stir locally. In 1955, King signed with Johnny Vincent's label, Ace. His first single from the label "Those Lonely, Lonely Nights" become hit reaching #7 on the US Billboard R&B chart. He continued to record during his five year stay at the label, and during that time, he also he started writing songs for other artists such as Roland Stone and Jimmy Clanton.

In 1960, Dave Bartholomew invited King to record for the Imperial Records. At the label, he was backed by host of musicians including Bob and George French, James Booker, and Wardell Quezergue. It was at this label he recorded his signature songs "Come On" and "Trick Bag". The former of which remained a much covered standard for decades especially for Jimi Hendrix, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Anson Funderburgh. The latter has also been widely covered including versions by The Meters and Robert Palmer.

King also co-wrote a number of songs with Bartholomew, either under his own name or under the pseudonyms of "Pearl King" and "E.C. King". One of the best known collaborations between Bartholomew and King is the rhythm and blues standard, "I Hear You Knocking", originally recorded in 1955. The latter song is variously credited to Pearl King and E.C King as the co-writer, with Bartholomew.

King recorded for Imperial till 1963, but he went without a recording contract for the remainder of the 1960s. During this time, he mostly concentrated in producing and songwriting for local labels NOLA and Watch. His compositions from this era includes Professor Longhair's "Big Chief", Willie Tee's "Teasin' You", and Lee Dorsey's "Do-Re-Mi". He also went to Detroit for an audition with Motown Records and recorded a few tracks in the mid 1960s. Three tracks from the session appeared on the Motown's Blue Evolution CD released in 1996).

In 1972, he was joined by Allen Toussaint and the Meters to record the album Street Parade. Though Atlantic initially showed interest in releasing it, they eventually declined. The title cut "Street Parade" was released as a single from Kansu label at the time, but the rest had to wait till 1982 to see the light of the day, when the album was finally released by Charly Records in the UK.

During the 1970s, he recorded another album That Good Old New Orleans Rock 'n Roll which was released by Sonet in 1977. He also appeared on the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival 1976 album.

In the early 1980s, he also met Hammond Scott, co-owner of Black Top Records, and started to record for the label. The first album Glazed, backed up by Roomful of Blues was released in 1986, and a second album, Sexual Telepathy came in 1990. It featured Snooks Eaglin as a guest on two tracks, and also Ronnie Earl & The Broadcasters backed him up on some tracks. His third from the label Hard River To Cross (1993) was backed by George Porter, Jr., David Torkanowsky, and Herman V. Ernest, III.

In 2001, he was hospitalized for an illness during a tour to New Zealand, however, that did not stop him from performing. In December of the same year, he toured Japan, and he continued to perform off and on locally in New Orleans until his death.

He died on April 17, 2003, from diabetes related complications,  just a week before the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. His funeral was held during the Festival period on April 30, and many musicians including Dr. John, Leo Nocentelli and Aaron Neville were in attendance.

Ronnie Lovejoy - Think About You All The Time

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I am thankful to KingCake for the invitation to contribute to this great blog.   I decided to dedicate my first post here to Ronnie Lovejoy, who I consider to be perhaps the last true giant of classic Southern Soul.   Ronnie Lovejoy came to prominence on the Chitlin' Circuit in the 1990s and sadly left us prematurely at the end of the decade at the age of 51.  During this time, he developed a strong following in the South.  His regional smash hit, "Sho Wasn't Me," is still a staple of the Circuit, and has been covered by the likes of Tyrone Davis and Otis Clay.  Nevertheless, Ronnie Lovejoy never achieved national fame or recognition.   He was just too Old School for the 1990s, a time when Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg and the like were taking the R&B charts to new territory.  

Ronnie Lovejoy left us with six albums, all of which are very worthwhile.   Almost all of them had been long out of print and unavailable since the 90s.  I just noticed, however, that his two Avanti albums are now finally available for commercial download.  That is also true for his dynamite first album, "Suddenly," and his last album, "Still Wasn't Me."  For this post, I chose the better of his two albums for Ace, which still seem to be unavailable.    

"Think About You All The Time" is as good a place as any to begin an appreciation of the artistry of Ronnie Lovejoy.   Maybe a few of the later tracks are lesser material.  But this disc is still loaded with high quality original songs that are given the unique Ronnie Lovejoy treatment and delivery.   And check out some of Lovejoy's clever lyrical hooks (“I got three people sleeping in my bed: me, my woman, and the man that’s in her head” )