Roburt

..... didn't say that. But I will say Charley Pride (a black guy) sounds awful to me ... WHEREAS ... Eddie Hinton (a white guy) sounds bloody great. Whatever you say, I ain't gonna change my spots after all these years, so I'd just write me off as a lost cause if I were you. Don't like / won't like country music.

We're all getting much TOO OLD, Lou has even joined the crowd. In the US he says that no one would ever take him seriously as a singer ... the 1st time his singing skills were ever really appreciated was by the Brits and he couldn't belive the reaction of UK soulies to his efforts when he 1st toured here on the Ric Tic tour (he's since been 'down under' and they also like his singing a lot down there). ANYWAY, back in the States he had to make his way as a guitar player and here he did get some plaudits. HOWEVER, he has been playing his fave guitar for many years now. This has meant many hours of strumming & picking with his fingers / hand / arm in the same position. The years of 'wear & tear' have meant that he now sufferes from arthritis in his hands / wrist. So, it is now painful for him to play is old guitar. He has gotten a new one with a much thinner body & so with his arm now in a different position, it isn't too painful to keep playing. He wants to sell on his old faithful though as it's of no use to him anymore.

I don't hate country music coz it's made by whites ... I hate it coz it's crap. I love most (the vaste majority) of Muscle Shoals recordings & just about all the muscians on those tracks are white ... BUT ... they're playing good instruments in the right way .... next to no country influence at all ...... Here's one that does have a country feel to the instrumentation but the vocals are pure deep soul .... so it's great .... has a CC 'Patches' styling to it at the start but then it becomes 100% deep soul ... ...

With George Kirby ....

A live recording from back in the day ....

Della singing for US President with B B King ...

Following on from the recent deaths of Ruby Winters, Ruby Wilson & one of the Manhattans, it seems that Della Reese is in a very bad way .... She has stated ... “My life is at stake, .... I don’t have type 2 diabetes — type 2 diabetes has me.” Della is best known in the US as a jazz singer & actress but we remember her 70's soul 45's the best ....... More info here .... https://www.iloveoldschoolmusic.com/praying-for-della-reese-she-reveals-sad-news-about-her-health/?utm

Mel & Tim "Backfield In Motion" and I guess "Picking Wild Mountain Berries" Peggy Scott & Jo Jo Benson ... both really bout making love.

Doesn't matter what anyone else tells me, I HATE country music ... makes me grate my teeth & stick my fingers in my ears, it's that BAD. Here's a soul song that the country folk picked up on ... soul version; great ... .... .... country ... YUKKK ...

Those old cheapie Hi related CD's were put out by Demon Records, they didn't have extensive sleeve notes but the music they contained was fandabbydozy ... they still have copies of em on Amazon BUT they're not cheap anymore (used to cost around 4 quid each for 20+ tracks).

I also always loved the Hi output and have many many Hi 45's ... BUT ... just to complete my collection, I bought copies of all those cheap UK comp Hi CD's put out about 20+ years back ..... comps like ... Soul Searching; What's The Question 1 & 2; Memphis Soul Greats; Trouble, Heartaches & Sadness; Pain, Sorrow & Lonliness; Should I Go Or Should I Stay; Name of The Game; Hi Girls; Hi Records 45 Collection 1 & 2 ... ETC.

This version has always been my fave ... the Knight Bros ....

I know we have some listies who used to frequent Studio 54 in NY back in the day. Studio 54 was at 254 West 54th St in Manhattan. O.D.O. studios was also at 254 West 54th St ... wonder if any of them noticed the studio when they went to the club ... if it was still there ... (it must have been on an upper floor / or in the basement, so it could operate while CBS were still using the bit of the building that became Studio 54). O.D.O. studio was definitely up and running in 1971. .... the O.D.O. studio was also still operating when the old CBS TV studios were converted into Studio 54 in 1977. The owner of O.D.O. studios died in November 77 (Vincent Oddo) so I'm not to sure how much longer the studio kept going after that.

