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Slipped Discs

“Hoy, Hoy!”

A Visit To Planet Spo-Dee-O-Dee

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Each week Rev. Billy C. Wirtz tells us about artists, albums, and music that we need to know about.

Last week I told the strange story of an innocent tune, reputed to contain all manner of lewd and lascivious lyrics, that became a rock ‘n’ roll anthem.

 That song, “Louie Louie,” has now trumped “Yesterday” as the most re-recorded song of all time, even the article generated more responses than any piece I’ve written so far.

This week’s tune was originally X-rated and sung by black soldiers in the segregated barracks of Petersburg, Virginia.

Celebrating their drink of choice, the lyrics went something like:

Drinkin’ that mess is our delight, 

And when we get drunk, start fightin’ all night. 

Knockin’ out windows and tearin’ down doors, 

Drinkin’ half-gallons and callin’ for more. 

Drinkin’ wine mutherf–ker, drinkin’ wine!

G–damn! 

Drinkin’ wine motherf–ker, drinkin’ wine!

 G–damn! 

Drinkin’ wine muthaf–ker, drinkin’ wine!

 G–damn! 

Pass that bottle to me! 

Rewind

In 1947, Granville “Stick” McGhee, brother of legendary bluesman Brownie McGhee, stepped into a studio in New York City, added a couple of verses, and recorded a cleaned-up version of the song. He substituted the phrase “Spo-Dee-O-Dee” for the M.F. word, and replaced G-Damn, with various manifestations (“Elderberry, Blackberry, or Cherry!”) of said beverage.

He named the song “Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee.”

His first recorded version was performed with a guitar and slap bass, and began with the words:

“Down in Petersburg, everything’s fine.”

Much like “Louie, Louie,” it was recorded for a tiny independent label (Harlem Records) that had neither the time nor money to promote it, and within weeks it was forgotten about.

Fast Forward:

In 1949, Amhet Ertegun, president of Atlantic Records, was hanging around a record distributor’s office. He noticed an order come through for thousands of copies of a song called “Wine Spo-Dee-O-Dee.”

Apparently, it had become a huge hit in New Orleans. No one seemed to know why, just another “go figure” moment in  music history.

Without bothering to inform anyone at Harlem Records, Ertegun tracked down Stick and re-recorded it, adding “Big Chief” Ellis on piano, Gene Ramey on drum,s and brother Brownie McGhee on guitar. They slowed down the tempo, changed the song’s location from Petersburg to New Orleans, and it took off.

Within the year, it rose to #2 on the R&B charts, and climbed all the way to #26 on the pop charts.

“Wine…” was the song that saved the young record label (Atlantic Records) from impending bankruptcy. Thanks to “Wine…”  Ertegun was able to pay off his creditors, offer lucrative contracts to such artists as Big Joe Turner, Ruth Brown, and Ray Charles, and build an empire.

The Legacy Of Spo-Dee-O-Dee

There was something about that song…

Everyone loved it and, almost immediately, everyone covered it.

Less than six months after Stick, Wynonie Harris did a rip-roaring version.

Later that same year, there was a “Hillbilly” cover.

Jerry Lee Lewis sings it virtually every time he sits down at the piano, recording it at least a half-dozen times, beginning when Sam Phillips let him cut it for Sun Records in 1956.

Go to Allmusic.com and notice, along with the staggering number of recordings, the numerous variations on it’s name. The most common:

“Drinking Wine, Spo-Dee-O-Dee”

Then there’s:

“Wine, Wine, Wine”

How about?

“Wine Spo-Lee-O-Lee”

As a social greeting:

“Hey Spo-Dee-O-Dee”

The simplified version:

“Wine”

And my favorite phonetic train wreck:

“Wine, Spo-Li-O-Li”

“Wine” and “Louie Louie “ share some notable similarities:

1) They were both recorded on small labels and then forgotten.

2) Both songs became accidental smash hits as a result of airplay in areas completely foreign to the artists.

     -  Two years after it’s release in New York, “Wine,” became a hit in New Orleans.

     -“Louie Louie,” recorded in Takoma, Washington, became a hit as a result of airplay in Boston.

2) Each of them featured an unusual and distinctive chord pattern.

     – In “Louie, Louie,” the V (Five) chord is a minor instead of the usual dom.7th configuration.

     – Stick’s original version of “Wine…” repeats the I-V turnaround.  The basic chord pattern goes I-IV-I-V-V#-V-I-V-I-       V.  Note: The original also holds the one chord for an unusually long eight bars. 

Virtual Spo-Dee-O-Dee

As a result of social media, it’s now possible to listen to both Stick’s version and two dozen others on YouTube.

-Should you wish to see the uncensored lyrics, go to Wikipedia.

-Along with “Sixty Minute Man,” the song is still played weekly in Beach Music clubs all across the Carolinas. Not bad for a sixty-three year-old song.

Although the original is still popular, a version by Larry Dale has a more pronounced backbeat, and is preferred by the dancers.

Forever Spo-Dee-O-Dee

Unlike Richard Berry, who created “Louie Louie,” Stick never received much in the way of fame or fortune, recording for Atlantic, then King, and finally Savoy, before retiring from the music business at the age of forty-three, in 1960.

 He died of cancer a short year later, leaving Brownie’s son his guitar, the one containing the secrets of an elixir he called “Spo-Dee-O-Dee.”

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about. He also plays piano. His radio show, Rev. Billy’s Rhythm Revival, is available in podcast. To hear the latest, go to Rev. Billy C. Wirtz’ page on Facebook and look for the link.

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Slipped Discs

“Me Gotta Go Now”

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Each week Rev. Billy C. Wirtz tells us about artists, albums, and music that we need to know about.

ME GOTTA GO NOW

OK, faithful readers:

Name this tune:

(Read it out loud)

Bomp-bomp-bomp

Bomp-bomp

Bomp-bomp-bomp

Bomp-bomp

Did ya get it?

How about if I told you that the progression goes I-IV-V minor-IV?

