The Blues Collection - Louisiana Red

This week's Blues Collection offering is for our new friend Christian who hails from Louisiana and it is none other than Louisiana Red himself.
Disappointingly Mr and Mrs Red did not have a wee boy called Louisiana  on 23rd March 1932. No rather Mr and  Mrs Minter had a wee boy Iverton and in Bessemer, Alabama too as opposed to Louisiana.
He recorded over 50 albums and like many of his contemporiares ended up living in Europe dying in Hanover, Germany in 2012 at the ripe old age of 79.
At first given his moniker I had him down as a pre-war Bluesman but his career was from the sixties up to his death.
He wrote most of his material and often delivered it in the style of the greats such as Muddy Waters, Elmore James, John Lee Hooker or Lightnin' Hopkins earning a reputation as a "blues chameleon"
These two songs were recorded in London probably in late 1990 and they are about women who spurned him,cheated on him or otherwise did him wrong.
Such is the lot of a Bluesman.

Louisiana Red - Vvienne

Louisiana Red - Valerie

I'm Just A Happy Kid

I once made Mrs CC a compilation of songs with the word happy in the title.
Not as easy as you might think when a large chunk of your record collection consists of country and soul songs which specialise in misery and heartbreak.
However, like the trooper I am I persevered.
One song which featured was Happy Kid taken from Nada Surf's 2002 album Let Go
Nada Surf are the trio of Matthew Caws (vocals and guitar), Doug Gillard (lead guitar) and Daniel Lorca (bass)They have been on the go since 1992 and are still going strong
The album also contains a French number Là Pour Ça which I thought a tad pretentious until I found out that Caws and Lorca met at the  Lycée Français de New York having both spent part of their childhood in France and Belgium.
Formidable!

Nada Surf - Happy Kid


Nada Surf - La Pour Ca

I Heard a Rumer

Sarah Joyce has a voice often compared to the late Karen Carpenter. To me there are also similarities with A Girl Called Eddy.
If the name Sarah Joyce does not mean anything to you , you may know her better as Rumer. Described somewhat cryptically by The Guardian as "the best act of her kind"
Born in Islamabad in 1979  she shot to fame with 2010's Seasons of My Soul. 
She followed this up in 2012 with a covers album  Boys Don't Cry both albums peaking at number 3 in the UK album charts.
She has also been championed by Burt Bacharach leading to a Christmas  EP imaginatively called Rumer Sings Bacharach at Christmas.
A Jools Holland and Radio 2 favourite.
I suspect that the takedown police may take an interest in her music so you will forgive me if I just state the titles.
The second song in particular is rather lovely.

Am I Forgiven?

Aretha

Every Picture Tells a Story

The picture in question is our Rodney performing at the opening ceremony of the Commonwealth Games which are currently underway in my home town.
It was a somewhat quirky ceremony and like the curate's egg it was good in parts.
Sadly you couldn't really say that Rod's performance was particularly good. Time to hang up those golden tonsils I feel.
What is good however is 1971's Every Picture Tells a Story. So good in fact that it features in George's Top 10 Albums of All Time series
At the time I confessed to not owning this record and was quite rightly roundly chastised by all and sundry including myself.
I have since remedied this glaring omission by purchasing a copy from Oxfam's music shop on Victoria Road.
As you may expect given the album is 43 years old the album is a bit crackly in places but the quality still shines through.

