The key ingredient of Hot Sauce

I enjoyed watching the Stax Soulsville USA documentary series shown recently Sky Arts. It followed up nicely my visit to the Stax Museum last year, and coincided with my re-reading of Peter Guralnick’s excellent book Sweet Soul Music where I just happened to be in the middle of the chapters dedicated to Stax Records when I watched the documentary. 

Two of the earliest soul singles I bought, back in the early 70s, were Isaac Hayes’ Theme From Shaft and The Staple Singers’ I’ll Take You There. The documentary spent, quite rightly, a deal of time on Isaac Hayes, and Theme From Shaft, including footage of it being worked through in the studio. Back in the early 70s, when I was a young teenager, I was simply loving the music without any idea of the backdrop to its making. My concerted dive into all things Stax over the last few months has finally brought home to me the tumultuous times, both culturally in the USA, and in the business runnings of Stax Records, in which these records were being made. I have to say I got quite emotional watching the final episode of the documentary marrying up memories of my young innocent self listening to those singles at home with the footage of the actual artists and backroom staff who were involved in their making and distribution, and what they meant for black Americans at that time.

Today’s record is one that recently dropped on my doormat.

Volt was one of Stax Records labels. Hot Sauce were… who? Well, “they” (as I had always thought) had a run of six 45s on Volt, this being the first in the late summer of 1971, and she (as it turns out) had the unfortunate pleasure of having the final 45 released on the label in early1975 just before Stax finally had to shut it doors for good. There was even a Hot Sauce album (in truth predominantly a collection of tracks form the six already released 45s – but Stax were struggling by then) slated for release and given a catalog number (and name checked on that final 45), but it was never to be. Ace Records finally did the honours, in a way, in 2012 by releasing the album as it would have been on CD. The CD was credited to Rhonda Washington because she was, essentially, Hot Sauce.

The track featured here is a beautiful ballad, the B side of the wonderfully titled I’ll Kill A Brick (About My Man). (“Kill A Brick” meaning a demonstration of extreme anger. The phrase was in use in the black population – at least in Harlem and at least as far back as the early 60s – as documented in a New York Times article published in 1964). For this first single Hot Sauce were, apparently, a trio – Rhonda on lead vocals with two male backing singers. But after that Hot Sauce was Rhonda Washington alone.

It is believed that Rhonda hailed from St. Louis and was Chuck Berry’s niece. Her first known appearance on wax was as the lead singer of the (Mighty) Mustangs who had two singles released in 1964/5 on the Sure-Shot label. All four sides of these singles were written by Gladys Battle, Rhonda’s mum. I would say Rhonda sounds young on these outings, probably in her teens. The second of the two singles is very rare. There followed, probably in early 1967, the only 45 released under her own name, again on the Sure-Shot label. This 45 appears to be insanely rare; it’s on Discogs but with no copies for sale and nobody claiming to own it, it’s not listed on 45cat, and there are no recorded sales on Popsike. It’s possible it was never actually released. Between 1967 and her appearance as Hot Sauce in 1971 she does not seem to have had any recording credits.

All the Volt Hot Sauce sides were credited to Irene Productions, Irene being Irene Perkins, wife of Al Perkins DJ, singer, songwriter and producer (latterly of Al Hudson & The Soul Partners / One Way), who was based in Detroit after being a DJ in Memphis. Velma Perkins appears in some credits (as songwriter Vee Allen) and was Al Perkins sister. However, despite being on Volt but also bearing strong Detroit links most of the Hot Sauce sides were actually probably recorded at Willie Mitchell’s Royal Studio just down the road from Stax’s studios.

Rhonda Washington had a great voice and, who knows, if Stax had had more money for promotion and hadn’t had to close its doors when it did she might well be much more of a household name. As far as is known though, as the doors at Stax closed for good they did also on Rhonda’s recording career. It is rumoured she went back to St. Louis and, possibly, gospel music. Certainly nothing seems to be known now of her whereabouts, if indeed she is still alive.

Hot Sauce – I Can’t Win For Losing 1971

One of those

You know the feeling when you hear a song and it quickly gets inside your head and you just can't stop replaying it to yourself, sometimes to the point you wish it would go away? "That's an earworm", I hear you say, and you are absolutely right. So why didn't I just say the word? Well, there is no doubt it perfectly describes the experience, but for reasons I can't explain I just don't like the word.

Anyway, this obscure song by Don Austin has recently become one of those for me. I heard it on Doug Schulkind's excellent WFMU Give The Drummer Some radio show. He usually plays a set of soul - often deep soul - 45s at the end of his program and this was one he played on a show from a few weeks ago. On hearing it immediately went onto the Internet to see if I could find a copy. Discogs had two for sale in the UK and I bought one of them. By the time it dropped through the letterbox the song The Thrill Of Yesterday (a B side) was already installed in my head, so maybe I hadn't needed to buy it all.    