By now, I hope you’ve figured out that I am referring to a song written by Richard Berry and immortalized by a bunch of guys in Seattle, everybody grab your honey, it’s LOUIE LOUIE time!!!

The story:

First of all, after Richard Berry, there are numerous versions of the saga.

Here’s one of them:

Los Angeles, 1955 – A young black artist named Richard Berry was trying to compose a tune in the style of “Havana Moon” by Chuck Berry. He wrote some lyrics on a napkin between sets of a bar gig.

He ended up writing the song about a love-starved fellow sailing to Jamaica to meet his girlfriend.

Here are the words he scribbled down:

Louie Louie, me gotta go

Louie Louie, me gotta go

Fine little girl she waits for me

Me catch the ship for cross the sea

I sail the ship all alone

I never think I’ll make it home

(Chorus)

Three nights and days me sail the sea

me think of girl constantly

on the ship I dream she there

I smell the rose in her hair

(chorus)

Me see Jamaica moon above

It won’t be long, me see my love

Me take her in my arms and then

I tell her I never leave again

(Chorus)

Shortly thereafter, Berry needed money for an engagement ring and sold the rights to “Louie Louie”…for $750. That’s not a misprint.

1957 – “Louie Louie” by Richard Berry is released on Flip Records. Berry performs with an R&B revue at Eagles Auditorium in the Seattle area.

From here on, it gets really weird; I read about six different accounts, and this seems to be the majority opinion.

Tacoma, Washington – 1960: A white kid named Robin Roberts sings with various local bands.

His two favorite songs are “Rockin’ Robin” and a doo-wop obscurity, ”Louie Louie.” He records “Louie Louie” with The Wailers, a local group with the recent hit, “Tall Cool One.” They are frequent performers at The Spanish Castle, a club later immortalized in song by Jimi Hendrix.

Roberts’ version goes to #1 locally, but tanks on the national charts.

April 1963 – “Louie Louie” has become a regional standard played by all the bands. Two groups record versions of it in the same week.

The first version by Paul Revere and Raiders sells respectably, but they would find greater fame with a dozen other hits.

A group of teenagers known as The Kingsmen pony up $36 and record the song in one take. There are two microphones, one over the drums, and another one for the vocals and rest of the band. The words come out mumbled and virtually incomprehensible.

FACT: The original vocal was sung by Jack Ely, who quit the band two days later.

FACT: In the song, Ely makes a one glaring mistake, coming in too soon on the vocals after the guitar break, Lynn Easton covers it with a drum roll. It doesn’t matter; the mistake becomes part of the song, part of music history, and is included by The Kingsmen when they play it live.

FACT: At :54, Easton drops a stick and yells a clearly audible “F—ck,” in the background. (Go ahead, go listen, and then come back and finish the article).

The guys decide “Louie Louie” is a terrible recording and forget about it.

October, 1963 – A Boston D.J. plays “Louie Louie” declaring it the worst record of the week. His joke backfires and the song sells over 20,000 copies in a week. Wand Records buys the master from Jerden (Hell yes, it worth some serious cash), the original label in Seattle.

Jack Ely realizes his mistake, pleads with Lynn Easton to let him back in the band. “No way “ says Easton, and thus begins a series of The Kingsmen versus Jack Ely and The Kingsmen rivalries that will ultimately end up in multimillion dollar lawsuits.

Winter, 1963-64 – Rumors begin to fly that when played at 33 RPM the words describe a variety of sexual acts. School kids pass notes in class with the “secret lyrics.” “Louie Louie” sells two million copies and spends four months on the charts. It charts yet again in 1966.

The State of Indiana bans “Louie Louie.”

Radio stations refuse to play it.

My band, Thomas Tuff and The Soul Exhaustion, gets kicked out of Teen Club for playing it.

A senate investigation is launched; millions of dollars are spent, until finally, a year later the subcommittee confesses that it has been unable to discover any obscene lyrics. The “F” bomb at :54 goes unnoticed.

1965 – Yet another Seattle band, The Sonics, record a version of “Louie Louie.” Their version has a distinctly different feel, the progression being an edgy I-III-IV progression. The buzz-saw guitars and sneering vocals predate punk by almost fifteen years. Black Flag will record a cover of this version complete with spontaneous lyrics by Henry Rollins.

1978 – The movie Animal House begins spurs a resurgence in the song’s popularity.

1983 – Radio station KFJC in Los Altos Hills, California, plays over 600 versions in one weekend.

1995 – After years of legal wrangling, Richard Berry regains his rights to the song. He records an album featuring “Louie Louie,” “Have Love, Will Travel,” and “Yama-Yama, Pretty Mama,” for his good friend Johnny Otis. He buys an SUV and pays off his mom’s mortgage.

1997 – Richard Berry dies a rich and happy man. In the past two years he has collected more than two million dollars in royalties.

The Millennium – Richard Berry’s little song is now the most covered song, with somewhere around two thousand documented versions, in all of pop music.

In many respects, “Louie Louie” is the classic American story. From the B-side of a forgotten single to the floors of the U.S. Senate, from Jack Ely to J. Edgar Hoover, spur of the moment decisions made by teenagers, affecting the rest of their lives, and changing popular culture. The night before they recorded it, The Kingsmen played a ninety-minute version of it at a dance.

Dave Marsh wrote an entire book about it and due to legal hassles couldn’t print the lyrics.

When asked why he used a minor five chord instead of a major five, Ely admits it was a simple error.

If you were unaware of the :54 remark, don’t feel bad, I just found about this week.

I have recently gone into semi-retirement after thirty years on the road. In the world of itinerant musicians, there are certain annual events that help to make ends meet.

The Christmas season is always tough, people aren’t going out, too many private parties, and clubs traditionally book a light schedule.

At the end of the season however, there’s the New Year’s Eve gig. Every year I played one, I would of course, play “Auld Lang Syne” at midnight. Following that I’d pause and announce: “Ladies and Gentlemen, our national anthem.” Without missing a beat, I’d dive head first into “Louie Louie.” It killed ‘em, every time.