Rod Stewart -Every Picture Tells a Story

Rod Stewart - Tomorrow is a Long Time

Southern Soul Sunday 43

Some of the purists may not like this week's choice but hey ho it's my show!
The Soul Sessions, by the then 16 year old  English lass Joss Stone on Relentless Records in 2003, is surely worthy of inclusion and compares favourably with many of the artists she covers.
She was so young her mother went along as a chaperone during the recording of the record!
Produced by Betty Wright, Steve Greenberg and Michael Mangini it quickly went platinum in the UK and importantly introduced a whole new generation to the joy of 60s and 70s Soul.
Every one of the 10 tracks is a belter.
I have chosen Harlan Howard's The Chokin' Kind as I referred to it in last week's Joe Simon post and it was the reason I dusted this down from the shelves and gave it a spin.
Also it is only fitting that Dirty Man gets an airing given its association with Betty Wright.
After this record not unsurprisingly her management pushed her in a pop direction where she had some early success but she has drifted somewhat in more recent years.
I wasn't aware that Soul Sessions Volume 2 had been released in 2012 and must check it out
Apparently she is currently working on a hip hop and reggae album with Damian Marley

Joss Stone - The Chokin' Kind

Joss Stone -Dirty Man

53 Today

Not that Roger Taylor

Aimee Mann has a song on Smilers bemoaning the fact that she has turned 31 today. Well just wait until you hit 53 Aimee!

Amongst others I share my birthday with Sir Michael Jagger and Sir Roger Taylor the drummer from Queen.

Queen were the first band I ever saw live - at the Glasgow Apollo in 1975 supported by Mr Big.(So technically, I suppose, Mr Big were actually the first band I ever saw live!)

Only one Queen album graces the CC shelves (and is the only one ever likely to) and that is 1974's Sheer Heart Attack.From this here is  Tenement Funster written and sung by Roger himself (his Paul Simonon Guns of Brixton moment as it where).

Sir Michael is never done singing and here is a rather splendid country number Sweet Virginia from the rather splendid Exile on Main Street

Tenement Funster

Sweet Virginia

My Sister The Moon

I see the moon and the moon sees me
The moon sees the one I long to see
God bless the moon and God bless me
And God Bless the one I love

My Sister The Moon is a song on Irish born but Scottish based Heidi Talbot's 2013 album on Navigator Records Angels Without Wings.

On it she is joined by the author of the song Boo Hewerdine on guitar and the mighty Phil Cunningham on accordion.
Such luminaries as Donald Shaw, Mark Knopfler, Jerry Douglas, Tim O'Brien, Julie Fowlis, Karine Polwart, King Creosote and her hubby John McCusker also appear on the album
It is also available as the lead song on a 5 track EP which can be purchased on her website
You should make it your business to own at least one if not both of the records.
You should also take the opportunity to see her live if you ever get the chance



Heidi Talbot -My Sister The Moon

Tartan Texans - Endrick Brothers

I swithered as to whether to include this in the series. But it is Scottish, it's on the shelves and there is a country influence.
It is just a record that I rarely play. In fact I may only have played it the once prior to listening again before posting this.
The Endrick Brothers have released two albums. 2005's Built to Last on Hypertension a German label which I purchased for a quid in a short lived stack 'em high sell 'em cheap bargain shop in Shawlands Arcade, Glasgow.
I do not own the 2007 follow up Attraction Versus Love and haven't really felt the urge to track it down.
I have seen them on numerous occasions supporting bands in their current incarnation and previously as Remedy.
Listening to them you won't really be surprised to hear that they started out as an REM tribute band with lead singer Niall Holmes doubtless spending hours in his bedroom as a youth honing his Michael Stipe impression.

Endrick Brothers - The Ballad of a Film (Dylan to McGuinn)

Endrick Brothers - Seven Long Years

Raul Rules

I like The Mavericks. There I've said it.
I've a couple of their albums and they will feature on CCM at some stage.
I realise that their music has been hi-jacked somewhat by the line dancing fraternity.
However their songs remain excellent country songs albeit with a Latin kick to them.
The Latin kick is courtesy of front man Raúl Francisco Martínez-Malo Jr or Senior Raul Malo to you and me
Today's tracks are taken from his 2002 solo album on Gravity Today. There is roughly a 50/50 split of songs sung in English and songs sung in Spanish so it seemed only fair to give you one of each..
Purchased in Stranraer, a pretty desperate place when the ferry operated from there to Larne and now even more desperate given that the ferry has moved further up Loch Ryan turning Stranraer into a bit of a ghost town.