First of all I should say this track is not deep soul, and it's questionable you could really call it soul at all actually. Don Austin was born Donald Austin and usually recorded as Donel Austin. His first two 45s were released in 1959 on the Mida label and could be categorised as rock-a-billy. In the 70s and 80s he had, after quite a hiatus, a steady trickle of 45s released, all of which I think fall into the country bag. He did, however, have a couple of 45s released on the ALON label in 1962. This was a New Orleans label (it of course spells NOLA backwards), and the writing credit on both sides of this 45 is N.Neville i.e. Naomi Neville, in fact the one and only Allan Toussaint. How Don(el) ended up on a New Orleans label (his first label - Mida - was based in Miami) I have no idea about, nor why he appeared subsequently to have no records released between 1963 and 1974.

The song races along at quite a clip, the jaunty horn fills are wonderful; the female backing singers brief refrains are placed just about right in the mix; you have to think it is Allan Toussaint himself on piano;  and, although Don's vocals are undeniably rooted in country and rock-a-billy, the whole thing does have an early New Orleans feel I think.      

Prepare for that thing to happen!

Don Austin - The Thrill Of Yesterday  1962                    

Another Feel It birthday.. and more big names lost.

This blog is 19 years old today. That is the bare fact, although it's a bit of a stretch to say it has been been trucking along for the entirety of those 19 years due to recent periods of dormancy. 

This blog, as you know, tends to celebrate soul and funk (and jazz and reggae) music of an increasingly bygone age. Soul and funk music in particular was arguably really at its height in the 60s and 70s. And there's the rub - it should be no surprise that the icons of that time will be very much in the twilight of their life. So it is proving as this year is building up to be another particularly bad one for long time lovers of soul and funk music as we have lost some big names on the scene already this year, and in the last few weeks in particular it has been difficult to keep up with the sad news flow.

Sam Moore, Jerry Butler, Gwen McCrae, Roberta Flack, Chris Jasper of the Isley Brothers, Muscle Shoals session man Albert 'Junior Lowe', Angie Stone, and Roy Ayers - all artists close to my heart over the years - have passed this year already. All have featured strongly in the soundtrack of my life since the early 70s. 

All I can say to all of those mentioned above is Rest In Peace and thank you for the music.    

    

Gwen McCrae - Keep The Fire Burning  1982

Roy Ayers Ubiquity - The Memory  1976 

PS: As it's this blog's birthday today, it also means, of course, that Candi Staton will be celebrating hers - Happy Birthday Candi! (I shall not tempt fate by saying anything more).  
     

Pot Black

Steve Davis was at the record fair a few days ago. He of snooker fame.

This is the fourth time I’ve come across him at my local record fair. On all four occasions I have come away with a very satisfying haul of soul 45s.

Steve was a big fan of soul music back in the 80s and 90s at least. He also partnered with a well known DJ and dealer on the Northern scene back then - Rod Dearlove. They imported tens of thousands of records, and Steve also helped with funding for Rod's magazine Voices From The Shadows that ran for about 25 issues.

At previous fairs he had boxes and boxes of 45s for £1 each. I was like a pig in sh*t! He had a lot more albums this time but my focus as usual was 45s. Inflation has kicked in though. Sadly the £1 boxes are no more. This time there were about 6 boxes of priced soul, blues, and R&B and 5 or 6 rows of £2.50 45s on the floor. And a small box of expensive ones in the inner sanctum. In fairness nearly all the priced stuff was of higher quality/rarer than previously present in his £1 boxes, but I reckon a lot of the £2.50 stuff was £1 last year.

The prices evidently didn’t put me off though as I bought another 25 45s off him! I did get a bit carried away though as seeing so many records that float my boat in the flesh in one place is a rarity in the UK. In reality there are only a few of these that I really wanted, and maybe part of my brain was still operating as if they were only £1 each. The provenance had something to do with it as well I think – imagining they had been imported by Steve and Rod as deadstock decades ago and have since been sat around in storage somewhere is something that, strangely, piques my interest. The records are generally in great condition too.

At the fair I didn’t have time to check if I had any in this latest stack already. When I got home it turned out I did have one – The Soul Ambassadors - which cost me £4. I discovered I had bought, an albeit more beat up, copy on my first plundering of Steve’s £1 boxes back in 2023!

I have found that a fair few of these 45s are featured on Sir Shambling’s great (and now sadly no longer updated?) site. So perhaps some of these records were from Steve’s own personal collection as, like me, I believe he has/had a penchant for deep and/or Southern soul.

Here are two deepies from my stack with a similar feel -  melancholic, simple production, nice guitar and horns, and a good vocal to the fore.  

