R&B SOUL Vol 15
Welcome to my compilations of great Blues, R&B, Soul, Gospel, Jazz, Rockabilly, Early Rock & Roll, Hillbilly & Country music.
Tuesday, July 30, 2024
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 38 (1963-2003)
Sunday, July 28, 2024
The Daily Chat
A chatbox where we can post comments and have discussions on artists & songs. However, if you just want to say thank you for a particular post then please continue using the usual comment box located below each post.
A new series today "Black Country Music Vol 01". I put this 25 track compilation together last year, and will start looking to put a second volume together in the near future. It's not strictly country music, as I guess only two of the many artists featured here can truly be labeled as "country singers", and they are Charley Pride and Linda Martell. So this is more accurately a collection of black artists performing country-influenced music.
Clarence Gatemouth Brown began his career in 1945 and quickly became one of the fiercest of the electric blues guitarists, recording a string of high energy tracks in Texas for the Peacock label. But by the 1970s he had drifted away from blues into country and American roots music, favoring the violin over the guitar.
Earl Hooker is primarily remembered today as a Chicago slide guitar master who has heavily influenced by Robert Nighthawk and Elmore James. However Earl was equally adept at playing country and hillbilly music, as Earl related in this interview with Chris Strachwitz:
I went to Waterloo, Iowa. I got a little thing going there. They had me playing hillbilly music up there. I went to a hillbilly joint where some hillbilly boys was playing and I asked the guy, I say, “Will you let me sit in and play a number.” He said, “Man, you don’t play rock and roll do you?” I said, “Well, I can play a little rock and roll and I can play a little of that stuff that you’re playing, too.” He said, “Well, if you can play this good old hillbilly music you’re welcome to play.” And so he called me on the bandstand and so everybody was looking at me and they said, “Well, this is something that I got to dig,” you know, a colored boy playing hillbilly music in a hillbilly joint. I went on and started playing the guitar, playing “Walking the Floor Over You” and some of Hank Williams’ old records, “Cheating Heart”. Now, those kind of numbers that I can sing. I can sing those kind of numbers. See, when I was a little boy I used to always watch Gene Autry and them in the movies sing and play the guitar. That was my favorite cowboy. And Roy Rogers. I used to like to see them sing those old Western songs. That’s what give me the idea of playing Western music. So I played in this hillbilly joint up in Waterloo, Iowa. The man, he liked the way I played. He said, “You about the best guitar player I ever seen that come through here.” The guy that I asked let me play a number on his guitar, he give me a job playing in his band. So I was playing hillbilly music. I stayed there for six months, one club playing every night.
Ray Charles of course started his recording career as an R&B singer/musician but by the late 60s Ray had shifted well into Country & Western. And while other artists like Little Richard, The Staple Singers, Al Green didn't actually drift over to country music, their gospel recordings shared common roots with the white country/gospel artists.
Anyway my friends, I hope you enjoy this. Lots of diversity here, hopefully something for all tastes.
Assorted Hillbilly & Country Recordings Vol 114
Black Country Music Vol 01 - Honky Tonk Blues
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 37 (1951-1973)
Friday, July 26, 2024
Assorted Best Of Jazz Vol 75
A Handful Of Great Male Jazz Singers Vol 01 - Goin' To Chicago
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 36 (1950-2022)
Wednesday, July 24, 2024
RIP John Mayall
Tuesday, July 23, 2024
The Best Of Country, Pre-War & Acoustic Blues Vol 62
The Boozy Blues Vol 02 - Trouble & Whiskey
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 35 (1950-2022)
Sunday, July 21, 2024
Rockabilly & Early Rock & Roll Recordings Vol 76
Rockin' With The Blues Vol 03 - Red Rooster Blues
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 34 (1947-2022)
Friday, July 19, 2024
R&B SOUL Vol 14
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 33 (1947-1974)
Tuesday, July 16, 2024
Assorted Hillbilly & Country Recordings Vol 113
Bluegrass Special Vol 03 - Bluegrass Saturday Night
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 32 (1936-1997)
Sunday, July 14, 2024
Assorted Best Of Jazz Vol 74 - Romantic Jazz Vol 02
My Heart Belongs To Daddy
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 31 (1935-2006)
Thursday, July 11, 2024
The Best Of Country, Pre-War & Acoustic Blues Vol 61
Boogie Woogie Special Vol 01 - Jammin' The Boogie
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 30 (1948-2022)
Tuesday, July 9, 2024
Rockabilly & Early Rock & Roll Recordings Vol 75
The Greatest Rock & Roll Party Vol 01 - Whole Lot Of Shakin' Going On
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 29 (1946-2006)
Sunday, July 7, 2024
R&B SOUL Vol 13
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 28 (1929-2022)
Thursday, July 4, 2024
The Daily Chat
A chatbox where we can post comments and have discussions on artists & songs. However, if you just want to say thank you for a particular post then please continue using the usual comment box located below each post.