…And finally, according to LouieLouie.net, Richard Berry’s children divide a royalty check of around one hundred thousand dollars every year.

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about. He also plays piano. His radio show, Rev. Billy’s Rhythm Revival, is available in podcast. To hear the latest, go to William Wirth’s page on Facebook and look for the link.

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Slipped Discs

The Fame Studios Story: 1961 – 1973

A Shot of Rhythm and Blues

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Each week Rev. Billy C. Wirtz tells us about artists, albums, and music that we need to know about. Last week he urged us to find the awesome collection Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977. This week he says that you need its sister collection, too! 

Not long ago I was reading all the posts about SxSW (shorthand for the annual South By Southwest Music Conference & Festival) the annual clusterfu…sorry, music conference held in Austin, Texas.

Damn, has it been twenty years?

I guess it has.

Back in 1992, I was there with Hightone Records, the label that virtually founded the Americana format. It was there that I met Bob Doershuk, editor of Keyboard magazine. We talked out back of La Zona Rosa, and somewhere along the way he told me that I was a world-class bullsh—ter.

Coming from him, I took it as a compliment… It was.

He allowed as to how such a talent could be of use to his magazine and, with the “Road Stories” column, my writing career was hatched.

As the years have begun to catch up to me and the thought of driving thousands of miles to play gigs becomes less appetizing, I am grateful on a daily basis that he gave me a shot at what is now a full-time occupation.

South By Southwest

Every year at SxSW, a legendary artist makes a special appearance that has everyone scrambling for a ticket. Favors are called in and in many cases outright bribery is considered fair play.

Johnny Cash, Merle Haggard, and Lou Reed are among those who have used the conference to springboard new life into careers.

In 1992, the word was out, there was to be a special show featuring Arthur Alexander.

Who?

Arthur Alexander, singer/composer of such classics as “Every Day I have To Cry Some,” “Soldier Of Love,” and (one of John Lennon’s favorite songs) “Anna.” He was also the only songwriter in history to have songs covered by the Beatles, The Rolling Stones, and Bob Dylan.

After an extended absence from the music world, Alexander had recently resurfaced. It turned out that for the past twenty years, from the early seventies onward, he’d been working as a custodian in Cleveland, Ohio.

In 1962, he recorded a song, “You Better Move On.”

This song enabled producer Rick Hall to bankroll Florence Alabama Music Enterprises, or as it would soon become known to the world, Fame studios.

The Fame Studios Story

Back in the mid ’60s America was in a state of upheaval, Vietnam tore us apart and the civil rights movement was becoming increasingly militant. Even before the death of Dr. Martin Luther King, cities were exploding in rage-fueled riots and extremists on both ends of the spectrum were running amok.

In the midst of all of this, down in the buckle of the Bible Belt, white and black southerners were turning out music that has endured to this day.

The Fame Studios Story (Kent UK, Kentbox 12) is more than a collection of some great songs, it is a historical document that deserves a place in any collection of American music.

For the obscenely low price of around thirty bucks you not only get three CDs, once again arranged in chronological order, but also an eighty-page book, detailing each song, and the techniques used by Hall and company to obtain that specific sound he was after.

My favorite part of the liner notes are the trade ads for the studio, after listing numerous million-selling albums and the artists (everyone from The Osmonds to Wilson Pickett, from Aretha Franklin to Liza Minelli??!!) it entices prospective artists not with all-night parties and an endless supply of groupies and stimulants, but offers instead: “Hunting, fishing, camping, hiking and cook-outs on our 1600 acre ranch.”

The Set

At first glance, it appears to be mainly a collection of deep southern soul, with the occasional pop hit in between. Indeed it is a bit of a butt-clencher to realize that out of all the great music, the #1 selling title to come out of there was “One Bad Apple” by the Osmonds; but then again, read the backstory on it and you’ll find that although George Jackson was initially disappointed at seeing Hall pitch it to “…A bunch of white kids,” he soon got over his misgivings. The total sales of Osmond Brothers’ songs recorded at Fame eventually topping out at around fourteen million.

In many ways this set is a part two of last week’s featured set, Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977, following the same formula of dividing the tracks between the well known and the obscure.

Once again however, even the well-known songs are represented by different versions than the ones that became major hits.

Personally, I love it when they leave in the studio chatter and count-offs, which they do on several of the cuts here. Heck, they even leave in the mistakes, although there aren’t very many of those.

There are a couple of highlights worth mentioning:

-The second CD opens with a recently discovered demo of “You Left The Water Running” by Otis Redding. It’s just him playing an acoustic guitar and an unknown drummer. I swear, he could sing a cereal commercial and make it soulful, on this cut he misses a chord or two, flubs the words, and still brings the whole set up a notch… And then there’s this other guy:

Mr. Wiggins

For me, the highlight of this collection is the presence of a singer I mentioned in my last column. Of all the relatively unknown artists highlighted on this set, Spencer Wiggins is my number one favorite.

On the Fame box he is given two songs. “Once In Awhile” is about a guy so in love that he’ll settle for even the occasional encounter rather than lose his woman forever.

His version of Etta James’ “I’d Rather Go Blind” takes that sentiment to the next level, opting for visual impairment over abandonment.

I don’t know, maybe it’s his phrasing, maybe it’s the arrangements, but to my ears no one has ever injected that much pain into a couple of three-minute songs. “Once In Awhile” opens with something between music and a primal scream of pain, and then proceeds to get intense. At the risk of blasphemy, his version of “I’d Rather Go Blind” runs neck and neck with the version by Ms. James. It’s that damn good.

…And Finally

In Album Reviewing 101, they tell us that we have to find something to take off points for, otherwise it will seem like we are pimping for a given record company.

All right, they could have skipped the Bobbi Gentry cut and western civilization would have endured. Are you happy now?

Otherwise, I paid for this collection with my own damn money, money that these days I don’t really have, and I would gladly do it again. I get no kickbacks for any of my recommendations, just some great comments from like-minded lovers of this great music and the satisfaction of knowing that somewhere someone is listening to Spencer Wiggins and shaking their head in disbelief.

