Johnny Rawls - Ace of Spades

Unky Cliff has been after me to post some Johnny Rawls for a week now and today you gets one each from Preslives and Cliff.

Johnny Rawls (born December 10, 1951) is an American soul blues singer, guitarist, arranger, songwriter and record producer. He was influenced by the deep soul music of the 1960s, as performed by O. V. Wright, James Carr, and Z. Z. Hill. Rawls was born in Hattiesburg, Mississippi, United States. He was taught the rudiments of guitar playing by his blind grandfather, and also played the saxophone and clarinet in high school in Purvis, Mississippi. Having mastered guitar playing by his mid teens, Rawls' schoolteacher arranged for him to back musicians who were touring through Mississippi, such as Z. Z. Hill and Joe Tex. In the mid 1970s, Rawls joined O. V. Wright's backing band, and played together with Wright until the latter's death in 1980. The band then continued billed as the O. V. Wright Band for another 13 years, and toured and performed with other musicians over this time span. These included B.B. King, Little Milton, Bobby Bland, Little Johnny Taylor, and Blues Boy Willie. The band included the guitarist L.C. Luckett, and he and Rawls jointly released the 1994 album, Can't Sleep At Night, on Rooster Blues.

His debut solo album, Here We Go, was released on JSP in 1996. The Allmusic journalist, Thom Owens, noted, "Rawls has a powerful, soulful voice which can make mediocre material sound convincing."Rawls also worked as an arranger and record producer for JSP. Further JSP releases included Louisiana Woman (1997), My Turn to Win (1999), and Put Your Trust in Me (2001), although by the time the latter was issued, Rawls had set up his own label, Deep South Soul. Rawls appeared on the cover of the Living Blues magazine in April 2002, where he was described as "a soul-blues renaissance man". The 2005 release No Boundaries, on Topcat Records increased his profile.

His 2006 album Heart & Soul, was nominated for a Blues Music Award for 'Best Soul Blues Album of the Year'. In the same year, the West Coast Blues Hall of Fame named him 'Best Vocalist'. Rawls has twice played at the Chicago Blues Festival, twice at the Long Beach Blues Festival, and at the Boundary Waters Blues Festival. Red Cadillac (2008) won the Critics Award for Best Album of the Year in Living Blues. He has also been honored, along with Little Milton and Tyrone Davis, with a Blues Trail Marker in Hattiesburg. The title song of Rawls 2009 album, Ace of Spades, was a tribute to his one time mentor, O. V. Wright. The album also garnered Rawls with his first Blues Music Award for 'Best Soul Blues Album of the Year'.

Rawls latest album Memphis Still Got Soul, was released in April 2011. With a further reference to Wright, the album's track listing included Rawls cover of the song "Blind, Crippled and Crazy", which was originally associated with Wright.

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.