Andrew 'Big Voice' Odom - Feel So Good

 Andrew Odom - One Bad-Ass Singin' Dude!


Andrew Odom was a BAAAAD MAN!  I don't care if it is BB Odum, Voice Odom, Big Voice Odom....call the man what you will, he is a Baaad Man, ain't no lie! Here is a guy who could fake you out into thinking you were hearing a Bobby Bland cut you'd missed, and at other times you'd swear it was some obscure BB King track, or most of the time you'd just wonder how anyone can sound like both guys at the same time and still have a quality all his own.

Biographical information on this dude is remarkably scarce, he doesn't even have a rudimentary  Wikipedia page! Livin' Blues, however, came to my rescue with some info:
   "ANDREW 'B.B.' ODOM - Andrew 'BB' Odom was born in Denham Springs, Louisiana in 1936, he moved to St. Louis in the 50’s. While in St. Louis he toured with Albert King and others, finally moving to Chicago in the early 60’s. He spent the next ten years traveling and recording as the featured vocalist with the Earl Hooker Band, an auspicious beginning as Earl Hooker was considered to be one of the greatest guitar players of his generation. After Hooker’s untimely death in 1970, Jimmy Dawkins hired Odom to tour Europe. It was Dawkins who gave him the name 'Big Voice'. BB King, along with Bobby Bland, were an early influence on Odom.
  

He traveled and recorded with Dawkins throughout the seventies while continuing to build a local reputation in Chicago’s south and west side Blues clubs. The realities of the music business and the need to support a wife and seven children prevented him from hiring a band to pursue his career on a full-time basis. Things seemed to be changing for Odom in the 90’s. In early 90s Odom was approached by Canadians Steve and Doran Katz to front their band, The Gold Tops. BB Odom worked with the band on a few dates in Ontario, which went extremely well.  A year later they were headlining the Toronto Blues Festival, and playing other summer festivals throughout Ontario. Flying Fish signed the band in December of ‘91 on the strength of their demo tape. Sadly, Odom did not live to see the release of this recording. In the early morning, on December 23, he died of a heart attack the wheel of his car. He was on his way to the Checkerboard Lounge from Buddy Guy’s Legends, where he had sat in earlier that evening which he often did in Sunday evenings after church. BB Odom’s death is a tragic loss to the Blues community. Throughout his career he had been in demand as a featured vocalist by top bandleaders like Buddy Guy, Little Milton, Magic Slim, and Jimmy Dawkins, who themselves were singers. His resonant voice, replete with Gospel fervor, lent another dimension to his Blues. He gave his all during a performance, whether he was paid for it or not. B.B. brought the healing quality of Gospel music to the Blues. He reached deep down into your soul and made you feel." Amen!

Lucky Peterson & Mavis Staples - Spirituals and Gospel

Welcome to church!

"Lucky Peterson plays blues. Mavis Staples sings gospel. One might wonder if this Saturday night/Sunday morning combo could create a lasting tribute to gospel great Mahalia Jackson. But it works, mainly because the two stick to a formula Jackson favored: Vocals accompanied only by an organ or piano.

Staples was deeply influenced by Jackson's music and friendship. And it was her idea to record a tribute using the accompaniment Jackson prefered. But she had trouble finding an organ player with the reputation that would interest a record company. Peterson had this reputation. In the mid-1990s, he was a red-hot blues player for Verve Records, getting lots of radio play, and gigs at major festivals. He was famous for his guitar playing, but equally proficient on the Hammond B-3 organ. Verve promised to release the Jackson tribute if Staples agreed to work with Peterson. The results are stunning, especially considering the two never worked together before.

Staples' voice is characterized by a deep rasp that adds an emotional edge to Jackson favorites like "Wade in the Water" and "Were You There?" Peterson, for his part, has the chops befitting a bandleader. But on this album, he gladly, almost worshipfully, steps into the supporting role. On every track, Peterson punctuates Staples' singing, and fills her pauses with appropriate chords. Never once does he upstage her, or play ahead of her.

The best example of this collaboration is "Precious Lord, Take My Hand." Here, Staples' voice soars to the heavens - praising God, Jackson, praising music itself - before descending to a gravelly bottom, filled with soul and solemnity. Peterson, again, follows wherever Staples goes. Like the perfect wingman, his eye remains on his leader, hands reacting quickly and competently to stay in formation.

"Spirituals & Gospel" works because of the special magic between Staples, a leader in sacred music, and Peterson, a star of the secular world. Who knew that great gospel needed a sinner to help it succeed? The Lord works in mysterious ways...."  Dan Klefstad

James and Lucky Peterson - If You Can't Fix It

Okay if This one one don't set some tongues awaggin' then I will be speechless. You are discovering this particular album at very nearly the same time as I.

An ongoing conversation behind the earlier Sada post brought up the subject of Lucky and I knew I had one or two but I checked the net and found a live link to This marvel with a path that lead to an extinct blog. Whosoever you may be my friend I thank you and I will keep your link alive by continuing to use it here.

" Lucky Peterson (born Judge Kenneth Peterson, December 13, 1964, Buffalo, New York is an American musician who plays contemporary blues, fusing soul, R&B, gospel and rock and roll. He plays guitar and keyboards. Music journalist Tony Russell, in his book The Blues - From Robert Johnson to Robert Cray has said, "he may be the only blues musician to have had national television exposure in short pants."

Peterson's father, bluesman James Peterson, owned a nightclub in Buffalo called The Governor's Inn. The club was a regular stop for fellow bluesmen such as Willie Dixon. Dixon saw a five-year-old Lucky Peterson performing at the club and, in Peterson's words, "Took me under his wing." Months later, Peterson performed on The Tonight Show, The Ed Sullivan Show and What's My Line?. Millions of people watched Peterson sing "1-2-3-4", a cover version of "Please, Please, Please" by James Brown. At the time, Peterson said "his father wrote it". Around this time he recorded his first album, Our Future: 5 Year Old Lucky Peterson for Today/Perception Records and appeared on the public television show Soul!.

As a teen, Peterson studied at the Buffalo Academy for Visual and Performing Arts, where he played the French horn with the school symphony. Soon, he was playing backup guitar and keyboards for Etta James, Bobby "Blue" Bland, and Little Milton.

The 1990s were a prolific period for Peterson. Two solo Bob Greenlee produced albums for the Chicago-based Alligator Records (1989's Lucky Strikes! and the following year's Triple Play) remain his finest recorded offerings. He then released four more for the record label, Verve Records (I'm Ready, Beyond Cool, Lifetime and Move). While with Verve, Peterson collaborated with Mavis Staples on a tribute to gospel singer Mahalia Jackson, called Spirituals & Gospel. Peterson played electric organ behind Staples' singing.

More albums from Peterson came after 2000. He recorded two for Blue Thumb Records (Lucky Peterson and Double Dealin'), and one for Disques Dreyfus entitled, Black Midnight Sun. In 2007, he released his latest album on JSP Records, titled Tete a Tete."