http://www.nashvillescene.com/nashville/author-charles-l-hughes-takes-a-swing-at-conventional-wisdom-about-country-soul-and-race/Content?oid=5228976
― curmudgeon, Friday, 26 June 2015 15:56 (nine years ago) link
I need to get and read that book
― curmudgeon, Monday, 29 June 2015 18:07 (nine years ago) link
paints a less black-and-white picture...
o rly?
― wizzz! (amateurist), Monday, 29 June 2015 18:09 (nine years ago) link
Another set from xpost Beale Street Caravan: The City Champs, veteran back-up for Rufus Thomas, Alex Chilton, Otis Clay, many others, and one of 'em's currently in St. Paul and The Broken Bones (whose own BSC show is posted upthread).But this is not just the typical result of support aces left to their own jammy, foggy notions:http://bealestreetcaravan.com/listen/shows/2015-01-14
― dow, Monday, 29 June 2015 18:52 (nine years ago) link
http://www.comingsoon.net/tv/news/457263-muscle-shoals-to-become-johnny-depp-produced-series
Johnny Depp wants to produce a scripted series based on the events/people in the Muscle Shoals doc. I...don't know about this.
― Johnny Fever, Wednesday, 8 July 2015 16:11 (nine years ago) link
idk, seems like a cool project? he seems like a p thoughtful dude in interviews, even if his movies are annoying
i mean unless he makes everyone wear thirty scarves & dumb hats who cares if he's just producing it
― difficult-difficult lemon-difficult (VegemiteGrrl), Wednesday, 8 July 2015 18:26 (nine years ago) link
i imagine it'll be like "tremé" just in alabama
in other words, boring as fuck
― wizzz! (amateurist), Wednesday, 8 July 2015 19:24 (nine years ago) link
Duck Dunn DeMarco
Oh wait
― How I Wrote Matchstick Men (James Redd and the Blecchs), Thursday, 9 July 2015 01:38 (nine years ago) link
Will it just focus on uh, Depp as Rick Hall, and not have Jamie Foxx as Arthur Alexander and I dunno, Chiwetal Ejiofor as Percy Sledge, and Beyonce as Candi Staton
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 9 July 2015 14:37 (nine years ago) link
Beyonce already played Etta James...
― Number None, Thursday, 9 July 2015 14:39 (nine years ago) link
I know
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 9 July 2015 15:17 (nine years ago) link
Might create problems down the line if they want to do a crossover with the Cadillac Records universe
― Number None, Thursday, 9 July 2015 15:22 (nine years ago) link
Ha ha
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 9 July 2015 15:27 (nine years ago) link
Just read a little of the Charles L. Hughes book curmudgeon mentioned. So far, so good. Seems like the guy knows what he is talking about, has carefully read the existing literature and can write and think clearly about the seemingly contradictory complications that have been glossed over in what has become the official narrative up until now without the "the Aha, you are RONG!" moments capsizing his argument.
― Askeladden Sane (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 12 July 2015 06:13 (nine years ago) link
Okay, just finished. Both of you guys should read.
― Crawling From The Blecchage (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 July 2015 11:42 (nine years ago) link
Still not used to latest zing app sorry for double post
― Crawling From The Blecchage (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 July 2015 13:52 (nine years ago) link
No problem. Looking forward to reading the Charles L. Hughes book. I was impressed with a presentation I saw him do at an EMP Pop Conference in New Orleans.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 13 July 2015 14:04 (nine years ago) link
At the end he mentions the EMP and all the great people he met there including Ned
― Crawling From The Blecchage (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 13 July 2015 14:29 (nine years ago) link
http://lcoutofdoors.org/events/muscle-shoals-all-star-band
Awww man, this was streamed live last night and I missed it.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 23 July 2015 18:06 (nine years ago) link
The Muscle Shoals All-Starswith special guests Patterson Hood, Bettye LaVette, Sam Moore, and Dan PennDonnie Fritts and John Paul White Wednesday, July 22, 2015 at 7:30 pm
Damrosch Park
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 23 July 2015 18:07 (nine years ago) link
A friend says it might still work:
http://lcoutofdoors.org/events/muscle-shoals-all-star-band http://lcoutofdoors.org/events/muscle-shoals-all-star-band Sometimes LC streams come and go so it might be worth watching sooner rather than later -- plus you'll need this weekend to watch Porretta soul webcasts!