As far as Kent UK goes, when people put this much time and love into a project (that they’ll be damn lucky to break even on), it’s my job to insist that you take the cash that barely buys the sushi/sashimi combo platter and spend it on music that quite literally can change your life. I dare you to buy this and not tell me that, if anything, I am understating my case.

Postscript:

I didn’t get to see Arthur Alexander that year at South by Southwest, but I heard from Marcia Ball and others that he stopped Austin in its tracks; jaded musicians and writers were crying as they sang along with “Anna.”

It would prove to be his swan song as he passed away from a heart attack shortly after that show.

For me, 1992 proved to be a beginning, and twenty years later “You Better Move On” is still great, and I’ve discovered that being a world-class bull-sh-ter isn’t such a bad thing after all.

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about. He also plays piano. His radio show, Rev. Billy’s Rhythm Revival, is available in podcast. To hear the latest, go to William Wirth’s page on Facebook and look for the link.

For The Best Video Links In The Blues Follow Us On Twitter!

Follow @BluesRevue

Slipped Discs

Gospel 101

Take Me To The River

Sam Cooke’s Legacy

Part Two

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Every now and then, I get the chance to rave about a particular release secure in the knowledge that anyone who reads this review will absolutely love this collection. In last week’s issue I identified Sam Cooke as the guiding light of soul music, so it’s only proper that I steer you toward the great artists that followed in his footsteps.

Once again I’m forced to deal with that point on the graph where economics and reality crash into my “dream collection.” If you have a thousand bucks floating around, drop me a line with your Visa number and let me do the ordering for you. Otherwise, go to your favorite online or indie music spot (Roots and Rhythm.com being a good choice) and look for:

Take Me To The River: A Southern Soul Story 1961-1977

 This collection goes for close to forty bucks, and it’s worth every penny of it. My advice is to grab it the minute you get your tax return, because it’s price is going up. When I reviewed this for Amazon I gave it five stars and called it one of the best box sets of any music ever released. Mojo magazine agreed with me; they gave it “Reissue of the Year” in 2008, and also declared it THE best soul collection ever!

Why?

It’s on Kent U.K., the best reissue label in the world.

Trust your Uncle Rev, when Kent puts out collections like this they knock it out of the park. This three-CD set includes superb liner notes, amazing photos, pristine re-mastering, and previously unreleased gems (in this case, the original first take of “Try a Little Tenderness” by Otis Redding), that we music geeks live for. In our modern era of downloads and “file-sharing,” labels like Kent deserve every penny; even at forty bucks this is a freakin’ steal. With over seventy-five tracks, I don’t have room to discuss every one, but here are a few highlights:

Side One begins with William Bell, a name not known to many; a brilliant songwriter whether it’s soul (“Private Number”), pop, or blues (“Born Under a Bad Sign”). On this album we get his version of the self-penned classic “You Don’t Miss Your Water.” Listen to the first verse and notice the gospel piano chords answering the vocals. As I’ve said before, soul music was the infusion of gospel phrasing and chordal patterns into commercial rhythm and blues, and whoever sequenced this collection hits a bull’s-eye on this first song. You hear Sunday morning all over this lament on twenty-twenty hindsight. William Bell is followed by Arthur Alexander giving us “Go On Girl,” instead of a more obvious selection like “Anna” or “You Better Move On.” This choice sets the pattern that separates this collection from all others. Instead of taking the easy route and going with well-known selections by famous artists, they choose “B” sides, one-hit artists, and, in several cases, feature hit songs as sung by other artists. The result is a fascinating insight into the synthesis of blues, gospel, and country-western that produced an entirely new genre of music, and artists as well. The best example might be “When Something is Wrong With My Baby,” almost always indentified with Sam and Dave, done here by country singer Charlie Rich (who actually claimed to be a jazz player). It is breathtaking in its simplicity and feeling.

Percy Sledge comes to the table with “When A Man Loves A Woman,” but one of his later hits, “Cover Me,” is sung by its composer, genius Eddie Hinton.

James Carr and O.V. Wright might not be household names, but they should be. There are those of us who consider them to be criminally underrated, deserving of all the accolades bestowed upon such giants as Otis Redding and Wilson Pickett.

Carr is represented on this disc with the greatest “cheatin’ song” of all time.

“Dark End Of The Street” has been covered by numerous artists. The theme of adultery combined with choir, horns, and straight-from-the-amen corner chordal structure, defies adequate printed or spoken testimony; I can only hope that none of you reading this column will go through life having never heard the original.

O.V. Wright checks in with “Eight Men and Four Women.” To quote my favorite active soul singer, Pittsburgh’s Billy Price:  “…O.V. Wright was the greatest deep-soul singer ever.” (For those of you unfamiliar with Billy, I strongly encourage you to go to  the site http://www.billyprice.com/Wright.php for an awe-inspiring tribute to this artist. It’s also the best-researched and well-written dissertation of the relationship between soul and gospel that I’ve ever read.)

The other lesser-known artists represented will leave you scratching your head and wondering why you’ve never heard of them.

Doris Duke immediately comes to mind. “To the Other Woman (I’m the Other Woman)” made me go out and download everything I could find by her, and I wasn’t disappointed. For my money, she belongs right up there with Aretha and Etta James.

Do the names Spencer Wiggins and Jimmy Hughes ring a bell? If not, they will after you’ve heard this.

Ms. Duke, Spencer Wiggins, and Jimmy Hughes are only three of more than a dozen unknown artists to whom this album brings some well-deserved attention.  

Whether you’re already a fan, or have had a taste and want more, this is a can’t-miss on every level. And this may be the only album I’ll recommend that you listen to the tracks in order. If you do, you’ll begin to notice the similarities and common thread connecting William Bell to Al Green.

The word on the street is that there is a follow-up collection, ”The Fame Studios Story.” Its getting rave reviews from all the right people, and as soon as I cash in enough pop bottles, I’m going to grab a copy. Till then, put off the sushi dinner till next week, buy this album, and thank me in the comments column after you’ve listened to it for a week straight.

