The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 24

As the last door opens another Advent-ure comes to an end. Hope you enjoyed the, sometimes scratchy, records I picked up on our holiday earlier this year.  

Mrs Darce and I thoroughly enjoyed tripping around the Deep South of America, and we would happily go back tomorrow and do it all over again.

I thought I would leave you with a playlist of some of the well known, and not so well known, classic soul that has been recorded in the four States we drove through -  Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. A lot of these I have in vinyl format, and some I don't and furthermore would require deep pockets to ever stand a chance of acquiring.   

So, if you use Spotify and need a change from all the Christmas songs when all the festivities have calmed down a bit why not take a virtual trip around the Deep South courtesy of this playlist. (Note: this playlist is still a little bit work in progress, so expect it to be tweaked a bit in the next few days.)  

Compliments of the Season to you all!       

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 23

Where has the month gone? It's flown by. 

This is the last of the 45s I picked up on our tour of the Deep South earlier in the year. I was chuffed to find it as I had put it on my wants list about five years ago after hearing it on a mix, turns out it was one of those, often, elusive and underplayed B sides. In the UK there have never been many copies for sale it seems and to buy one you would not get much, if any, change from £20. I had always been hanging out for a cheaper copy because I felt one would be bound to turn up eventually. And finally one did, in Euclid! It still turned out to be one of the more expensive purchases of the trip, but at only $4.99 I was more than happy.

This one is for Mrs Darce. She indulged me on these digging interludes on our holiday, and I am very grateful. For the Euclid visit I had researched some local cafes/bars that might be suitable but as our walk took us closer to the shop we realised there wasn't going to be one she felt comfortable going into on her own, most of them seemed to be closed in the afternoon anyway. So she came into Euclid too. As we alighted upstairs (where most of the 45s are) we saw, in amongst the shelves of records, just the one chair, unoccupied. It was as if it had been put there especially for her. She was always prepared with a book in her bag so, as I dug, she was sitting in "her" chair patiently reading. 

Jackie Moore - Somebody Loves You  1977

I have featured Jackie Moore a couple of times here, but a long time ago now. She passed in 2019 (she was 73), but unfortunately I didn't pay my respects at the time. 

RIP Jackie Moore.   

  

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 22

So there I was, still in the Imperial boxes. I'm not at all sure why I picked this one out. I had never heard of Jimmy Griffin, and there was no one listed in the credits to suggest it might be soul (individually, I suppose, Carter-Butler-Mayfield are all big names in the world of soul but were unlikely ever to have collaborated together as writers). I think, possibly it was the title Hard Row To Hoe that attracted me because I know a very good, and rare, record with that title, sung by Otis Lee. Could it be another version of the same song? Emphatically no when I finally got around to playing it. Discogs does list this as soul, I suppose it has a plodding four to the floor beat which could put it in the Northern bag, but to me it's pure pop. Somebody has put a felt tip through the title on this 45. It's a promo copy so that was presumably a DJ highlighting it for play (I think it is a B side), but hen again the "highlight" almost obliterates the title, so perhaps it was indicating "Hard Row To Hoe?" - "no, no, no!".   

Jimmy Griffin - Hard Roe To Hoe  1965  

I've done my research now and it turns out this Jimmy Griffin was a founding member of the group Bread. He also penned, amongst many others, a beautiful song For All We Know, first sung by the Carpenters (?) but it's Shirley Bassey's version I have always had a soft spot for.

PS: Here is Otis Lee's Hard Row To Hoe - an irresistible shuffler!:

     

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 21

 

Here is another early one from The O'Jays, you can't really go wrong with them. 

Another on the Imperial label too, and there will be another on that label tomorrow. Euclid are "old school" when it comes to filing their 45s, they do it primarily by label. That threw me a bit initially, and it can be a bit of a pain when you have a particular artist in mind but you have to a) remember the label(s) they were on and b) have to trawl through a lot of records to try and find one you want - think Atlantic for example. Anyway I think I was in the Imperial boxes because I was looking for Irma Thomas, but I didn't find any of hers in the end.      