Raul Malo - Today

Raul Malo - Ya Tu Veras

Ich heiße Super Fantastisch!

Darts of Pleasure was the debut single from Franz Ferdinand yet another great band on the seemingly endless conveyor belt of talent coming out of Glasgow.
Released on 8th September 2003 it reached the dizzy heights of number 44 charting only for a week.
It was however a portent of things to come

Feel my lips undress your eyes on the title track, wear your quiff Venetian style a la Von Tango  and remember that when you are Shopping for Blood that it is leather for pleasure and velcro for sport

Ich heiße Super Fantastisch! Indeed

Franz Ferdinand - Darts of Pleasure

Franz Ferdinand - Van Tango

Franz Ferdinand - Shopping for Blood

Some Piercing Music

Sisters Alison and Catherine Pierce have been making music since 2000.
Born in Birmingham, Alabama but working out of Los Angeles they shot to a degree of fame in the UK in 2010 after being featured on Later with Jools Holland where they promoted their single Glorious.
This features on their 2011 album You and I , their fourth album which was moderately successful in the UK. They have yet to make a notable impression in their homeland.
I have heard them being compared to Stevie Nicks era Fleetwood Mac but they are better than that. Their music has a 60's feel to it and puts me in mind of the Polyphonic Spree and musicals such as Hair and Godspell.
It also has a nice summer feel to it
A fifth album Creation is scheduled for release in September 2014

The Pierces - Glorious

The Pierces - Love You More

Southern Soul Sunday 42

This week's artist is Mr Joe Simon born the son of a Baptist minister in Simmesport, Louisiana in 1943 and thankfully still with us although he stopped recording towards the end of the 90s
The featured songs are his first two singles on the Vee-Jay label
From 1964 My Adorable One written by Irral Berger and Clara Thompson was  an archtypical Southern Soul Ballad later covered by James Carr and Percy Sledge.Originally released on  Gee Bee but licensed by Vee-Jay for national distribution
Joe pitched up in Muscle Shoals in 1965 to record Let's Do It Over which was the first big Dan Penn and Spooner Oldham  penned hit.
He went on to have 3 US Billboard R&B number ones - The Chokin' Kind in 1969 (later covered by Joss Stone, The Power of Love in 1972 and Get Down, Get Down (Get on the Floor) in 1975
In the late 70's and early 80's he began to devote his music and his life to Christianity becoming an evangelical preacher

Joe Simon - My Adorable One

Joe Simon -Let's Do it Over

Saturday Lucky Dip

Today's random offerings are from Uncut's Unconditionally Guaranteed 3 from April 1999.

First up is American singer/songwriter and guitarist Liz Phair with Big Tall Man from her 1998 album on Matador Whitechocolatespaceegg a title which trips lightly off the tongue.
I have only vaguely heard of her despite the fact that she has sold nearly 3 million albums worldwide and that her debut album the more sensibly named Exile in Guyville was ranked by Rolling Stone as one of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time

I am seriously considering renaming this slot Steve Winwood Saturday as he makes his second appearance in three weeks  this time as as a member of Traffic with the great Dear Mr Fantasy.
Worry not, I have not felt the urge to post any of his solo stuff .... just yet.

Liz Phair - Big Tall Man

Traffic - Dear Mr Fantasy

Universal Audio

Universal Audio on Chemikal Underground from 2004 was the fifth and final album by Motherwell's finest The Delgados.
A tremendous album with a tremendous cover.
The Delgados were Alun Woodward (vocals/guitar), Stewart Henderson (bass), Paul Savage (drums) and Emma Pollock (vocals)
All are still prominent in music - Stewart Henderson as heid honcho at Chemikal Underground, Paul Savage as an engineer and producer. Alun Woodward as a solo artist under the guise of Lord Cutglass and Emma Pollock also now a solo artist and someone who has previously graced the pages of CCM.
I saw their last Glasgow concert at the Garage in 2005. They were terrific but my abiding memory is the support act The Sundowns quaffing bottles of Buckfast on stage from ice buckets (you can take the boy out of Lanarkshire ..... )
Stewart Henderson gets a mention in John Peel's Margrave of the Marshes autobiography for taking the great man to a pub quiz in the Electric Bar in Motherwell when he was doing his Bands of Britain series episode featuring Bellshill

The Leccy Bar

The Delgados -Is That All You Came For?