Amen.

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about. He also plays piano.

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Gospel 101

Sam Cooke

Part Two

One Night Stand: Live at the Harlem Square Club

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz 

Seven weeks after my surgery, I am beginning to get around pretty well on my bionic knee. I have to be careful; I have a tendency to try and do a little too much too soon. Matter of fact, I went to the roller derby Saturday night and had to leave early on account of a stiffening sensation (insert joke) signaling the need for an ice pack and rest. Today it felt better, so I went and hung out with some friends. Among them was a thirty-something Canadian who works for one of the cruise ships that sail from here. He also happens to be a classical pianist and very knowledgeable about music. I was giving him a ride back to the ship and chatting about being a writer. I told him that I was finishing a two-part series on Sam Cooke.

Blank stare.

“You know, Sam Cooke, ‘If you ever, change your mind?’”

Another blank stare. 

“Al Green?”

“I’ve heard of him.”

“Well, without Sam Cooke, there would probably not be an Al Green.”

I must admit to being a little shocked. I assumed that anyone with a basic knowledge of music and popular culture would have heard of Sam Cooke, but apparently not. When faced with the task of introducing an artist of this magnitude, I defer to the music. The following album sat in storage for 22 years after it was recorded. It was discovered and issued, with well-deserved fanfare, on vinyl. A few years later, it was re-released on compact disc. A couple of years ago, it was remastered and reissued again.

Reading the reviews, you’ll notice a wide spectrum of opinion. No matter, grab whatever version is within your price range. Again, this is a must-have, if for no other reason than it’s a stark contrast to all his other recordings.

Finding A Voice

Sam Cooke made incredible records, some of the greatest in the history of popular music. The only problem?

He was too good.

Witness his first attempt at a secular hit: The “A” side of the single, the one suggested for airplay, was the Gershwin standard “Summertime.” But as so often happens in the music business, a DJ accidently flipped it over and played the “B” side. That song, “You Send Me,” would become his first million-seller, and lead to a deal with RCA.

From the time he left the gospel field in 1956, Cooke and his producers struggled to find his niche, and it was indeed a problem. He was an incredibly handsome young man with once-in-a-lifetime talent, who could sing anything and give it a soulful feel. Realizing this, his producers had him doing everything from standards to spirituals, from “twist” songs to Broadway show tunes. He racked up hit after hit. However, as this album demonstrates, given a choice, his heart belonged to the secret handshake of gospel and the blues that would one day be known as soul music.

One Night Stand

One Night Stand: Sam Cooke Live at the Harlem Square Club wasn’t even released until 20 years after his death, but in a short 38 minutes it defines the essence of the gospel Boy Wonder.

In 1963, R&B still appealed almost exclusively to a black audience, and there was still an active nightclub scene built around touring acts. Only the very top performers could afford to travel with their own band. Most of the time a house band was used, with decidedly mixed results. On this date, Sam’s road band was led by legendary saxophonist King Curtis, and was anchored by the rock-solid shots of Bernard Purdie on drums.

Still, there’s enough of a loose feel to give it a much needed in-the-moment groove. Every song is in B-flat, and the result is one long segue, which works just fine. The show follows a basic formula: the band plays a warm-up song, and then they introduce “the star of the show.” The crowd sounds about half-lit already as Cooke has to call out three times to get their attention, but then he counts in the song, and with a crescendo from the musicians, it’s on.

For the next half-hour, the gloves come off and Cooke takes them to church. He croons, he shouts, he testifies, he pours it on. “Feel It” morphs into “Chain Gang”…The crowd accents the “ooh, aah” part; he pulls it back just a little on “Cupid”; now he’s slows into “For Sentimental Reasons” and the women scream; a honking sax solo from Curtis tears into “Twistin’ The Night Away.’ He owns them. “Bring It On Home” begins with a mini-sermonette, the band doing a I-VI minor vamp (ask your musician friend) behind him, and then crashes into the song accompanied by the whole crowd singing. The heart-stopping set ends with Cooke exhorting the audience to “take your handkerchief out, and wave it ‘round and ‘round,” while the band, locked in behind, provides an amen corner. The million-dollar voice cracks; now he’s actually shouting to the crowd. Gone is the refined, world-famous pop star, he’s preaching to a congregation filled with the spirit.

Whatever caused him to throw all reserve out the window and bear down without letting up for the last 38 minutes has now run its course, and by the last few bars you can hear the exhaustion creeping into his voice. However, it’s the exhaustion that comes after a singer and the band have grooved as a single entity, and those fortunate enough to be in the audience realize they’ve witnessed the performance of a lifetime.

His Legacy

1963 would prove to be a tough year for Sam Cooke, both professionally and personally. A little over a year later, his often turbulent life would come to an abrupt and tragic end at a low-rent motel in Los Angeles on December 11, 1964. The official version has Sam Cooke pursuing a young woman after she had asked him to leave her alone. According to her testimony, he was intoxicated, belligerent, and ultimately intent upon causing her great bodily harm, at which point she shot him in self defense. To this day, the District Attorney’s conclusions, and the circumstances presented, are still highly suspect in many circles, but no tangible, conflicting evidence has ever surfaced.

Fifty-four years after his death, another tragic shooting has made national headlines. At the rally for Trayvon Martin, following the speeches by Al Sharpton, Dick Gregory, and the child’s family, there was music. The first selection they played that night in Sanford, Florida, was a song played in Grant Park the night of Barack Obama’s election. It’s a song of hope and faith, and destined to take its place along such anthems as “We Shall Overcome” and “Lift Every Voice and Sing.”

The song?

“A Change Is Gonna Come,” written and sung by Sam Cooke.

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about. He also plays piano.

For The Best Video Links In The Blues Follow Us On Twitter!

