Freddie Waters - One Step Closer to the Blues

Another rerun of an earlier post - this one is for Lazz on a post from Preslives.

Nashville is usually associated with Country Music rather than R&B.  Yet quite a number of fine R&B artists came out of Nashville.  Among soul singers, we have Earl Gaines, Roscoe Shelton, and Charles Walker (the subject of my next post).    Freddie Waters may have been the most distinctive of all the Nashville soul singers, someone who channeled Sam Cooke through his own unique sound and approach that is recognizable from the first few notes.

 

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Freddie Waters began his professional career in Nashville as the lead singer in the Hytones, and was then signed as a solo act by Ref-O-Ree Records.  His fine singles for that label and live shows had enough success on the Chitlin’ Circuit to earn him a recording session for Stax Records.    Unfortunately, his output on Stax was limited to only one 45: “Groovin’ on My Baby’s Love,” and his career fizzled after that.   

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Over the next 28 years, Freddie Waters had few other opportunities to record.   He cut a few more singles for the obscure October Records in Nashville, and then made a solid, if rather uneven, album for TJ Records.   

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Fortunately, Fred James had enough sense to bring Freddie Waters into the studio one more time in 2000 , fix him up with a dynamite band, and produce this beautiful album for Black Magic Records.   Two months after recording One Step Closer to the Blues, Freddie Waters had left us.   For me, this stellar session reaches its absolute apex with the cover of Percy Sledge’s classic “It Tears Me Up.”   It tears ME up every time I hear it, a true masterpiece and vivid demonstration of the incredible under-appreciated talent of Freddie Waters.

Lee 'Shot' Williams - Cold Shot

Henry Lee "Shot" Williams (May 21, 1938 – November 25, 2011) was an American blues singer. He got the nickname "Shot" from his mother at a young age, owing to his fondness for wearing suits and dressing up as a "big shot."

Williams grew up in the country near Lexington, Ms close to his cousin and fellow blues man, Little Smokey Smothers. "Shot" moved to Detroit in 1954 and to Chicago in 1958. He joined Smothers there and began singing with Smokey's band in 1960 and a few years later joined Magic Sam's band as a vocalist. In 1962, Williams recorded his first singles for Chicago's Foxy label, "Hello Baby" and "I'm Trying." He recorded a series of singles for other labels, including King/Federal, Palos, Gamma, Shama and Tchula. His 1964 recording "Welcome to the Club" was a hit in Chicago, and was later covered by guitarist/singer Little Milton for Checker Records in 1965. Another regional hit, "I Like Your Style," came out in 1969 and was later covered by Junior Parker. Several more singles followed including the very popular "Drop Your Laundry Baby". His first album under his own name, "Country Disco", was released on the Roots label in 1977. In the 1980s, Williams released a slew of singles on labels like Tchula, 4-Way, True & Dis-Muke. He released an album on cassette with many of these cuts called "I Like Your Style". In 1994 the Japanese label Vivid Sound released an album called "A Shot of Rhythm and Blues" containing tracks Williams recorded in Memphis apparently for (but not released by) Quinton Claunch's SoulTrax imprint. The Black Magic label decided to give Lee a "Shot" behind his own band. The result, "Cold Shot" was released in 1995 and was voted the Best Blues Album of 1995 (New Recording - Soul/Blues) by the Living Blues readers' poll.

His debut for the Memphis-based Ecko Records, "Hot Shot", brought Williams home to the "Southern Soul Blues" world with the hit "I'll Take The Risk". In 2000 Williams scored another hit with "She Made A Freak Out Of Me", followed by "Somebody's After My Freak". Williams left the label again and recorded one disc for Charles Wilson's label called "Let The Good Times Roll" before returning to Ecko for four more successful albums, establishing him as one of the icons of the genre.

In 2008 Williams signed with CDS Records. His first CD for the label was released in 2008 and produced the hits "It's Friday (Time To Get Paid)" and "Wrong Bed". Two more albums were released by CDS Records, "I'm The Man For The Job" & "The First Rule Of Cheating" in 2010. Williams died on November 25, 2011, aged 73, from undisclosed causes.