The Delgados - Everybody Come Down

Déjà vu

Y, N, C & S

It's supergroup time today with CSNY featuring on CMM.
From 1971 Déjà vu is the first album to feature the quartet of David Crosby, Stephen Stills, Graham Nash and Neil Young (CSN having recorded an earlier album).
They are joined by Dallas Taylor on percussion and Gregory Reeves on bass with cameo appearances by Jerry Garcia (pedal steel on Teach Your Children) and John Sebastian (harmonica on the title track)
Songwriting duties are shared and you won't be surprised to note that Joni Mitchell also gets in on the act.
The two songs I've chosen somewhat coincidentally are written by ex Hollies member Graham Nash.
Amazingly, despite the vast amount of pharmaceuticals they have consumed over the years, the four main protagonists are still pretty much alive and kicking. Aged between 68 and 72 there is every chance that assorted members could pitch up at a large arena near you.
You have been warned.

Crosby, Stills,Nash & Young - Teach Your Children

Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young - Our House

Fujiyama Mama

As the sleevenotes  of Hard Headed Woman: A Celebration of Wanda Jackson (Bloodshot 077) state "there's nothing like a bunch of renegades paying tribute to a renegade"
The renegade in question being the Maverick Queen of Rockabilly herself Ms Wanda Jackson.
There are some interesting covers of Wanda's songs on this album (cover artwork as always by Jon Langford).
Obviously none come close to the originals but this may well be an interesting series to dip into every now and again to compare and contrast.
Now there is nothing worse than a cover sounding like a carbon copy of the original. Such an accusation can certainly not be leveled at Trailer Bride who turn the classic Fujiyama Mama into an apocalyptic dirge.
Wanda is huge in Japan - not sure what her Japanese friends will make of this cover!

Wanda Jackson - Fujiyama Mama

Trailer Bride - Fujiama Mama

Bless my Cotton Socks I'm in the News

The lyrics to Reward by The Teardrop Explodes have been floating round my head for the last few days. This can only mean one thing - they are due a posting
From 1981 and reaching number 6 in the charts the line up consisted of Julian Cope, David Balfe, Gary Dwyer and Alan Gill with Terry Bailey on trumpets.
As an added bonus you are getting Sleeping Gas their debut single similar line up but with Michael Finkler on guitar as opposed to Alan Gill and Hurricane Smith and Ray Martinez on trumpets.

The band's name, as you will all be aware, is taken from a caption in the Marvel comic strip Daredevil (Number 77)

If you have not already done so, and I can't believe you haven't , read Head-On Julian Cope's autobiographical book covering The Teardrop Explodes era 1976 to 1982.
This and  the follow up Repossessed are amongst the finest books on music ever written.

The Teardrop Explodes - Reward

The Teardrop Explodes - Sleeping Gas

Hail Mary

I saw Mary McBride and Steve Wynn and the Miracle 3 play a free show one sunny Saturday afternoon in the Continental Club in Austin and it was without doubt one of the best gigs I've ever witnessed.
She is a sort of missing link between Joan Jett and Lucinda Williams - a rock chick with tinges of country.
These two tracks are from her first album 2002's Everything Seemed Alright. I also have By Any Other Name from 2004

Her website advises that she has another two albums.If they are as good as her first two they are worth tracking down.
Her website would also suggest that she is busy constantly touring the world having just finished a tour of Azerbaijan, Russia and Algeria (as you do).
She is also the founder of The Home Tour bringing music to the homes of people who otherwise would not have access to life music eg prisons, homeless units, orphanages and hospitals, etc.
So an all round good egg as well as a great singer.