The O'Jays - Oh, How You Hurt Me  1964

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 20

Look Timmy Brown up on Discogs and you will see he led a full life that initially, in turn, took in professional American football (playing for the Packers, Eagles, and the Baltimore Colts), a short singing career, and acting (including appearances in M*A*S*H - I loved that program but I couldn't recall his character's name, Captain "Spearchucker" Jones, on visiting his IMDB page though I instantly recognised him from the pictures). Later in life he became a parole officer. 

I knew none of this when I bought this record blind in Euclid. This one is a bit scratchy. Discogs lists it as "rhythm & blues" which is maybe a bit of a stretch, especially the A side which has a guitar with a distinctly country feel. Also, as it was recorded in 1962 there is a poppy feel to it anyway; and then there is Timmy's voice, he is unusual I think in that he is a black man who sounds white. 

I'm sharing the B side, it has some sax on it which "blackens" it a bit more I think, and note the fairly early Van McCoy writing credit.      

Timmy Brown - Silly Rumors  1962

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 19

Willie Clayton was born in March 1955, which means he would have been 20 years old when he recorded this 45. Maybe only 19 in fact, as his first Pawn 45 was released in 1974 and he had a number of others released between that and this one here, so it's entirely possible a fair few tracks were laid down at the same time sometime in 1974. Willie is another singer who has remained active on the soul scene through thick and thin up to this day.

Pawn was a sort of sub-label to Hi, and Willie Mitchell's unmistakable sound is very much to the fore on this track. Willie Mitchell signed Willie Clayton to Pawn after seeing him support Al Green on tour.

This 45 would have been recorded at Royal Studio. We swung by Royal while we were in Memphis, I hadn't realised how close it was to the Stax Museum. It's not a studio you can go inside but I got my picture.

The studio is in a neighbourhood that has plenty of substantial looking houses, but their better days are very much behind them now it seems. With some youths cruising around on electric scooters it did not feel particularly safe, so I just jumped out of the car, locked Mrs Darce in, took these pictures as quickly as I could, and then we drove off.

Willie Clayton - Abra Ka Dabra  1975

   

   

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 18

Sometimes I get a record label in my head associated to a particular genre, and the genre that most interests me is soul. Pic 1 is one of those labels so when I dug this 45 out of a box in Euclid, I bought it. Huey P. Meaux's name on the label further reinforced the idea in my head that this would be soul too, because I have come across "The Crazy Cajun" on the labels of a good number of soul records in my collection. 

Once I got this 45 home and played it I, of course, discovered it is best described as country. But it's a great song in any event. 

I have now done my proper research and corrected my assumptions regarding the label Pic 1, and to some extent Huey P. Meaux too. Pic 1 was a Texas label that released primarily rockabilly, country, and Texas soul/rock style records. It just so happens the only Pic 1 45 I already owned is by Lee Maye, who was a Doo-Wop and early Soul artist.    

I found some good articles (scroll down to the bottom in this link to read them in order) at Brown Eyed Handsome Man's great but now sadly retired blog that featured an extensive interview with Johnny Williams made in 2006 (It's possible I read them at the time but I have no recollection now). Turns out Johnny was next door neighbour to Joe Arlington Jr. aka Joe Tex in their early life. He has gone on to embrace all kinds of musical styles, including country, blues, soul, and jazz during his career.  

Long Black Veil was a big hit for Johnny.

Johnny Williams And The Jokers - Long Black Veil  1965

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 17

I think I first became aware of Jimmy Lewis in the mid 70s when I bought the Stax Story compilation album, his song Stop Half Loving These Women was on it and has always stuck in my mind. A few years later it was another compilation album that led me to his excellent The Girls From Texas. It has taken me all this time, though, to buy any of his singles - two this year of which this is one.

