Following on from yesterday’s post New Orleans gets another mention today. But, again, the music is not really New Orleans in style.
The Barons were a New Orleans group (this is the one only release of theirs that gave them two RRs), but although some of their releases had a funky edge I wouldn’t say they had the classic sound of that NOLA syncopation. This group were certainly active between 1967 and 1973/4, and were credited as backing vocalists on some singles that may have been released as early as 1964. Their currency as a group then pretty much mirrored the span of the soul’s “golden decade” ( roughly 1964-1974). Their discography shows a few singles released later in the 70s but I believe those were all recorded no later than 1974.
There is no definitive statement that I can find about where this track was recorded. The group certainly recorded a number of their later tracks at the Malaco studio in Jackson, MS, and although Super Dome was a New Orleans label Malaco it is possibly where this one was laid down.
A pretty detailed account of their career can be found at the The Home Of The Groove. This was one of the soul/R&B/funk music related sites I used to visit a lot. Dan Phillips hasn't maintained the site for some years and I can’t believe The Barons article was written nearly twenty years ago now. It was important I think that such research and on line documentation of the music of the 60s was done back then, as now so many of the artists and people involved will no longer be with us and their history may otherwise have died with them.
The A side of this record – Some Kind Of Fool - is a great number with a funky feel, but it’s the other side that really does it for me (I do like my B sides). I’m So Lonely is sweet and deep, and a gem. I notice a rogue apostrophe crept into the title on the label, unless it is deliberate and is trying to convey the message of being “soooo” lonely?
The Barrons– I’m So Lonely c.1973
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