You may recall late last year I mentioned that I had lots of folders containing assorted tracks on my HDDs that were from unfinished compilations and various collections I had gathered over the years/decades and how I wanted to get them off my HDDs and out to you. And how I went carefully through all those folders deleting the duplicates and the poor quality tracks, then I compiled the remainder into two sets of compilations. They became : 90 volumes of "Assorted 'Best Of' Blues & R&B Tracks" and 15 volumes of R&B SOUL.
Well, we are now reaching the end. Today is Volume 90 in Assorted 'Best Of' Blues & R&B Tracks, which is the final volume in this series. Here for your listening pleasure are 21 great blues/R&B tracks from Harold Burrage, Bo Diddley, Taj Mahal, Clifton Chenier, Lightnin' Slim, Lonnie Brooks, Johnny Sayles, and several other fine artists.
There are still 3 more volumes (13,14,15) to come in the R&B SOUL series. Volume 13 will be in the next post and the other 2 volumes will be with you in the next couple of weeks. After Volume 15 is posted that series ends and we return to "Soul Party", which will soon resume with Volume 69.
As these two additional series finish, the posting schedule will return to just two compilations per post (which I now make every second or third day) these will be one compilation of "Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records" and one compilation of what I call the "other genres" ie: Jazz, Hillbilly/Country, Rockabilly/R&R, Soul, and the Country/Pre-War/Acoustic Blues.
Here today is Volume 27 in the ongoing "Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records" series with 21 tracks from 1955 to 1990 by many fine artists including: Ike Turner, Sonny Thompson, Freddie King, Freddy Robinson, Jesse Fortune, Sonny Rhodes, and Luther Johnson. There were quite a few different Luther Johnsons. This one was Lucious Brinson Johnson, also known as "Georgia Boy" and "Snake". He played with Elmore James and Muddy Waters, and passed away from cancer in 1976 at the age of 41. His track here is a fine example of the man's tough blues singing and gutsy guitar playing, "Woman Don't Lie" recorded in 1972 with Dusty Brown on harmonica, Sonny Thompson on piano, Emmett Sutton on bass, and Bill Warren on drums. Unfortunately I never got to see this Luther Johnson perform live. The only Luther Johnson I did see was Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson, when he toured Australia in 1974 with the Muddy Waters band. This was the one who appeared in The Blues Brothers movie, playing in Maxwell Street with John Lee Hooker & Big Walter Horton. I was fortunate to meet this Luther Johnson in Perth in September 1974. I didn't interview him but we chatted for a while and I remember him being a big friendly guy who told me about some of the different artists he had worked with. Here is a photo (unfortunately not a particularly clear one) that I took of drummer Willie Smith (who was also in The Blues Brothers movie) and Luther Johnson at Perth airport 50 years ago.
And the very popular "Assorted Hillbilly & Country Recordings" now up to Volume 112, continues with another collection of "Bars, Bottles & Drunks" with 20 great tracks all about the joys and miseries of booze by Willie Nelson, The Stanley Brothers, Porter Wagoner, Bob Williams, Tex Ritter, Merle Haggard, and one man who really knew a lot about this subject, old "No Show" himself George Jones.
As always my friends dig in, help yourselves, enjoy the fine music, and don't forget to take a minute or two to post a comment every now and then to let me know how you're getting along, and what you're enjoying the most. Also don't forget to check out "The Buzzment" as there are lots of outstanding albums regularly being shared there by our generous and hard working team. You'll find plenty of blues and rock, along with reggae, ska and folk, and some other interesting things too. Everything is free and easy to download. "The Buzzment" is also an open sharing forum, so if you have something you'd like to share with others then feel free to do so.
Assorted Hillbilly & Country Recordings Vol 112
Bars, Bottles & Drunks Vol 02 - One Drink Farther Away
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 27 (1955-1990)
Assorted 'Best Of' Blues & R&B Tracks Vol 90
Tuesday, July 2, 2024
Assorted Best Of Jazz Vol 73
Shakers, Crusaders, Disciples, Brothers, Quartets & Hot Shots
Blues, R&B, Soul & Gospel Records Vol 26 (1953-2022)
Assorted 'Best Of' Blues & R&B Tracks Vol 89