Disc two today from Back to the River - More Southern Soul Stories 1961 -1978,
Headed Southern Routes it features artists who primarily operated outside traditional Southern soul parameters but were sent down south by label bosses with a view to getting hits.
After all it worked for Aretha Franklin at Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals
Forget your Randy Crawford, your Gladys Knight, your Ray Charles and even your Conway Twitty the best version of the classic Tony Joe White song A Rainy Night in Georgia was surely recorded by Brook Benton at Criteria Studios in Miami in 1970.
After falling out with Stax, Fame and American Jerry Wexler pitched up in Miami with a view to recording there and living on a yacht. He managed to entice the Cold Grits from Birmingham, Alabama to Miami where they provided the musical accompaniment to Brook's singing.
Sam Dees was another citizen of Birmingham, Alabama and it was there at Sounds of Birmingham Studio and also Sounds of Memphis studio that Easier to Say Than Do was recorded in 1969
Disc three next Sunday
Brook Benton - A Rainy Night in Georgia
Sam Dees -Easier To Say Than Do
Two ACE (no pun intended) tracks here, CC! Perfect additions to Sunday's Southern Soul entries. (A few years back I posted a scratchy 45 of Sam Dees and it's so lovely to hear it properly now!)
ReplyDeleteNigh on perfection.
ReplyDeleteif you don't know it CC, check out Lonely For You Baby by Sam Dees
ReplyDelete. Tune as they say.
I'm buying what your selling today. Fantastic.
ReplyDelete