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
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