Until looking at his catalog this year, I didn't really know how prolific he was. As a singer he has over twenty singles to his name, and quite a few albums too, spanning a few decades. He was also a respected songwriter, producer, and arranger with no less than 246 writing and arrangement credits on Discogs. I was going to call him a journeyman, but I think he was more than that. He was also a member of The Drifters for a couple of years in the 60s. Ray Charles bumped into him in 1968, liked what he found, and the connection lasted into the 90s, starting off with six 45s released on Charles' Tangerine label, of which this one was the first. In the mid 90s Jimmy started his own label - Miss Butch - and racked up a reasonable number of releases - both singles and albums (CD and cassette only in those days when vinyl had virtually died out completely). He also, evidently, teamed up with Peggy Scott and she also had a few releases on the label. I've randomly dived into a few tracks off these albums and I think they stand up pretty well considering the era in which they were released (after all the golden age of Soul was long past), there is the low budget production to deal with - inevitable with someone who is essentially self releasing and promoting their output, but the songwriting is strong, as is his voice - Bobby Womack and Joe Tex comes to mind at times.          

He was still very much active and releasing and writing music (his discography on Discogs lists an album with a 2004 release date) when on September 11th 2004, at age 66, he passed away, too young. 

Jimmy Lewis - We Can Make It  1968        

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 16

Today's 45 is housed in a plain brown paper sleeve. I love brown sleeves, they are proper vintage and I am happy to believe the record and sleeve have been together since release (early 1969 in this case). The record looks like dead stock to me and has probably been lying around in some warehouse or other since its release. This sleeve now sports a Euclid price sticker that is also month/day stamped. The sticker looks fresh and tells me the record had most probably only been out on the floor for about a week before I added it to small buying pile. (This is in contrast to yesterday's O'Jays 45, which had a date on its sticker that was about a year old at least, possibly multiple years). 

This was Jo Armstead's (or "Joshie" as she was known) only release on Tay-Ster, a New York label. It is a bit of a puzzle as to why she had a release on this label in early 1969 as she continued to have releases on her own Chicago based Giant label into 1970.

I have recently been reading old Record World, Cash Box, and Billboard music industry papers on World Radio History (as you do) where, amazingly, they (or I should say a small army of dedicated submitters) have collated scanned copies - all the pages! - of most of these papers going back decades. Quite a feat. This 45 was listed in the "4 **** Singles Reviews" section in the Feb. 8th 1969 issue of Record World: 

"Jo tells it like it is on this R/Beat number. Gal knows her way around a ditty." 

Short and pithy as they tended to be. In what I consider to be an amazing coincidence the 45 that immediately preceded it in the review section was The Johnny Otis Show's Country Girl, which, of course, I also bought on this trip and featured a few days ago behind Door 12. (I have updated that post to include the record World review).      

Jo Armstead - No Better For Ya  1969   

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 15

It would have been nice to have found some records in thrifts and antique malls (truly in the wild) but I wasn't going out of my way to seek these out as digging was very much a secondary motive for our holiday and, besides, it wouldn't have been fair on Mrs Darce. The fact is we came across very few thrifts or antique malls. I did get a bit twitchy driving from Natchez to New Orleans when,  on the outskirts of Baton Rouge, we passed what looked like a very large car boot sale (or whatever they are called in the States). But I couldn't inflict a browse around that on Mrs Darce, and I was also conscious we needed to return the hire car to New Orleans airport by a certain time. The French Quarter was our planned base in New Orleans and we had decided to rely on our legs and public transport for getting around in the city. As we were in The French Quarter and its immediate surroundings we did not see a single thrift as far as I recall. 

The rest of the records I'm going to feature here all came from the same record shop in New Orleans - Euclid. One that had been on my radar for some years and was definitely on the NOLA itinerary.

Here is an early one from The O'Jays. The label maybe difficult to read as it so worn, but this 45 is over sixty years old now. The group started out as The Mascots in 1958 but changed their name to the O'Jays in 1961 in tribute to a Cleveland DJ Eddie O'Jay who played their third single Miracles a lot on the radio and also gave the group advice. This fact I have just learned from their Discogs summary page.

This one dates to 1963 when Soul as a distinct genre was starting to form out of the primordial soup of Rhythm & Blues, Doo Wop, Gospel and Pop. The A side has a distinct Pop feel but I particularly like the B side (as did someone who marked the label with an X), it has elements of Doo Wop and Pop, but the Soul is coming through strong in the vocals.

