Dirty Laundry - The Soul of Black Country

A repost for Lou the C, I've included both volumes: 

I figure this is a good time to bring this forward for those who missed it. Another unusual compilation from Unky Cliff! More black county and we are not talking Charlie Pride here either! Look at the names and you can see that this one belongs right here!

"Today's country and soul worlds seem increasingly divided not by style so much as by race. Although modern white country singers have obviously been influenced by the vocal approaches of black soul singers, we have been led to believe that country music is the almost exclusive purview of white artists, Charley Pride notwithstanding. Luckily, Dirty Laundry: the Soul of Black Country, a new release from the German label Trikont, explores the long connection and crossover between soul music and country music, addressing the misconception that black music has evolved along a branch completely divorced from the country music that has come to be associated with white America.


 Beyond musicological considerations, though, is the music itself. And Dirty Laundry is an absolutely terrific collection of country songs performed by black artists. Many of the performers give soul and black gospel settings to songs by Hank Williams or Harlan Howard or songs best known as hits for artists like Tammy Wynette or Johnny Paycheck. Others, like Stoney Edwards (whose "She's My Rock" comes complete with vocal scoops a la George Jones), give the full-on country treatment to classic country tunes both famous and less well-known.

There are too many fantastic tracks to mention here, but check out Earl Gaines' version of Jimmy Davis' "You Are My Sunshine"--it's a total funky sixties makeover. Candi Staton does a great soul version of "Stand By Your Man" and Etta James delivers chills with her gospel-tinged take on "Almost Persuaded," a Billy Sherrill/Glen Sutton hit written for David Houston in 1968. Johnny Adams recorded "In A Moment of Weakness" in Nashville and, although that town's influence is more subtle here, this is a cheatin' song whose lyrics stand with the greatest of country hooks: "What she don't know won't hurt her / But the hurt is killing me." Otis Williams' "Shutters and Boards" is classic radio honky-tonk with the requisite modulation and steel guitar and fiddle whining behind the honest vocals.

The accompanying booklet, by producer Jonathan Fischer, is a treasure trove of information about the age-old exchange between soul, gospel, and country, as well as about the individual artists. When asked why he put out a country album, legendary R&B producer Andre Williams (Bobby Blue Bland, Stevie Wonder, Tina Turner) reminds us (at the beginning of Fischer's liner notes) that there's scarcely a great soul singer who hasn't recorded Country songs. While the connection may be less in evidence today, to artists of the generation represented on Dirty Laundry the link was natural and obvious.

And the Pointer Sisters and James Brown at the Opry?

Well, the Pointer Sisters wrote a crossover country song called "Fairy Tale" that garnered them both their first Grammy and an invitation to play on country music's hallowed stage, the first black female act to ever grace it. Anita Pointer remembers, "When we first performed at the Grand Ole Opry, the audiences loved us. But at the hotel where there was a party for us, the staff assumed we were the hired help and directed us toward the back door." James Brown was invited onto the Opry by Porter Waggoner, and after playing a medley of country songs, including "Your Cheatin' Heart," launched into his funk set. Some felt the Opry had been "desecrated" and James Brown recalled his reception this way, "I felt I got as much praise as a white man who goes into a black church and puts $100 dollars in the collection plate."

While issues of race may have always attempted to draw hard musical lines in the sand, Dirty Laundry is a potent and uplifting reminder that such divisions are arbitrary at best and do not represent the true and ongoing organic flow between genres of music." • Judith Edelman

Nice review Judy. Hats off to the Trikont folks, this is a real winner of a compilation. One of these days we will come up with volume 2.

Percy Sledge Sings Country

A re-post by request:

If the connection between deep southern soul and country music hasn't been evident to up to now then YOU have not been paying attention my friend.

Percy rocked the world with "When A Man Loves A Woman" in 1966, but he quickly screwed himself ala Little Willle John by becoming known as an irresponsible fuck-up while on tour. There was no quicker way to loose the respect of your peers than to repeatedly allow your vices to screw with the show.

 By the time of this 1979 album Percy had largely vanished from the public eye. When I got to chat with him in the late 90's this was one of the unknown albums that he mentioned with pride.

For some reason every mention of this album has only 9 tracks, even the CD version on CD Universe. Well I haven't the faintest idea where my copy comes from but I have 14 tracks so HELL YEAH! Don't care where they came from!