Well Geneva was his own label, whereas Soul World was owned / run by Johnny Worlds. Johnny Worlds also ran the Worlds label (Dave Love, Flamingos). He also worked with Jimmy 'Handyman' Jones in 76 (Jen-Jillus Recs) and was associated with Masterpiece Recs in the 80's. This Geneva Records isn't the same as the Geneva Records (of NY & Detroit) that was run by Ernest Kelly .... AND ... this Soul World label wasn't the same as the labels run out of LA and Chicago (they were different companies). Gene Evans was on Golden Beam in 71, a mainly gospel label. He cut his tracks in New York (@ O.D.O. studios for David Osbia). I'd say the Geneva 45 came first ....

Percy Sludge's take on Curley's "Set Me Free" (off the 68 LP 'This is Calarence Cater') .... also done recently by Percy Wiggins & the Bo-Keys ...

This is very good for a 5 year old recording .......... (though you should already have the Gladys K and Ad-libs versions) ....

Has this got a mention yet .... another 'hard to get' deepie (though it was made available on a Jap & Henry Stone made CD) ..... .... William Howard (Wee Gee I believe) singing Little Beaver ...

As there have been a couple of posts about "Coming Home", thought I'd pass along this tale (told me by Lou P when I interviewed him @ the Prestatyn weekender). I played "Coming Home" and asked him what inspired the song .... he told me that when he had left home to go on tour, he had a steady girlfriend. He was out on the road for quite a while & never managed to get home at all (his schedule didn't allow it). His girlfriend would ring him most days & tell him how much she was missing him. In the end, she pleaded with him to make it home, if only for a few hours. After she got quite emotional, he promised her he'd be home in the morning. . . . . . . . . The call ended & he felt inspired, so using the topic of their discussions, he wrote the song there & then .... END OF STORY ... but I couldn't leave things there ... I asked if he actually did head home the next morning, he laughed and told me ... NO, I didn't, in fact I never saw the girl again ... all the time he was rolling about with laughter while he recounted the tale.

Mark, no doubt your new book will deal with these matters in full .... ... do you have any info on the Daydreams ??

I made a mistake in the article .... Curly Putman DID write the dreaded D-I-V-O-R-C-E ....

About a third of the way down the 1st page of this thread, I posted up an ad for Agency Recording Studios in Cleveland. Lots of people cut here, including Lou himself (Hot Chocolate's "We Had True Love"). Lots of other top acts also used the studio, loads of these being rock acts. Agency Recording was upstairs over the Agora Club. They drilled holes in the floor of the studio (over the stage area) and lowered electric wires down to mic up the club's stage. The likes of Bruce Springsteen, Tom Waits, U2, Lou Reed, Argent, Grand Funk, Paul Simon (in a movie) & AC/DC all recorded at the club (some for album purposes but most for broadcast on a local radio stn). HOWEVER soul acts still used the studio too. In August 1972, Kim Tolliver cut at Agency for her husband Fred Briggs and General American Records (GAR). Most likely the tracks laid down were "I Caught You" & "Get Myself Together". Local group Truth also recorded quite a few songs at Agency. Truth also did a showcase on the stage at the Agora Club that all of those top rock bands had performed on (this was before going out on tour with the O'Jays). To finish, another old photo showing Lou ..... this one is of members of the Sahibs ... Lou is in the centre of the photo, George Hendricks on the left and James Dotson on the right side. The picture was taken in 1961 at Lou's mothers house (1762 East 88th Place, Cleveland) ..... ... George Hendicks later joined the Hesitations & performed with the group @ the Prestatyn Weekender a few years back. Unfortunately George suffered a stroke at the start of this year.

Hey, my interview with Eddie Floyd (conducted over 29 years ago) is included in that edition of Shades of Soul !! ... thought I'd lost that info /article.

........... Ronnie Wilkins was originally from North Carolina .... The Daydreams were a local act that played the famous Williams Lake Dance Club (located to the NW of Clinton, Nth Carolina) ... The Daydreams just have to be the group that cut for Dial in spring / summer 1966 & recorded a Hurley - Putman - Wilkins song .... ... maybe It was even Ronnie that got them the deal with Dial ... he had songs that he'd written cut by 2 Dial acts in 1965 ...

Specially written by this country song writing duo ...