The O'Jays - The Storm is Over  1963      

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 14

Natchez was the next stop on our road trip but there were no digging opportunities there. Then it was time to head east to New Orleans. In my dreams any digging I managed to do in the Crescent City would unearth some New Orleans gems, on small local labels such as White Cliffs, Trumpet, Gold Cup, Scram, Hot Line, and Power-Pac. If you look up these labels and see the prices the really desirable ones go for you will quickly realise that these dreams would remain exactly that - just dreams.

Here are two examples I was happy to find Mr. Finewine included on his New Orleans CD that he "gave" away as a Downtown Soulville DJ Premium as part of WFMU's pledge drive a year or so ago. Amazingly, a copy of the Guitar Ray 45 came up for sale in the UK on ebay fairly recently, and I was on course to pay the most I had ever paid for a record but, unsurprisingly, bidding ran away from me in the end.

    

I find some records in New Orleans though, and was happy with my haul of cheapies, and these will be revealed in the coming days on this years Advent-ure.           

The Feel it Advent-ure 2024: Door 13

Here is the only record I found on our tour that didn't come from a record shop. Except I had already found another copy of the same record in a record shop. Before our trip I had downloaded a copy of my collection (as recorded on 45cat) to my phone. It came in handy at Shangri La in Memphis and saved me from buying some doubles. I hadn't, though, updated this list with my purchases along the way. So, when I found a copy of this single in an antique mall in Vicksburg it wasn't already on my list. The memory is not as good as it used to be, so although I knew I had bought some Little Milton 45s already, I couldn't remember which ones, and it turned out I had bought a copy of this one in Shangri La. Still, it was only $2 so no matter. 

As I have two copies of this 45 now it makes sense to share both sides. This will be Little Milton's final appearance on this year's advent-ure.

Little Milton - Somebody's Changin' My Sweet Baby's Mind  1970 

Little Milton - I'm Tired  1970

   

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 12

This one is reminiscent of Alvin Robinson's Down Home Girl. 

Times have changed, what chance would this have of getting an airing on the radio nowadays? 

The Johnny Otis Show - Country Girl  1969 

Update: Just found this review in the "4 **** Singles Reviews" section in the Feb. 8th 1969 issue of Record World: 

Bouncy R/Ballad entry could go very far. Good party time sound to it.

Bouncy indeed! :)

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 11

Back to some records that I did find on our Deep South trip. 

Our next stop was French Camp, slap bang in the middle of nowhere. I wasn't expecting any record digging opportunities, but in a roundabout way it turned out I was wrong.

Soon after leaving Muscle Shoals and heading back east we took a left and picked up the Natchez Trace Parkway. I had read about it in a Sunday Times article years ago (and had kept the article) and I guess it was then that my bucket list, such that it is, first came into being and, mentally, "driving the Natchez Trace Parkway" became the first entry. So, all these years later, here we were. Serene and empty sums it up I think. Fantastic scenery, which actually can get a little samey after a while, so we would dive off every now and again and try and find some small towns. The roads immediately off the Parkway we found to be  extremely quiet too, no Interstates (we hardly hit a big Interstate in the entire trip) but some sizeable roads. It was almost surreal driving down a highway the size of a UK motorway, except bigger because of the  enormously wide central reservation, that is almost deserted. 

Anyway we stopped at French Camp for the night, a tiny town that is essentially dry, and we respected the advice to not take any alcohol onto the premises of our B&B. The next morning we happened to have an extremely serendipitous conversation with another couple at the breakfast table. They were interested in our trip and I mentioned that I was keeping an eye out for records along the way (cue Mrs Darce rolling her eyes). The guy said he knew a place in the middle of nowhere further south in Mississippi that was full of records and showed me where on his phone. My heart started beating faster. What were the chances? - it was literally on the way to the next stop on our journey, Vicksburg.

So it was, later that day, we ended up in Raymond MS. Just across the road from the record store we first of all found a lovely little book/nick nack/coffee shop which was perfect for Mrs Darce to while away the time, and I then hot footed it over to The Little Big Store. 