Mary McBride - Rev it Up

Mary McBride - That Was Then, This is Now
s as “extrao

Southern Soul Sunday 41

It's super group time on Southern Soul Sunday with The Soul Clan and That's How it Feels

A collective set up in 1966 by Solomon Burke with Otis Redding, Wilson Pickett, Joe Tex and Don Covay
By 1998 as you can see from the picture Otis and Wilson had been replaced by Arthur Conley and Ben E King. To add to the superstar status the recently sadly departed Bobby Womack co-wrote this song with Don Covay.

All these artists have appeared before individually on SSS with the exception of Solomon and Ben E.Solomon has appeared on CCM before but not as part of SSS.So  time to put this right.

Here is Solomon from the same glorious Kent Sanctified Soul album from which That's How it Feels was taken with his version of the country classic He'll Have to Go immortalised by the great Jim Reeves.
Ben E King went on to become a Drifter. Here he is with the classic Leiber and Stoller song Spanish Harlem. 

The Soul Clan -That's How it Feels

Solomon Burke -He'll Have to Go

Ben E King -Spanish Harlem

Tommy Ramone RIP

Tommy Ramone (born in Hungary as Erdelyl Tamas) has died aged 65.

The last of the original Bruddas.

Rest easy Tommy and pass on our regards to Joey, Johnny and Dee Dee

The Ramones - Blitzkreig Bop

The Ramones -I Wanna be Your Boyfriend

Saturday Lucky Dip

Today's Saturday Lucky Dip tracks are taken from  an Uncut - March 2001 compilation.
I have selected two bands that I have never heard off and about whom I had no information until I did some less than intensive research.

Drugstore apparently are a London based alternative and dream pop band (whatever that may mean) and are led by Brazilian singer songwriter and bassist Isobel Monteiro who no doubt with be glued to the telly, albeit somewhat apprehensively for tonight's meaningless 3rd and 4th place play-off game.
The song is a lovely number called Navegrado from their 2001 album on Global Warming Songs for the  Jetset

Spooky Tooth are from a generation before as an English rock band most active between 1967 and 1974 with various re-inactments since.
Famous for their twin keyboard approach of piano and organ Society's Child is taken from an Island Anthology That Was Only Yesterday : An Introduction to Spooky Tooth.

More random music and musings next Saturday

Drugstore - Navegando

Spooky Tooth - Society's Child

Honey Lingers

I bought Honey Lingers a 1991 album by Voice of the Beehive the other day for 99p.
Side two is a bit gubbed but side one plays fine and contains these two great pop songs.
The album got to number 17 in the UK  with Monsters and Angels getting to number 17 and I Think I Love You to number 25 in the singles charts. I thought that they had been more popular than that.

Voice of the Beehive were an Anglo American combo.
They were fronted by Californian sisters Tracy Bryn (who is now a teacher) and Melissa Brooke Belland (who now runs a company called "Made in Heaven")
The band members were Brits - Martin Brett (also known as Brett Martini) on bass,Daniel Woodgate on drums and Mike Jones on guitar.

That's it.

Voice of the Beehive - Monsters and Angels

Voice of the Beehive -I Think I Love You

Tartan Texans - Dean Owens

Deano

Tartan Texans is another occasional theme which seems to have slipped off the schedule somewhat recently.
However I shall persevere as this particular series is pretty much nearing its conclusion.

Dean Owens coincidentally first appeared on CCM on this very week last year with New Mexican Monday. He has also featured previously in the Tartan Texan series as lead singer of The Felsons.

My previous post gives some bio blurb on the man from Leith  described by Irvine Welsh as "Scotland's most engaging and haunting singer- songwriter"
He is held in high regard by his colleagues with the likes of Karine Polwart, Will Kimbrough, Thad Cockrell, Robert Reynolds and the mighty Al Perkins all appearing on his records.