― curmudgeon, Friday, 24 July 2015 18:10 (nine years ago) link
http://www.porrettasoul.it/pdf/2015/Porretta%20Soul%20programma%20generale.pdf
Soul fest in Italy this weekend
― curmudgeon, Friday, 24 July 2015 18:12 (nine years ago) link
http://www.undeniablydonnie.com/
20 minute movie doc on Donnie Fritts online here
― curmudgeon, Sunday, 31 January 2016 22:19 (eight years ago) link
Cool thanks.
― You Can't Put Your Arms Around a Meme O RLY (James Redd and the Blecchs), Sunday, 31 January 2016 22:30 (eight years ago) link
Yeah thanks, I really enjoyed that.
― Tim, Monday, 1 February 2016 15:32 (eight years ago) link
Here, NPR's Tom Moon claims that vintage journeyman Charles Bradley's new Changes moves past the Stax/Volt tropes of his first two, Daptones-backed albums, but, although the horns aren't as prominent, the reverb rhythm guitar and/or keys maybe move it from associations with '67 to dawn of the 70s, very cautiously. Which is fine when he occasionally creates an effective contrast with the relatively cool backing, or eases up just a bit himself--on the the final three tracks mainly---but most of the time he's singing too insistently, like "Notice Meeee, my time has finally come!", which is when I tend to notice that he's not a distinctive stylist, so get out of my face with the "drama," esp. when the songs aren't that distinguished either---the other albums aren't at hand, but seems like he did better when candidly or overtly writing from his own experience (getting past this is also supposed to be a refreshing step, claims Moon, lest the "well of experience runs dry" or something like that).Mostly he wants to stay rough and wired, so maybe just speed it up more next time? Anyway, some of it's pretty okay, and more may grow on me: http://www.npr.org/2016/03/22/471312866/first-listen-charles-bradley-changes
― dow, Wednesday, 30 March 2016 17:22 (eight years ago) link
Oh, and speaking of Fritts, here's my Rolling Country 2015 take:
Spent most of my lunch break w Oh My Goodness, by Donnie Fritts, mostly known as a songwriter and Kristofferson's long-time keyboard player (saw him with KK in Pat Garrett and Billy The Kid, so yeah goes back pretty far). Not a good place to soak up the good vocal influences, so maybe that's why it took me a few tracks to get into this. Not that he sounds like his boss, but at times just a bit like a sub-Levon, sub-Bobby Charles, even---he knows how to phrase, but thin pipes can make him a little bit too Mr. Pitiful. Still, musical smarts win out, and he gets aboard the studio bus, which never seems crowded, despite having members of the Swampers, Alabama Shakes, St. Paul And The Broken Bones, John Paul White, even John Prine at one point. It's actually an intimate, mostly late night, sometimes slightly surreal setting, with Spooner Oldham's (and maybe Fritts', and even Will Oldham's) elegant keys, especially, suggesting early Randy Newman (or, you know, vice versa; Spooner's been around a long time too). "Lay It Down" is even a Sir Doug-worthy, anguished call (to self and other) for no-bullshit face-to-face. "Choo Choo Train" could even be a Newman---or Loaded-era VU---track. I think. It is a down home geezer album, but rec to those who like any of the musical associations mentioned, without being dependent on them.
― dow, Wednesday, 30 March 2016 17:30 (eight years ago) link
Tom Moon can get a bit over-enthusiastic about albums, in my view. I haven't heard the new Bradley yet though
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 31 March 2016 14:01 (eight years ago) link

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASEMay 30, 2017
COUNTRY SOUL PIONEER ARTHUR ALEXANDER’S SELF-TITLED ALBUM RETURNS IN EXPANDED EDITION FROM OMNIVORE RECORDINGSIn Stores July 28
1972 release is reissued with six bonus tracks, plus liner notes from Barry Hansen (Dr. Demento and former Warner Bros. staff writer)
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — When the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Humble Pie, Dusty Springfield, George Jones & Johnny Paycheck, Bob Dylan, the Bee Gees and countless other artists cover your songs, you must be on to something.
Arthur Alexander was a songwriter and song stylist whose first records in the early 1960s—such as “Anna (Go To Him)” and “You Better Move On”—were some of the earliest hits recorded at Rick Hall’s Fame Studios and to feature the famed Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section. After a short break at the end of the decade, Alexander released the second of only three albums that he made in his lifetime—a self-titled “comeback” album in 1972.
On July 28, 2017, Omnivore Recordings will reissue Arthur Alexander, expanded with six bonus tracks—two previously unissued.