I walked through the door and my heartbeat ticked up a few notches - it was indeed full of records, including plenty of 45s which I had decided to limit myself to on this trip. I thought: serendipity sent me here, it's off the beaten track, it's full of records, I'm going to fill my boots! So I dug, and I dug, and I frantically dug. But unfortunately I only found two 45s worth buying. When paying for them (nothing was priced so I didn't know what to expect, but I needn't have worried) I had a chat with the owner, who was lovely but whose name I now can't remember, and she let me have a free tote bag with the shop's name on it which I was really chuffed with. She admitted that the place was a bit picked over now, but only in the last five years or so. It seems it has become very popular with people travelling the Blues trail. So, I was only a few years late in finding this place. One can only wonder at was once there. Imagine if we had made this trip six years ago instead of doing the New England road trip? Stop it. She did say there were lots more records upstairs still unsorted though....

Fenton Robinson - Leave You In The Arms Of Your Other Man  1970                     

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 10

Quin Ivy, Quinon Ray Ivy to give him his full name, started out as a DJ and after a few years found himself at WLAY-AM in Muscle Shoals. At this point he got to know Rick Hall and they wrote some songs together, some of which Jimmy Hughes recorded early in his career. Before long Quin opened a record store on East 2nd Street in Sheffield called Tune Town (looking at Google maps the rank this store was in still stands, although most, if not all, are standing empty). In 1965 he opened up his first studio right across the street from his store, it was a very basic affair and initially called NORALA (NORthern ALAbama). Where this studio stood is now just an empty lot but it is marked by an Alabama Tourism Dept Historical Marker. Quin was taking "overflow" from Rick's FAME studio and also sharing The Swampers as session players, and Marlin Greene became, essentially, his number two.     

Things changed radically for Quin when a local band including the then unknown Percy Sledge walked into his studio sometime in 1965 and demoed a song that would eventually be honed by the team into When A Man Loves A Woman. This record became the first ever song to come out of the Muscle Shoals area, and the first ever Southern Soul song, to make it to number 1 in the Billboard Top 100 Pop charts. It was, of course, a massive international hit too. The details of the deal Quin Ivy struck with both Rick Hall and Atlantic's Jerry Wexler (who ensured national distribution of the record) tell you a lot about the man - Quin was a thoroughly decent guy, effectively giving Sledge, Hall, and Greene cuts of the cut he had agreed with Wexler.

Quin continued to work with Sledge into the Seventies but never had another record that made it in quite the same way as When A Man Loves A Woman. Soon after that single's success he started two labels - South Camp, nationally distributed through Atco, and Quinvy. Great singers such as Don Varner, Bill Brandon, and Tony Borders had single releases but none were more than local hits.

Sometime in 1968 Quin Ivy moved across town in Sheffield and opened a bigger studio at 1307 Broadway. This became formally known as Quinvy. (The NORALA studio was sold and renamed Paradox, before eventually being leased by Muscle Shoals Sound in 1973 and converted into a writer's workshop and demo studio, at which point it became known as Muscle Shoals Sound Studio B. It is not known when this studio was closed, nor when it was, sadly, demolished but I assume it's days were certainly numbered by the end of the 70s when Muscle Shoals Sound moved to the Cypress Moon studio).    

The Quinvy studio thrived for a few years, and along side Percy Sledge, other now well known artists on the Soul scene, eg Swamp Dogg, Doris Duke, ZZ Hill, recorded there. And also some not so well known ones such as Judy White, Brooks O'Dell, Freddie North, and Ernie Shelby.

By late '73 Quin Ivy backed away from the recording business and sold the Quinvy studio to David Johnson. The studio then become known as Broadway Sound. The building still stands but the studio itself closed in 1989.

Quin Ivy went back to school and obtained an accounting degree. From around 1980 he then spent the rest of his working life teaching Business Administration at the University of North Alabama, retiring in 1996. 

This is very much a potted history of  the NORALA and Quinvy studios which were an important part of the Muscle Shoals scene in the 60s and early 70s. Most of this information I have gleaned following a deep dive into their history and Quin Ivy's career following my return from our Deep South road trip. As I said in my previous post, I am kicking myself for doing more of this research before our trip. 

The following sources were helpful:

Pete Nickols' (with some input from John Ridley) exhaustive articles here at Sir Shambling's superb site.

Roots Of American Music Trail pages on NORALA, Quinvy/Broadway Sound, and Dick Cooper.