Today's first track is Strangers Again from Deano's 2004 record on Vertical Records My Town.
It is followed by Whisky Hearts the title track from his 2007 album on Vermillion.
He is often on the road and if you get the chance to see him I guarantee you a good night out

Dean Owens - Strangers Again

Dean Owens - Whisky Hearts

William Bloke

A few days ago Walter posted Northern Industrial Town a song from Billy Bragg's 1996 album William Bloke.
This inspired me to get it down from the shelves and to give it a spin and what a terrific record it is too.
An album which in my opinion is seriously underrated and which is perhaps the Bard of Barking's last truly great recording. Others, of course, may choose to differ.
Walter was also of the view that he may well be one of the last true musical poets and I would argue that he is not wrong there.
What lyrics
"I used to want to plant bombs at the Last Night of the Proms"
"He was trapped in a haircut he no longer believed in"
"He's got the bonhomie of a game show host"
"Should I vote red for my class or green for our children"
I could go on and on.
Alternatively you too could dust down your copy and give it a listen

Billy Bragg - The Space Race is Over

Billy Bragg - King James Version

The Blues Collection - Big Bill Broonzy

The Blues Collection is an occasional series with no set days or dates hence the propensity for it to slip off the radar from time to time.
Worry not however it is back for the few of you who are following it (a very few according to the statistics!)
This time around it is the turn of Lee Conley Bradley better know as Big Bill Broonzy
One of 17 children he was born in 1893 either in Lake Dick, Arkansas or Scott, Mississippi depending on what source you refer to. What is not in dispute is that he died on August 14th 1958 in Chicago.
He was a pretty prolific singer, songwriter and guitarist performing from the 1920's onwards starting with country blues, graduating to a more urban blues style before being an integral part of the American folk music revival. These two songs are from the 30's and 40's - his urban blues period where he was extremely popular with working class African-American audience. The lyrics were often a bit risque resulting in this form of blues being seen as subversive and frowned upon by polite society.
An example being the first song recorded in Chicago on 19th November 1936 when he was a member of a group called The Midnight Ramblers.
The second song despite it's title is not at all risque. Recorded again in Chicago this time on 17th July 1941 here he is joined by our old friends Memphis Slim and Washboard Sam

The Midnight Ramblers - Out With the Wrong Woman

Big Bill Broonzy - Wee Wee Blues

Green on Red

Dan and Chuck

Green on Red were the original desert noir band emerging out of Tuscon, Arizona.
The head honchos were Dan Stuart and Chuck Prophet
They released some great records in the 80s and early 90s including Gas Food Lodging, No Free Lunch and The Little Things in Life.
It all got too much for Stuart and he quit the music scene around 1995.
However as is the way they reformed their most famous line up in 2005 and I had the honour of seeing them at King Tuts on 4th September 2006.
Gold in the Graveyard is track one from 1991's The Little Things in Life
My copy of the fabulous cover of Willie Nelson's  (Gee Ain't it Funny How) Time Slips Away from No Free Lunch is a bit crackly and has a small jump but in this particular case I feel that this enhances the song - it is just superb so you are getting it warts and all.
Luca has shared one of their tracks previously so I know that there is at least one fellow fan out there!

Green on Red - Gold in the Graveyard

Green on Red - (Gee Ain't it Funny How) Time Slips Away

Southern Soul Sunday 40

It has taken me a wee while to get round to posting the great Garnet Mimms on SSS.
Born Garrett Mimms in 1933 in Ashland , West Virginia he is thankfully still with us.
He grew up in Philadelphia but had a strong gospel background which would subsequently influence his Deep Soul recordings.
Cry Baby recorded in 1963 with his band The Enchanters is his most famous song topping the R&B charts and even reaching no 4 in the Pop Chart.
It was written and produced  by Bert Berns and his song writing partner Jerry Ragovoy and was subsequently recorded by Janis Joplin.
Jerry Ragovoy also produces and co-writes with Mort Shuman 1966's My Baby
Two tremendous gospel based songs with fantastic arrangements and orchestration.
I'm not sure why it took me so long to post them