"Sings Country album by Percy Sledge was released Mar 18, 2008 on the Gusto label. Percy Sledge's fate and fame will forever rest on the shoulders of his massive 1966 hit, the forlorn ballad "When a Man Loves a Woman." With its funeral pace and churchy organ, coupled with Sledge's pleading, compassionate vocal, "When a Man Loves a Woman" is one of the most fascinatingly desperate songs in pop history. Sings Country music CDs Although he was one of Southern soul's greatest singers, Sledge never got that near the sun again, at least not commercially. Sings Country songs This collection, recorded with some of Nashville's best session players in 1979, finds Sledge going straight honky tonk, covering Johnny Cash's "I Still Miss Someone," Lefty Frizzell's "If You've Got the Money I've Got the Time," and a pair of Merle Haggard songs, "Today I Started Loving You Again" and "Mama Tried," with an easy and comfortable assurance. Sings Country album It may be country, but that doesn't mean it isn't soulful. Sings Country CD music A nice, if understated, set. ~ Steve Leggett"

If you get a kick out of this one, be sure to check out Dirty Laundry

Behind Closed Doors - Where Country Meets Soul

This is easily the best of these Country Soul comps that I've heard yet. For one thing, most of these songs are actually played as country songs, something you certainly couldn't say about the second 'Dirty Laundry' for example.

I REALLY, really want to hate that this opens with Aaron singing 'The Grand Tour' .....really... only problem is that he kills it and it fits. Magnificent statements by Big Sol, Percy and Esther follow and this thing is off to a fantastic start! A little stumble with track 5 to MY tastes, but they quickly recover with perfect tracks from Ann Peebles and Bobby Sheen. Tami Lynn delivers the kind of rendition of 'Wings Upon Your Horns' that would silence even a noisy Saturday bar room. Look down the list, these are familiar names around here, no duds, the songs are well chosen and enjoyably sequenced. This is a compilation that I will return to!

Three cheers and a 'hell yeah you right' for compiler Tony Rounce!

More Dirty Laundry - The Soul of Black Country

Don't know about you but I figure THAT cover deserves an extra large image! It is Mardi Gras my friends and you should not expect much in the way of sober communication from moi until next Wednesday; it's how we roll down heya!

"That sexy sepia-toned cover on More Dirty Laundry is so alluring it just might seduce you into thinking that this second set of soul-country from German label Trikont is filled with classic forgotten sides from the '60s and '70s, an impression certainly bolstered by the list of names on the back cover: Johnny Adams, Joe Tex, Arthur Alexander, Ike & Tina Turner, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, Clyde McPhatter, Ruth Brown, Bobby Womack, and James Brown all pop up among the 24 tracks here. There is some prime period soul here, but there are just as many high-gloss tunes from the late '70s and '80s as there are thick grooves from the '60s or smooth sounds from the early '70s. Such a mingling of eras only helps muddle further a compilation that often seems to stray very far from the concept, spending as much time with generic soul as with tunes that blur Southern borders (and apart from Vicki Vann's recent "You Must Think My Heart Has Swinging Doors" and Stoney Edwards' vintage "Honky Tonk Heaven," there is no straight-up country here). As most of this music is pretty good, it's easy to excuse this jumble even when it strays into Sammy Davis, Jr.'s smarmy reading of "Smoke! Smoke! Smoke! (That Cigarette)" or, worse, Andre Williams' flat-out hammy rendition of "Pardon Me (I've Got Someone to Kill)," and this does shine a spotlight on many terrific records that usually get overlooked: Clarence "Frogman" Henry's "I Told My Pillow," whose easy roll is unmistakably from the Crescent City, not the Music City; Bobby Womack's version of Jim Ford's "Point of No Return" (miscredited to Jim White in the notes); Joe Tex's slinky spin on "King of the Road"; O.C. Smith's funky "The Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp"; Margie Joseph turning Dolly Parton's "Touch Your Woman" into feminist soul; a jumping "I'm Movin' On" by Clyde McPhatter; and most especially, Junior Parker's slow, soulful strut on Ernest Tubb's "Walkin' the Floor Over You," which is the most imaginative reinvention here. These are the reasons to pick up this disc...well, that and the cover, of course. "