Pete Nickols articles were mostly written at least 10 years ago I believe. In my research I found a Wikipedia page on Quin Ivy which was no more than a stub. It still had Quin as a living person with no known birth date. But in my searches I also found his obituary, which states he was actually born in Banner, Mississippi on June 3rd 1935, and passed away on December 10th 2022. I have added this information to his Wikipedia page. (I would like to expand his page further but I will need to read some Wiki how to's first!, especially on how to quote sources).

*** RIP Quin Ivy ***

Today's record is one that was released on the Quinvy label (I love the design, I wonder where the idea came from?). Yes, Buddy was white and may have been seen as a Soft Rock artist but the A side of this 45 was a hit on the Carolina Beach scene and can be described as Soul. The B side however is much more to my liking. Best described as Country Soul, I guess, it is a beautiful and sweet recording, which I think perfectly evokes the feel of the Muscle Shoals area. I can't explain it, but I have always felt drawn to the Muscle Shoals sound and, yes, since our visit to the Muscle Shoals area - which encompasses Muscle Shoals, Sheffield, Tuscumbia, and Florence, which all pretty much merge into each other - I am completely gone on the area. There is definitely something in the air.. and something in the water, as they say.      

Buddy Causey - I Had No Idea  1970

PS: If you are ever in Florence, Alabama make sure to pay the Wildwood tavern a visit, great beer and free pinball!                 

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 9

Whilst we were in Muscle Shoals we* took in a couple more studios for photo opportunities  One was planned (Muscle Shoals Sound at 3614 Jackson Highway, Sheffield AL), and one was happenstance (Cypress Moon at 1000 Alabama Avenue, Sheffield AL). 3614 Jackson Highway is, of course, a very famous studio where the likes of The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, and various other members of music royalty have recorded down the years. The Stones' recorded four tracks there that found their way onto Sticky Fingers, which happens to be one of my favourite ever albums. Cypress Moon Studio we stumbled upon. We had decided to drive down to the river and take a walk and parked right by the studio. I had never heard of it and took a picture to remind me to research it. It turns out it was where Muscle Shoals Sound relocated in 1979. They then sold it to Malaco Records in 1985 and some of my favourite Soul artists - Johnnie Taylor, Bobby Bland, and Little Milton(!) - recorded there late in their careers. Every day is a school day, as they say. I'm doubly glad I took a picture of it now  (although annoyingly I can't find it at the moment).   

But I have been kicking myself since for not visiting 104 East 2nd Street, Sheffield AL and 1307 Broadway St., Sheffield AL. It is quite possible we drove down East 2nd Street on the way from Muscle Shoals Sound to Cypress Moon because checking Google maps just now the most direct route between the two is along East 2nd Street. I'm not sure we took the most direct though, but if we did we drove past the site of Quin Ivy's first studio without even realising it!  

Quin Ivy may not be a name your are familiar with. But there is a fair chance you will be familiar with at least one song recorded there - Percy Sledge's When A Man Love's A Woman.  

I knew he had operated a studio - Quinvy - in Sheffield AL, and I have a few singles that were recorded there - Judy White's Satisfaction Guaranteed being one, significant because it is on my list of all time favourite Soul tracks. So I have beat myself up a bit for not doing my revision properly before this trip. and because of that not visiting these "shrines", when they were literally just down the road.   

In recent months since coming back home I have done a very deep dive into all things Quinvy and I will share some facts next time. 

I have also bought a fair few records that were recorded there in the last few months, here is one from one of Quin Ivy's labels... 

Don Varner - Down in Texas  1967   

... i might as well have been down in Texas! 

*Mrs Darce was tagging along like the dutiful wife. She did indulge me and I was very grateful. 

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 8

When I decided to do this year's Advent-ure I realised I only had 19 records to share with you from our Deep South road trip, and there are, of course, 24 doors to open. It's OK, I have a plan. 

After we left Memphis behind our next stop was Alabama, and that meant Muscle Shoals. It had to be!

Ever since I heard my first Candi Staton record (for me that was back in 1972) I have been completely sold on the Muscle Shoals sound. It was a very distinct sound and it still stands up today. Rick Hall's FAME Studio was where the sound began but there were other studios in the area that picked up the ball and ran with it and I will mention one in particular in the next post. Of course the musicians and writers - Spooner Oldham, Dan Penn, The Swampers et al - were key to the sound and played at all the studios at one time or another. 