Follow @BluesRevue

Gospel 101

Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers

Jesus Gave Me Water

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Sam Cooke With The Soul Stirrers

Specialty Records

ASIN: B000000QME

Living Sober is one of several books used by a well-known recovery program. It’s a great little book that addresses the question of “Life On Life’s Terms.” There are several chapters dealing with suggested activities to replace the hours formally spent drinking and drugging. One section lists such diverse pursuits as dancing, exercise, taking a class, watching old movies, listening to soul music, writing a… Wait! What was that last one? Listening to soul music? How cool is that? This a book read by millions of recovering people every day, and the first form of music that it actually indentifies is soul music. Well, really it makes sense; at it’s best, soul music hits you with an emotional sucker punch and turns your heart inside out in the course of a three-minute song. Even though it’s been marginalized and trivialized over the years, at its core, soul music deals with temptation, betrayal, passion, and, in some cases redemption, in short, life experiences all too familiar to those in recovery programs.

In past articles I have discussed how gospel came to us in the 1930s as a result of Rev. Thomas Dorsey and his contemporaries applying blues patterns to sacred music. In many respects soul music simply flipped the coin; former gospel singers applied their style to secular music. One big difference however, there is no one person to whom soul can be credited, however, almost fifty years later, virtually every contemporary blues, soul, gospel, and even hip-hop artist acknowledges a huge debt to Sam Cooke.

Sam Cooke

According to gospel pioneer and founder of the Soul Stirrers, R.H.Harris,; Sam Cook (he added the “e” later) had the best natural intonation and innate talent of anyone ever recorded, period.

He was born January 22, 1931, in Clarksdale, Mississippi. In 1933, the family moved to Chicago, where he attended Wendell Phillips Academy, the same school Nat King Cole graduated from a few years before. He formed his first group, The Singing Children, with his brothers and sisters, and then, still in his teens, joined the Highway Q.C.’s.

At the tender age of 19, he auditioned for the Soul Stirrers. When Harris first saw the young man his first comment was “He’s pretty, but can he sing?”

Thankfully, Sam’s first recordings with the group are still available, and you can hear his initial hesitance as he struggles to fit in.

He proved to be a quick study and within a year he gained the needed confidence. Listen to those later recordings and you’ll hear that he’s beginning to employ such techniques as the glide (the Wooo-Oh-0 phrase on “You Send Me”), and then  there is the distinct enunciation of each word, his crystal-clear, perfect pitch, and a command of each song that is simply stunning for a twenty-year-old singer.

Cooke would stay with the group for the next six years, during which time he would elevate the status of the group, especially among younger listeners, to levels previously enjoyed by only by secular groups.

He always remained humble and often cited Archie Brownlee, lead singer of the Original Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi, as one of his greatest influences. Brownlee in turn always gave credit to R.H. Harris for laying the groundwork.

The Soul Stirrers recorded for Art Rupes’ Specialty Records, one of the independent giants in the R&B and gospel world. (It was Rupe that took a Louis Jordan clone from Macon, Georgia, and allowed him to record a chaotic, cleaned-up version of a gay bar song that the world would soon know as “Tutti Frutti.”)

Rupe and the people he hired had, as we say in the music business, “good ears,” and his track record proves it. Although both gospel and secular were known as “singles driven” markets in 1955, Specialty would record a landmark album at the Shrine Auditorium in Los Angeles.

The Great 1955 Shrine Concert

Specialty Records

ASIN: B000000QNJ

In the short history of recorded music, there have been a handful of “live” albums that have rocked the world. Among them are Spirituals To Swing recorded by John Hammond Sr. in the 1930s, and Live at The Apollo, recorded in 1962 bringing international fame and success to James Brown. Although The Great 1955 Shrine Concert might not have had as great a commercial impact, the greatness of the performances insure its place in history.

Almost all the groups on the show were Specialty artists, Brother Joe May, The Pilgrim Travelers, Dorothy Love Coates, and Sam Cooke and the Soul Stirrers all recorded for him. From beginning to end, it is the quintessential live gospel recording; the interplay between the artists and the audience becoming more intense with each act. The Soul Stirrers set culminates with an extended version of “Nearer My God To Thee” that brings the crowd to the edge of hysteria. It was to be one of Cooke’s last great moments in gospel as a year later he would begin testing the waters of the secular world.

There are several collections of Sam Cooke and The Soul Stirrers’ studio work. Start with Sam Cooke With The Soul Stirrers and as you listen notice the trade-off leads, the timing changes, and the way Cooke “worries” a phrase. Again, this is one of those collections that I have given to friends and been told that they can only listen to it at certain times, the music being too overwhelming to simply play as background. The Great 1955 Shrine Concert is one of those albums that everyone should own, The Soul Stirrers segment being only one of several career-defining performances.

Next Week: Sam Cooke and the Birth of Soul

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about. He also plays piano.

For The Best Video Links In The Blues Follow Us On Twitter!

Follow @BluesRevue

Gospel 101

Jubilation!

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Jubilation!

Volume One: Black Gospel

Rhino / WEA

ASIN: B0000032DW

I’m sure that many of you have experienced the joy of introducing your friends and family to the blues. Even if they are already familiar with more well-known blues artists (B.B. King, Stevie Ray, etc.) there is that thrill that comes from sending them some Magic Sam or Jimmy Reed and getting an email later that day telling you how much they enjoyed it, and where can they find more?

I feel the same way about gospel, receiving the comments following the articles whether it’s someone thanking me, or even presenting a different point of view, always makes my day. So now, it’s my obligation to give you a starting point for discovering the classics, the great quartets, the soloists, and even the modern choirs.

Jubilation! Volumes One and Two

There is a three-CD series on Rhino records entitled Jubilation! Volumes One and Two focus on black gospel and Volume Three (another column for another time) focuses more on southern (white) gospel styles. Although they are all technically out-of-print, with a little searching you can usually find them. (Hint: There are several used copies available at Amazon).

Even if you have to shell out a few bucks, trust me, it’s worth it, I know of no more carefully chosen and sequenced collection available. I actually mentioned it in an article a few years back in BluesWax, and it has stood the test of time.

