There has really never been a doubt about who the first white guy to get a post here would be, it was only a matter of when and I just can't resist anymore because it just isn't fair to keep this in my pocket any longer. Do yourself a favor today, you need this album, period!
"If James Brown is Soul Brother Number One, you can make a very credible case for Dan Penn being number two. The Alabama native has had a hand in writing a fair number of classic soul songs, and here he commits his versions of them to tape for the first time, recording, of course, in Muscle Shoals, with their fabulous house band, and a horn section including former Memphis Horn member Wayne Jackson. It's a tall order Penn sets himself, offering himself up for comparison with greats like James Carr, Aretha Franklin, and James and Bobby Purify, who have sung his songs -- and that's just the start of the list. However, he comes out very well, beginning with a quiet take on"The Dark End of the Street," coming across like a note to a secret lover, rather than a cry of pain. "It Tears Me Up" conveys the anguish,"You Left the Water Running" bounces in its pain, and "Do Right Woman Do Right Man" is advice to a friend, instead of Aretha's extra freedom cry for equal rights."I'm Your Puppet" becomes a sigh of resignation. Given tracks like that, the other songs will inevitably suffer by comparison, and, to be
fair, "Memphis Women and Chicken" is little more than a throwaway. But even the lesser-known material from a craftsman-like Penn is head and shoulders above most of the competition, and "Zero Willpower," a song that he took 20 years to complete, has soul classic written all over it, as good as the greatest hits. Penn can't just write 'em, he can perform 'em too, in a manner as soulful as the greats, as this record shows. The man deserves to be an American musical icon." by Chris Nickson, AMG
I just had to include this review so that it isn't just me gushing over this magnificent little gem. I can't seem to get this one off my player, I'm just hooked on it. From the opening moments of "Dark Side" you will be transfixed by the power of this man's genius. I have read all the stories of how Dan's demo's were so good they challanged the artists who had the hits with them to even match the deep soul of Penn's versions, but until you hear something like this it isn't real to you. The vulnerability in Penn's version of "It Tears Me Up" is unbelievably moving, it is unfathomable that they did not put it on the radio in 1994, how could it miss being a hit?
I enthusiastically second the final statement of the review, Penn belongs in a very special group of pure originals, Muscle Shoals should erect statues of Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham in the center of town for crying out loud. Oh Yeah, Spooner? Well of course he's on the record too!
"Dan Penn (born Wallace Daniel Pennington, 16 November 1941) is an American singer, musician, songwriter, and record producer who co-wrote many soul hits of the 1960s including "Dark End Of The Street" and "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" with Chips Moman as well as "Out Of Left Field" and "Cry Like A Baby" with Spooner Oldham. Penn also produced many hits including "The Letter" by The Box Tops. Though considered to be one of the great white soul singers of his generation, Penn has released relatively few records featuring his own vocals and musicianship preferring the relative anonymity of songwriting and producing.
Penn grew up in Vernon, Alabama, and spent much of his teens and early twenties in the Quad Cities/Muscle Shoals area. He was a regular at Rick Hall's FAME Studios as a performer, songwriter, and producer. It was during his time with FAME that Penn cut his first record, "Crazy Over You" in 1960, and wrote his first hit, "Is a Bluebird Blue?" which was recorded by Conway Twitty in the same year, and was later covered by James Brown. The success of the #6 pop hit, "I'm Your Puppet" by James & Bobby Purify convinced him that songwriting was a lucratively worthwhile career choice.
In early 1966, Penn moved to Memphis, began writing for Press Publishing Company, and worked with Chips Moman at his American Studios. Their intense and short-lived partnership produced some of the best known and most enduring songs of the genre. Their first collaboration, the enduring classic "Dark End of the Street", was first a hit for James Carr and has since been recorded by many others including Roy Hamilton, Aretha Franklin, Clarence Carter, Elvis Costello, Frank Black, Gram Parsons, Richard & Linda Thompson, Emmylou Harris, and Linda Ronstadt. It was also used in the hit movie "The Commitments".