I have never been one to draw up an extravagent bucket list, but I suppose I have one of sorts. The Deep South road trip was on it and FAME Recording Studios, 603 East Avalon Avenue, Muscle Shoals, Alabama has always been on it, and that was where you could have found me back on the 23rd April this year. 

Whilst waiting for the tour to start I had a short chat with Linda, Rick's widow who now runs the studio on the business side. I mentioned that I have been a great fan of Candi Staton for a very long time and she said they are good friends and keep in regular touch, which was nice to know. So I did the tour and bought the T Shirt. It was quite something to just stand in Rick Hall's office and imagine how many icons of the real Soul music of the Sixties had sat in the leather chair on the other side of the desk to his and discussed and signed contracts. And then to just stand in the studio where so many records that are very close to my heart were recorded... well, words fail me really.     

One thing I didn't find whilst in the Muscle Shoals area was a scratchy record or two to buy. The closest I got was a copy of Billie Holidays's Strange Fruit in a thrift, but it was just too beat up to buy. So these next few doors will reveal some records that were recorded in the hallowed area of Muscle Shoals / Sheffield. Starting with....

Jimmy Hughes - I'm A Man Of Action  1967

            

    

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 7

Hello, who is this at the door?

Ah, it's you again Mr. Campbell, welcome.

Little Milton was prolific throughout the 60s and most of his singles, especially on Checker, are worth picking up. This one is a stormer.

Little Milton - Grits Ain't Groceries  1968   

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 6

We spent a few days in Memphis on our Deep South road trip. It warranted a few days as, of course, there was a lot to see and experience: 

We stayed at The Peabody so were treated to a duck march every day for starters :) 

Graceland was not as glitzy as we expected it to be, and all the better for it. The house itself was much smaller than I expected and had quite an intimate feel. The whole experience was well worth it.

Sun Studios was well worth a visit, it's great to know studio space itself is virtually unchanged from the Fifties.

There was great live music - and food - on offer from the bars on Beale St. 

The Civil Rights Museum at the Lorraine Motel was a really moving experience.  

And, of course, no trip to Memphis would be complete without a visit to the Stax Museum. They have a wall of records there which displays every single released on the Stax and Volt labels. Not quite every single actually, there were eight missing when we visited, and I have one of them! (Joni Wilson on Volt, which I have featured here a couple of times in the past). I could donate my copy but I don't feel ready to part with it yet. 

It was appropriate, then, that I bought a Stax single at Shangri-La Records.

The B side of this single I have written about twice before here, initially in 2006 (the first year of this blog's life!), and then again in 2010 when I wondered why I was all of a sudden getting a lot of views on my original post. It turned out it was because the song had appeared on the Treme soundtrack. This all seems like such a long time ago now. Just A Little Overcome  I have always had on a Stax compilation album. In the original post I said that you could probably pick up a copy of the single it appeared on for no more than £10. Little did I know then that I would finally pick up a copy of it (for $7) in the city of its birth.   

Time to give the A side an airing.

The Nightingales - I Don't Want To Be Like My Daddy  1971           

               

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 5

Here is another great record released on the Checker label. This one predates yesterday's Little Milton 45 by a few months, and was a big hit in the Summer of 1965. This clocks in at 3 minutes 20 seconds which is actually quite a long track for a mid sixties soul record.  

This is another single that can be found in all three 60s incarnations of the Checker label. And after I said yesterday that this particular design was believed to not have debuted until 1966 this has now got me wondering. I notice the release number (13738) is suffixed by an R on the label. The R does not appear on red label copies of this single. So does this mean maybe that it was reissued in 1966?   

This is a stunning piece of Deep Soul which I first came across as being the opening track on Dave Godin's Deep Soul Treasures Vol. 4 CD back in the noughties. All five volumes of those CDs are absolutely essential if you are, like me, a lover of Deep Soul.

The Knight Bros. - Temptation 'Bout To Get Me  1965     

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 4

Here's Little Milton again, and it won't be the last of his this month.