What makes it so special?

Volume One: Black Gospel

Describing music, especially a specific genre is frustrating if the reader has no point of reference. When I am comparing the difference between “Jubilee” style gospel and the later quartet style, you really need to hear the difference. In Volume One, you get the Golden Gate Jubilee Quartet, also known as “the Mills Brothers of Gospel,” singing their signature song “Golden Gate Gospel Train,” followed by R.H. Harris and the Soul Stirrers with their rendition of “By and By” Parts One and Two. You’ll find no more perfect examples of the respective styles, and when you listen to them side by side the difference becomes obvious.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YOxVExh1ULI

The quartet style doesn’t end there, “Oh Mary Don’t You Weep” by The Swan Silvertones (mentioned in a previous article) is here. The Dixie Hummingbirds check in with “Christian Automobile,” a song comparing one’s faith to a smooth-running car. (Interestingly enough, this song was recorded during the same time period that car songs, like “Rocket 88,” “No Particular Place To Go,” and “Crazy ‘Bout An Automobile,” were tearing up the secular charts).

Along with these, are several others, all five-star classics of the group style.

Although I haven’t discussed it as much, the development of gospel blues also gave rise to gospel choirs, and such musical pioneers as James Cleveland. These choirs, beginning in the mid 1970s and ’80s would eventually would overtake the quartets in popularity, and this collection features the song that brought choirs to the attention of the world outside of gospel.

The song is “Oh Happy Day” by The Edwin Hawkins Singers. Recorded live in a California church, it came out of nowhere in 1969 and soared to #4 on the Billboard pop charts. It received airplay alongside “In-a-Gadda-Da-Vida” and “Magic Carpet Ride,” and many credit it with being one of the first songs to usher in the style known as “Contemporary Christian Music.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD2D6eter7M

The album ends with Shirley Ceaser‘s ‘No Charge,” a song that has become the national anthem of Mother’s Day services in black churches across the country.

Jubilation!

Volume Two: More Black Gospel

Rhino / WEA

ASIN: B0000032DY

Volume Two: More Black Gospel

Volume Two continues on with the same formula, and it works just as well. On this collection we get Archie Brownlee and The Original Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi and their apocalyptic version of “Our Father,” a huge crossover hit in the fifties, as well as ‘Burying Ground” by Julius Cheeks and The Sensational Nightingales. Every word I have written, singing their praises in past columns is pretty well summed up by these two songs alone. On both cuts, you’ll actually hear the vocal tracks distort on the last verse of each song, the sheer intensity of their voices overpowering the recording technology of the 1950s. Amazing.

Although the quartet style was dominated by male groups, there were several outstanding women’s’ groups as well. Two of my favorites, The Caravans and Dorothy Love Coates and The Original Gospel Harmonettes turn in unforgettable performances.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UgjGy4-mbxA

The really outstanding feature of both Volumes One and Two is that they both include songs that were “outside the box” for their time. On Volume One, it’s “Oh Happy Day,” on Volume Two, its’ “Rough Side Of The Mountain” by Rev. F.C.Barnes and Rev. Janice Brown. This song, recorded by a duo from Rocky Mount, North Carolina, in 1983, is the epitome of everything that is great about gospel music. There is absolute genius in its musical simplicity and message; hear it one time and you will never forget it. “Rough Side…” contains one of the most memorable refrains, or “hooks,” ever recorded, in any style of music. (A good blues comparison might be ”Got My Mojo Working”). I saw them in Raleigh around 1987 and they sung the refrain with the entire audience singing along, no less than twenty times.

For once, not only is the music as good as it gets, but the well written liner notes fill in much needed information for the listener.

I know that these albums will only make you want to listen to more of this great music, and they’ll serve as a great way to help you decide what appeals to you and what you’d like to listen to more of in the future. I have worn out two copies of each of them, and they both rank in my top twenty favorite albums of all time.

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about. He also plays piano.

For The Best Video Links In The Blues Follow Us On Twitter!

Follow @BluesRevue

 Gospel 101

Part Five

Thomas A. Dorsey

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Last week, in Part Four of his continuing series called “Gospel 101,” Rev. Billy C. Wirtz talked about Georgia Tom Dorsey and his successes and difficult times as a bluesman. This week, in Part Five, we find how Dorsey was a founder of gospel blues and how his life epitomized the musical transition from Saturday night to Sunday morning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtJGlXUozyg

Triumph and Tragedy

The 1930 National Baptist Convention changed everything. It was here that a singer named Willie Mae Fisher introduced a composition by Thomas Dorsey titled “If You See My Savior” to the attendees. She sang, she improvised, she moaned. The response was pure bedlam. By the end of the convention, Dorsey had sold over 4,000 copies of the song and gospel blues had arrived.

He became musical director at Ebenezer Baptist Church and formed the first gospel chorus. Other churches began to form gospel choirs and called for his guidance. The gospel choruses singing Dorsey’s gospel blues spread like wildfire across the country, and in 1932, Dorsey was elected president of the National Convention of Gospel Choirs and Choruses. In August of that year, tragedy struck once again.

Dorsey had gone to St. Louis to a gospel convention, leaving Nettie, who was due to give birth to their first son any day, at home. He didn’t want to leave, but so great was the demand, he decided to go.

During one of the concerts, he received a telegram asking him to come home quickly; Nettie was giving birth and all was not well. He waited until after the performance and called home.

Nettie had died giving birth. He rushed home, and indeed she had passed, but the baby boy, Thomas Andrew, Jr., had lived. Finally giving into exhaustion, Dorsey went to sleep. Sometime during the night, the little child also passed away.

Redemption

Dorsey was a broken man. At first he became angry and felt “God had been unfair.” He wanted to quit playing, and possibly even living. Instead, a few days later, he went for a walk with a friend, and found himself at a nearby college. He sat down at a piano, and began to play the notes of an old standard. Along with his tears, some words began to fall, he says, “The words dropped just like drops of water … from the crevice of a rock.” [6] The words that fell were:

“Precious Lord, take my hand,

Lead me on, let me stand.