A few months later, during the legendary recording sessions that saw Jerry Wexler introduce Aretha Franklin to FAME Studios and her first major success, the pair wrote "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man" in the studio for her, which went to #37 in Billboard in 1967. The song has since been recorded many times including by Barbara Mandrell, Cher, Etta James, Joan Baez, Marva Wright, Phoebe Snow and Willie Nelson. It has also been recorded with Japanese lyrics as "Onna No Sadame". In early 1967 Penn produced "The Letter" for The Box Tops.
He and long-time friend and collaborator Spooner Oldham also wrote a number of hits for the band, including "Cry Like A Baby", another song which has been covered many times, including by Cher, Kiki Dee, Kim Carnes and Lulu. Other songs written or co-written by Penn which have been recorded many times include "I'm Your Puppet" a #6 hit in 1966 for James and Bobby Purify, and also recorded by Sam & Dave, Dionne Warwick, Elton John, Irma Thomas, Marvin Gaye & Tammi Terrell, Peter & Gordan and Tierra, "Woman Left Lonely" recorded by Janis Joplin, Elkie Brooks, (Do Right Woman) Charlie Rich, Cat Power, Irma Thomas, Rita Coolidge, Patti Page & Clementine, and "Sweet Inspiration" a #5 hit for the Sweet Inspirations in 1968, and also recorded by The Supremes, Vonda Sheppard, Rita Coolidge, and Wilson Pickett, and "You Left The Water Running" a #42 hit for Otis Redding in 1966, and later recorded by the Flying Burrito Brothers, Huey Lewis, and Wilson Pickett.
Other notable songs written or co-written by Dan Penn are "I Hate You" recorded by Bobby Blue 
Bland and Jerry Lee Lewis, "Handy" and "Everyday Livin' Days" recorded by Merrilee Rush, "I Got a Feelin For You" recorded by Kelly Willis, "I'm Not Done Lovin' You Yet" record by Neil Young's wife Pegi on her solo album, Like A Road Leading Home recorded by Albert King and Jerry Garcia, "Nobody's Fool" recorded by Alex Chilton, "Time I Took A Holiday" recorded by Nick Lowe, "Where You Gettin' It" recorded by Theryl DeClouet, "Out of Left Field" recorded by Percy Sledge and Hank Williams, Jr., and "Slippin' Around" recorded by Clarence Carter and the Detroit Cobras.
Penn continued writing and producing hits for numerous artists during the 1960s and finally released a record of his own, the 1972 single entitled "Nobody's Fool". He was coaxed into the studio again in 1993 to record the acclaimed "Do Right Man" which saw him reunited with many of his friends and colleagues from Memphis & Muscle Shoals. He also has recently written and produced for the Hacienda Brothers.
He now lives in Nashville, and continues to write with Oldham and other contemporaries such as Donnie Fritts, Gary Nicholson and Norbert Putnam. He and Carson Whitsett have had their collaborations recorded by Irma Thomas and Johnny Adams and often teamed with writers Jonnie Barmett and later, Hoy Lindsey. The Penn/Whitsett/Lindsey team are responsible for Solomon Burke's "Don't Give Up On Me" (also recorded by Joe Cocker), and Penn produced 2005's Better to Have It by Bobby Purify that featured twelve songs from the team. He and Oldham also tour together as their schedules permit."
I wonder who that bass player with him is?
If you do any reading about the history of Fame studios and Muscle Shoals, you will find numerous references to Dan Penn's legendary demos that often left the stars who were given those demos to learn the songs, shaking their heads in wonder. More than once the comment was heard "Why the hell do you need someone else to sing this? This version is terrific!"; then someone would point out the skinny blond kid over in the corner with his guitar and say "Yeah, but it's him." The idea that maybe they might have a talent who could have been a superstar somehow never seemed to occur to anyone, including apparently Penn himself. 
You would think that one unknown white soul genius in a tiny group of musicians would be plenty but when writer/guitarist Dan Penn left the Muscle Shoals Sound he was soon replaced by another jaw dropping talent named Eddie Hinton. These too are primarily unreleased song demos that will have you shaking your head in wonder. So much talent! No wonder that Duane Allman tried to poach him for the Allman Brothers Band (I assume instead of Dickie Betts?); his vocals and guitar would have made them even more epic!