With new liner notes by Barry Hansen (better known to most as Dr. Demento), the package also features the piece he wrote for the album’s original issue. Arthur Alexander’s 12 tracks were produced by Muscle Shoals bassist Tommy Gogbill, and include a version of “Burning Love”—covered by Elvis Presley shortly after the album’s release. Alexander’s two Warner Bros. follow-up singles are also here, as well as a pair of tracks from the original sessions, unearthed and unheard until now.
As Hansen wrote in the original notes, “Arthur is especially proud of the variety and versatility of his work on this album. All of it is strong medicine, and should be a fine antidote for a lot of bad scenes.” He adds in the current notes, “[The Omnivore volume] honors the soulful wonderment that Arthur brought forth from his difficult time on earth. “Arthur Alexander, inducted into the Alabama Music Hall of Fame, is a music legend. Arthur Alexander is a legendary recording.
Track Listing:1. I’m Comin’ Home 2. It Hurts To Want It So Bad 3. Go On Home Girl 4. In The Middle Of It All 5. Burning Love 6. Rainbow Road 7. Love’s Where Life Begins 8. Down The Back Roads 9. Call Me Honey 10. Come Along With Me 11. Call Me In Tahiti 12. Thank God He Came
Bonus Tracks: 13. Mr. John 14. You Got Me Knockin’ 15. Lover Please 16. They’ll Do It Every Time 17. I Don’t Want Nobody 18. Simple Song Of Love
Tracks 17 & 18 previously unissued
# # #
Watch (and feel free to post) the Arthur Alexander trailer:http://youtu.be/IpyqLmjVZ9w
― dow, Wednesday, 26 July 2017 22:55 (seven years ago) link
Nice.
I'm gonna go do a tour of the Fame and Muscle Shoals Sound Studio tours. Hopefully will be entertaining and educational and all that.
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 27 July 2017 11:48 (seven years ago) link
Enjoyed the tours. Fame Studio just has tours at 9am and 4 pm in the afternoon, and is a functioning studio in between tours and after. At 9 am we were waiting as the place was locked up. Then 2 interns showed followed a few minutes later by a guy saying how tired and hungover he was from a late-night session. He was an engineer there and the tourguide and the only one with a key.
― curmudgeon, Monday, 28 August 2017 17:35 (seven years ago) link
Thu. Sept 28 - Dan Penn - Vernon City Auditorium, Vernon, Alabama -
https://highway61music.blogspot.com/
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 30 August 2017 05:17 (seven years ago) link
Rick Hall, of Muscle Shoals/Fame Studios
https://www.rollingstone.com/country/news/rick-hall-father-of-muscle-shoals-music-dead-at-85-w514854
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 3 January 2018 03:37 (six years ago) link
Charles Hughes writing in Country Soul re Rick Hall is a must read
― curmudgeon, Thursday, 4 January 2018 04:01 (six years ago) link
I finally got around to talking to Donnie Fritts late last year: https://www.nashvillescene.com/music/nashville-cream/article/20985423/donnie-fritts-the-cream-interview
― eddhurt, Thursday, 4 January 2018 19:13 (six years ago) link
Cool. Look forward to reading.
― The Harmony Illustrated Encyclopedia of Blecch (James Redd and the Blecchs), Friday, 5 January 2018 02:16 (six years ago) link
Cover Me: The Eddie Hinton Songbook is an ace Ace import, easily findable for a nice price, on at least one ecommerce behemoth: Dusty Springfield, Bobby Womack, Aretha Franklin, Box Tops, Candi Staton, Sweet Inspirations, Tony Joe White, Cher, Lulu (both of whom do well (a duet might be even better), and a bunch of people I never heard of: one guy just walked in to sell a song, and the studio cats were like omg you gotta cut something, and he did and it's good but he sailed on somewhere---others are still in the biz, but not as singers,, and then there's an early protege of Bacharach and David (he doesn't sound like Dionne Warwick, maybe a little smooth but r&b for sure, and I want to hear him on some B&D songs. Hinton's offerings can seem a bit generic at times, but they're usually good vehicles for better singers, and though his own voice (heard here on demo of "It's All Wrong But It's Alright"), is thin and he tends to strain it, otherwise canny phrasing provides a handy template for stronger vox, as compiler Tony Rounce points out in typically astute liner notes. Don't quite hear Left Banke in the one he does, but do hear it (as a joke on sensitive Southern Gothic x LB-type sentiment?) in some of "Poor Mary Has Drowned," as lead sung by The Brick Wall's Eddie Marshall, future daddy of Chan.