Nat Hall hailed from the Washington DC area and had several singles released in a roughly 10 year period starting in 1966. He doesn't feature on Sir Shambling, but this track would be a worthy entry. I love the way this one just sort of stops at the end.    

Nat Hall with The Mellow 3 – A Broken Hearted Clown 1970

Ricky Lewis has four documented releases, this, from 1968, being his final release. Ricky does have his page at Sir Shambling, but it seems little is known of him beyond the fact his recording career started in New Jersey.     

Ricky Lewis and the Afro Band –Welcome Home 1968

Forever a 45 cat

Ort Carlton passed away in January a couple of years ago. I feel like I need to pay my respects now here as at the time of his passing this blog was off air.

I’m posting this today because in my mind Ort passed away two years ago today. But I misremembered the date, he actually passed on the 21^st January 2023.

You didn’t know Ort? Well, no, neither did I, but I felt like I knew him. Let me explain.

As something of a record collecting nerd I frequent the 45cat site. For those of you who don’t know the site it is something of a crowd sourced venture with the goal in it’s original form (it has since expanded to 45worlds sort of sister site which encompasses albums, magazines, memorabilia) essentially to document every 45rpm 7” record ever released. Anybody can add a record to it under strict guidelines. One can also document their own collection on it via an “I Own It” button, and their want/wish list via an “I Want It” button. Over the last few years I have documented the bulk of my collection by hitting that “I Own It” button, and my own account page is currently telling me I have 3,663 singles (and a further 2,000+ albums and 12” singles on 45worlds). You can also see what other people own.

I found over the years that whenever I added a US release 45 to my collection (predominantly of the soul variety), or hit the “want” button, and then went to see who else owned or wanted a copy Ort.Carlton’s name was there. Wow, I thought, our tastes strongly align. I don’t think it was until I became aware of his passing that I went to his account page and saw how many 45s Ort had recorded as owning (32,714!), or wanting (34,703!!). So maybe our tastes weren’t that closely aligned, it was just that Ort owned or wanted everything! (Interesting to note that he joined the 45cat community in 2015, that’s five years after me, so in just a few years he was very busy documenting his collection).

So who was Ort Carlton? His full name was William Orten Carlton and he was a character, that’s for sure. He was very well known in his hometown of Athens, Georgia, where he was born, and resided for the bulk of his life. He ran a record shop called Ort’s Oldies on College Avenue there for some years and hosted radio shows on WUOG-FM called Ort’s Oldies and Ort’s Radio Problem, starting in 1972 and continuing right up to 2022. He was well known in the local music scene, and was there as bands such as REM and the B-52s blossomed. During some of the 80s at least he was working for a company measuring the strength of AM radio signals (with a view to ensuring local stations did not drown each other out). This meant he travelled extensively, particularly in Tennessee and Alabama. He had a photographic memory and apparently knew the call sign of every AM station in the South and every zip code in Georgia. It’s possible therefore that the act of documenting his record collection on 45cat was simply a case of accessing his memory rather than physically looking up his records. I’m not sure he could vouch for the condition of some of those records though judging by some of the pictures in the reel here! I would bet though that he put together his collection at least in part by making numerous stop offs at thrifts etc. as he travelled through the southern States measuring those radio signals. Sounds like it was a dream job.

I have gleaned this information on Ort from lovingly put together tributes here, and here which also gives links to Youtube clips of Ort on Public Access TV during the 80s. There is also a heartfelt tribute from a  friend describing time he spent in Atlanta here. I urge you to follow these links to get a better sense of the man.

I wish now I had researched Ort whilst he was still alive as I like to think I could have struck up at ast an email/message based friendship with him based on our shared love of music. It seems like he was an easy guy to get on with.

A stash of fliers and other music ephemera of the Athens music scene that Ort had has now been taken in by the University of Georgia (Extent: 7 Linear Feet 1 box, 4 oversize boxes, 1 oversized folder). I can’t help but wonder what has happened to his record collection.

Ort’s account at 45cat is “archived”, but still there in all it’s glory for all to see. The last comment he made on a record was just a month before he passed. The comment reads “For some reason, nice crackly copies of this just sound better to me. Maybe it's too late to hunt down a near mint one.” The record in question is by The Vanguards, a soul group from Indianapolis. When I found out about Ort’s passing as a mark of respect I went online and bought a copy of this record (due to the unfavourable exchange rate, and ever increasing postage and import costs, it was the first record I had bought from the States in quite a few years). Now whenever I pull it out of it’s storage box or just browse past it I think of Ort).

I’m sure Ort will live forever in the memories of his family and many friends he made in Athens. Also, hopefully, he will live forever at 45cat.

The Vanguards – It’s Too Late For Love 1970