I put this one on my want list a couple of years ago now. I would have had to have paid £20 - £25 for a copy in the UK and there aren't that many about. So, although this has seen some plays, I was happy to find it for $3.

This one hits a groove and doesn't let up. I would have thought it would have been a staple on the Northern Soul and Mod scene but it only seems to be semi-known.     

Checker had a number of label designs down the years. It is generally accepted that the silver on red one here lasted from 1957 to 1965. It was superceded briefly by the "checkerboard" design but by 1966 a more basic blue design had taken over. I have seen copies of this single on all three designs. Any on the red label must have been using up old label stock.      

Little Milton - Sometimey  1966

 

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 3

We're staying in the back room of Shangri-La Records for a few more days yet. 

Like Little Milton, I have amassed a few Ella Washington singles over the years. Very much championed by John Richbourg, her secular recording career spanned 1965 to around the end of 1972 in which time she released 13 singles and one album. I have copies of over half of those singles now.  

She has a wonderful voice, a good range, and she can really let rip. She does have a bit of a lisp which is more or less noticeable on her various recordings and can be a bit of an acquired taste (for instance it does detract a bit from her performance on the B side of this 45 - If Time Could Stand Still - to my mind), but it does make her sound really down home I think.

This was one of her last secular releases. The sound of Fame Studios in Muscle Shoals is all over this record. More of Fame and Muscle Shoals in a few days time.    

Ella Washington - Too Weak To Fight  1972

You can, of course, read more about her and her career over at Sir Shambling's site.

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door 2

I have a fair few Little Milton 45s in my collection, and after this year's trip to the Deep South I now have a few more as you will see as we move on through the month.

Most of the 45s I have of his are on Checker, this is the first one I have picked up on the Bobbin label. It's an early one, released around February 1959. Consulting his singles catalog on 45cat it would appear his very first single was released on Sun on Christmas Eve 1953. He would carry on recording and performing pretty much right up until has death in 2005. According to Discogs he had been born James Milton Campbell Jr. but legally dropped the "James" after he discovered he had a half brother of that name.      

Bobbin is a cute name for a label I think. Discogs again enlightened me that Milton co-founded it in 1958 with KATZ radio manager Bob Lyons. It was eventually bought by Chess and absorbed into the Checker label where Little Milton would go on to release so many great singles in the sixties.       

Both the label and vinyl of this 45 look pretty worn, not surprising really as it had not long celebrated its 65th birthday when I found it in one of the boxes of second hand singles out the back of Shangri-La Records. It plays remarkably well though    

The A side is Long Distance Operator which is a fine upbeat number but I'm going to feature the more bluesy B side here because it has just a little more background noise which I think can add a bit of charm to the listening experience, and seems entirely appropriate for a 65 year old record.     

Little Milton - I Found Me A New Love  1959

The Feel It Advent-ure 2024: Door #1

“I have made the snap decision to do a Feel It Advent-ure again this year. Having being absent for almost a year this is probably a foolhardy decision. But we shall see.”

Sound familiar? I’ll forgive you if your reply was “No”. But in fact that is what I said three years ago, just before I embarked on my 2021 Advent-ure.

So with minimal adjustment I will say the same again three(!) years later: I have made the snap decision to do a Feel It Advent-ure again this year. Having being absent for almost a year nearly three years this is probably a foolhardy decision. But we shall see.”

It is a somewhat easier task this time as the rekkids have chosen themselves. 

Earlier this year Mrs Darce and I road tripped around the Deep South of America, covering four States – Tennessee, Alabama, Mississippi, and Louisiana. The route was planned around a musical theme, I’m sure you can guess some of the destinations. Along the way, of course, I kept a nose out for some records, and, with heartfelt thanks to my very understanding wife, we found ourselves in a few record shops and thrifts along the way. The little stack of 45s pictured are what I picked up.

I will work through them in chronological order of purchases as best as I can remember where they were purchased. The first few, including the one featured here from the great Syl Johnson, came from Shangri La Records in Memphis.      

Syl Johnson – Dresses Too Short 1968

The B side is great too!

Syl Johnson – I Can Take Care Of Business 1968