New Soul4Real 45 Releases: Geater Davis & Lynn White

What’s new on Soul4Real? S4R50 and JAR15

Two fantastic releases from Geater Davis (originally unreleased 70s recordings) and Lynn White, with all songs available for the first time on 7".

Special thanks to Lula Toliver, widow of Geater Davis, for providing previously unseen photos for the cover.

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GEATER DAVIS (S4R50)
I´M SO IN LOVE WITH YOU / A WHOLE LOT OF MAN

Here we have two slabs of hard-hitting southern soul. With their grit-infused vocals, tasty guitar and swelling horns, they should appeal to all who enjoy their soul with a touch of blues.

Geater (pronounced JEE-ter) was born in East Texas as Vernon Davis in 1946, took childhood guitar lessons from T-Bone Walker, did stints as a sideman with Ted Taylor and Eddie Giles, and labored in Shreveport’s club scene before finding success with his first record, “Sweet Womans Love”, in 1970. He made the charts again in 1972 with “Your Heart Is So Cold” on John R’s Seventy 7 Records. The songs on this disc, unreleased at the time, are from Geater’s sessions for that label.

Two modest hits provided years of one-nighters across the South, until the “disco crisis” (his words) dried up work for real musicians. He kept at it, though, in Jackson, Columbus, Little Rock and Dallas. Set for a career rebirth, Geater had studio time booked when his heart gave out at age 38.

JEFF KUHN

LYNN WHITE (JAR15)
I DON´T KNOW WHY / IF I COULD OPEN UP MY HEART

Lynn White hails from Mobile, AL and started singing at the age of six in her local church. She worked in Ike Darby’s record store where she would sing along to the sounds that were playing, and it wasn’t long before the owner decided to record her on his local label Darby Records in 1978 at the age of 25. Three singles and the highly collectable album “Am I Too Much Woman For You” ensued, but they didn’t bring much success to the label, which folded shortly afterwards. They did get married though.

Her sultry bluesy Darby-penned/produced “I Don’t Ever Wanna See Your Face Again” was released in 1982 on another local label, Sho-Me Records, and it quickly came to the attention of Willie Mitchell, who signed her immediately to his Waylo imprint. A fruitful period followed with 7 albums and 12 singles released for the Memphis-based label during the rest of that decade. Her mid-paced “See You Later Bye” was a huge favourite with the modern soul scenes in Europe, and it was a pleasure to see White as part of Waylo’s A Memphis Soul Night – Live In Europe in 1990 when she appeared with Otis Clay, Ann Peebles and David Hudson, performing in Amsterdam, Rotterdam, Berlin and London; each artist doing a solo spot then all four joining together for some rousing soul medleys.

By now a Memphis resident, she switched to S.O.H. Distributions in 1990, which gave her more control of her output, and these two sides are from that period; “I Don’t Know Why” (1993), clearly her most popular track was only available as a 12” single, and featured the amazing but uncredited vocals of Farris Lanier Jr., who was lead singer of another Waylo act, Lanier & Co. Now very hard to find, this will be an eagerly awaited release as a 7” single. The flip is a gorgeous stepper written by George Jackson (previously recorded by Otis Clay) and from her CD only album The New Me (1990). White’s version just oozes with soul and makes for an essential double-sider.

STEVE HOBBS