(speaking Hinton demos, the well-produced series on UK's Zane label is also worth checking out).I don't like all of these---Willy Deville has always seemed tiresome, Don Varner's track is a Northern Soul fave, so what---but overall, oh mah soul. track list: 1. Breakfast in Bed - Dusty Springfield 2. Down in Texas - Oscar Toney JR 3. Cover Me - Jackie Moore 4. A Little Bit Salty - Bobby Womack 5. Sure As Sin - Candi Staton 6. 300 Pounds of Hongry - Tony Joe White 7. Masquerade - Don Varner 8. Always David - the Sweet Inspirations 9. Poor Mary Has Drowned - Brick Wall 10. It's All Wrong But It's Alright - Eddie Hinton 11. Help Me Make It (Power of a Woman's Love) - Mink Deville 12. Save the Children - Cher 13. Every Natural Thing - Aretha Franklin 14. If I Had Let You in - the Box Tops 15. Satisfaction Guaranteed - Judy White 16. Standing on the Mountain - Percy Sledge 17. I Got the Feeling - the Amazing Rhythm Aces 18. Home for the Summer - the Hour Glass Featuring Greg and Duane Allman 19. Lay It on Me - Gwen McCrae 20. People in Love - Lou Johnson 21. Where You Come from - Bonnie Bramlett 22. Seventeen Year Old Girl - Mickey Buckins & the New Breed 23. Love Waits for No Man - Al Johnson 24. Where's Eddie - Lulu
― dow, Friday, 1 February 2019 00:54 (five years ago) link
https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/donnie-fritts-songwriter-dead-obit-877617/
― a bevy of supermodels, musicians and Lena Dunham (C. Grisso/McCain), Wednesday, 28 August 2019 18:21 (five years ago) link
Aww. I need to check out Fritts most recent effort, a tribute to Arthur Alexander I believe. RIP
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 28 August 2019 18:59 (five years ago) link
hadn't heard of that one, will look it up, thanks. My take on his 2015 album is posted on this thread, along with Edd's link to his interview, and other Fritts links.From April of this year, here's a good two-part Alabama Arts Radio interview I should have already linked. (stream/download):Pt. 1:http://www.arts.state.al.us/news_detail.aspx?ID=13261Pt. 2:http://www.arts.state.al.us/news_detail.aspx?ID=13260
Spooner Oldham:http://www.arts.alabama.gov/actc/1/listserverindividual/20151124oldham.aspx
Rick Hall:http://www.arts.alabama.gov/news_detail.aspx?ID=9717
David Hood:http://www.arts.alabama.gov/news_detail.aspx?ID=8670
Jimmy Johnson:http://www.arts.alabama.gov/news_detail.aspx?ID=8565
― dow, Thursday, 29 August 2019 18:01 (five years ago) link
Thanks for posting those links dow - working my way through them and enjoying them a lot.
― Tim, Friday, 30 August 2019 12:43 (five years ago) link
Listening to Donnie Fritts album June: A Tribute to Arthur Alexander , from 2018. He's sounding like a more soulful Randy Newman on first couple of cuts
― curmudgeon, Monday, 2 September 2019 21:21 (five years ago) link
Totally forgot about Arthur Alexander being called “June.” /pvmic
― The Fearless Thread Killers (James Redd and the Blecchs), Monday, 2 September 2019 21:42 (five years ago) link
Me too.
Some cuts sound a bit like The Band
― curmudgeon, Monday, 2 September 2019 22:50 (five years ago) link
@JasonIsbellDonnie Fritts was a legend back home, and a guide for many of us when we started writing and making music. I met Prine while working on Donnie’s album, and when I met Kristofferson and Willie all I had to say was “I’m a friend of Donnie Fritts.” Very proud to be able to say that.10:24 AM · Aug 28, 2019
― dow, Wednesday, 4 September 2019 01:09 (five years ago) link
Aww man, now Jimmy Johnson of the Stompers at 66
https://www.al.com/life/2019/09/swampers-guitarist-jimmy-johnson-has-died.html
Johnson recorded w/ Aretha; & cuts by Etta James (“Tell Mama”), Wilson Pickett (“Mustang Sally,” “Land of a 1000 Dances”), Paul Simon ""Kodachrome," “Loves Me Like a Rock”), Staple Singers (“I’ll Take You There," ”Respect Yourself"), Jimmy Cliff (“The Harder They Come”); Arthur Conley “Sweet Soul Music “
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 10 September 2019 04:02 (five years ago) link
Age 76 not 66
― curmudgeon, Tuesday, 10 September 2019 04:03 (five years ago) link
Quite an impressive list of songs he played on.
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 03:26 (five years ago) link
Incredible list
― curmudgeon, Wednesday, 11 September 2019 13:33 (five years ago) link