Garnet Mimms & the Enchanters -Cry Baby

Garnet Mimms - My Baby (Mono Version)

Saturday Lucky Dip

This week's Saturday Lucky Dip is not a totally random choice of CD.
It is Radio Clash  a Mojo compilation from October 2004 which was kicking about as I took the recent Janie Jones track from it.
It contains a number of Clash associated songs together with some "personally selected by Mick Jones and Paul Simonon and which showcase their influences"
And here is where the element of randomness comes in.
The Clash were well known for their love of reggae and the CD contains a few reggae numbers. I have gone for Black Man Time by I Roy.
I'm not sure that you would readily associate The Spencer Davis Group with The Clash but this live version of Every Little Bit Hurts is terrific.
I was tempted to include Part Time Punks by the Television Personalities as many of us once were. However it has not really stood the test of time and now comes across as a fairly cheesy novelty record.Perhaps it was always a fairly cheesy novelty record.

I Roy - Black Man Time

The Spencer Davis Group - Every Little Bit Hurts (Live)

Rabbit Songs

Those of you cultivating vegetables will be living in fear of a visit from one of our little furry chums on the look out for a free feed.
I am told that they are quite tasty particularly in a pie or a stew
However if this is not your bag you could always try distraction by playing them Rabbit Songs the 2002 debut album on Dreamworks by Brooklyn based band Hem. They will be so enthralled that they will stop munching and put their rather large ears to good use.
Purchased along with their second album 2004's Eveningland on Rounder for a fiver in a St Andrews charity shop.
Sally Ellyson on vocals.You will have heard the second song before but not necessarily by them.

Hem - Lazy Eye

Hem - The Cuckoo

Janie Jones

Dirk  very kindly answered my query from last week's Saturday Lucky Dip as to the origin of the line Fill Her Up Jacko which I thought related to Joe Strummer.
He confirmed that it was indeed a Strummer/ Jones composition and that it was from Janie Jones from The Clash 1977 debut album.
He instructed me to listen to it at the earliest opportunity which I have done.He did not insist that I share it with you but I feel it would be churlish not to.
Janie Jones was a 60's pop singer in London but achieved fame as a brothel keeper jailed for her involvement in  a BBC Radio 1 sex for airplay  payola scandal (I'm sure she drew the line at DLT!)
Here is the lady herself backed by members of the Clash and the Blockheads with House of the Juju Queen

The Clash - Janie Jones

Janie Jones & the Lash - House of the Juju Queen

Twa Toots

Possibly as far back as last summer I was torn between posting Jimmy Cliff or Toots & the Maytals.
At the time I opted for Jimmy with a promise that I would post Toots (or Frederick Hibbert as he is known to his mother) at a later date.
So here it is and better late than never I'm sure you'll agree
I saw them live at The Arches in Glasgow a few years back and they were absolutely tremendous.
They have had more number one hits in Jamaica (31) than any other artists.
And these I suspect were two of them

Toots & the Maytals - 54-46 That's My Number

Toots & the Maytals - Monkey Man

And for those who actually thought you were going to get Twa Toots here you go

The Continuation of a Country Dynasty

Drew's recent reference to Holly Williams had me reaching for 2004's The Ones We Never Knew a relatively recent charity shop acquisition.
Grand daughter of the greatest of them all the Hillbilly Shakespeare Hank Williams.
Daughter of the truly awful Hank Williams Jr
Half-sister of Hank Williams III whose country has a rockabilly twang to it.
So an impressive pedigree and I'm glad to say that the music does not disappoint.
Judge for yourselves

Holly Williams - Between Your Lines

Holly Williams - I'll Only Break Your Heart