I am tired, I am weak, I am worn.

Through the storm, through the night,

Lead me on to the light.

Take my hand, Precious Lord,

Lead me home.”

Up until “Precious Lord,” Dorsey’s gospel songs had been upbeat, concentrating on celebration and hope, and bypassing the blues singers’ cry of hard times and bad luck. “Precious Lord” was the true marriage of the blues and gospel, the moan of unbearable sorrow and grief of the blues, to be redeemed by simply asking the Lord to “Take my hand, lead me home.” It changed his entire approach to songwriting as well.

Thomas Dorsey and His Legacy

The Rev. Thomas Dorsey went on to write over 400 songs in his career. His songs embraced everyday life, its triumphs, its problems, and offered the comfort and healing to be had by trusting in the Lord.

He wrote “Peace in the Valley,” the most recorded gospel song of all time.

Without him, such groups as the Dixie Hummingbirds, the Mighty Clouds of Joy, The Five Blind Boys, and countless others would never have sang with the feeling and emotion his gospel blues allowed them to do. Without those groups, such secular singers as Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Sam Cooke, James Brown, and Al Green (all of whom came from the church) might never have found their voices and styles that turned music around.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KFtEnMtMTU

Thomas Dorsey passed away January 23, 1993. He left the world with a body of songs that allowed both sacred and secular singers to express the entire range of feelings, from deepest sorrow to the greatest joy. The songs gave singers room to improvise, like W.M. Nix and the “lowdown” blues singers, to reach out and touch their audiences and congregations deep down inside, and it gave them the freedom, when there was nothing left to say, to moan like they did back in Villa Rica.

For further information on Rev. Thomas Dorsey:

Reading:

The Rise of Gospel Blues: The Music of Thomas Andrew Dorsey in the Urban Church

Micheal W. Harris

Oxford University Press, 1992

Fantastic, exhaustively researched book by Harris. The definitive book, not only on Harris, but on the history of gospel blues.

On DVD:

Say Amen, Somebody

Directed by George T. Nierenberg, 1982

“The music is as exciting and uplifting as any music I’ve ever heard on film…a great experience” – Roger Ebert

“Exuberant and revitalizing” – Rolling Stone

“Even a tone-deaf atheist will say ‘amen!’” – Time

Again, another incredible piece of work. This documentary centers around Dorsey; it features interviews with him, and several of his contemporaries. The only problem is that it is out-of-print and the cost for a new copy is staggering. Look around, see what you can turn up with some of the online services. It’s worth it.

Music:

Precious Lord

Columbia/Legacy record/CD, CK57164, 1973, 1994

Dorsey, Thomas A., and others. Dorsey tells the back story behind “Precious Lord,” A collection of the finest gospel singers (Rebert Harris. The Dixie Hunningbirds, Marion Williams, and others) sing their versions of his songs. Stunning.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kA0UV62zQFc

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about.

For The Best Video Links In The Blues Follow Us On Twitter!

Follow @BluesRevue

Slipped Discs

Gospel 101

Part Four

Georgia Tom and the Birth of Gospel Blues

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning

It’s Tight Like That

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Ever since I began this series on gospel music I’ve had a running conversation with BluesWax Publisher Chip Eagle and several of my Facebook friends regarding black worship music. When and how did it evolve? What are the differences between spirituals, hymns, and gospel, and what,if any parallels are there between gospel and blues?

Gospel music in particular has an actual starting point. The music described as “God’s Good News” emphasized the need for a personal relationship with God (“Precious Lord, Take My Hand,”) as opposed to reaffirming a group affirmation (“A Mighty Fortress Is Our God”) or belief in The Almighty. Gospel also used chordal patterns and scales that in the past had been associated with blues and secular music.

There were several great gospel writers, but the undeniable “Father” of gospel music was Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey. Dorsey wrote “Precious Lord,” “Peace In The Valley,” and over 400 other gospel songs. His story begins in a little town outside of Atlanta.

Beginnings

Thomas Andrew Dorsey was born in Villa Rica, Georgia, on July 1, 1899. His father, the Rev. Thomas Madison Dorsey, was an itinerant preacher, traveling from town to town, delivering the word in his own flamboyant style. He dressed sharp and carried a walking stick. Although he was well received everywhere he went, he just couldn’t make enough money to support his family, so he and his wife Etta returned to her hometown to try farming. Even though Etta owned some land, they still couldn’t make a living; she sold off most of the property and they moved back to Atlanta. From Atlanta they moved to Forsyth, and then finally in 1903, back to Villa Rica. They were then forced to make a living from sharecropping, with the reverend preaching only every now and then.

Thomas Andrew would never forget those early days: the contrast of the two lifestyles, the backbreaking, demeaning life of the sharecropper, and the comparatively enjoyable times spent with his father when he preached. He would recall, “We’d travel around and get good food everywhere you went … you’d get to meet different people, me being the pastor’s son, well naturally, they’d make a fuss over me.”

There were two other major influences on the young man. The first was his brother-in-law, Phil Plant, a wandering, guitar-picking hobo who exposed Dorsey to a style of music that later would become known as the blues. The second, Corrie Hinsman, Etta’s brother-in-law, introduced him to the protestant hymns popular in the white churches, and the old slave spirituals; Thomas Andrew heard them, and never forgot them.

Atlanta

After five years, the family was still living in abject poverty; they couldn’t make it. In 1908, they decided to try Atlanta once again. It was not an easy transition.

His parents were forced to work the variety of menial odd jobs available to blacks at the time, and the young boy had a hard time in school. Young Thomas Andrew had a hard time adjusting to city life, but he maintained an inner resolve that, one day, he would make something of himself. He didn’t know what that was, but he was determined nonetheless. At the age of 12, he found out.

He had begun going to the theaters on Decatur Street in Atlanta. Theaters with names like the 81 Theater and the 91 Theater. These theaters featured movies as well as live entertainment. It was at these shows that he first heard the “lowdown” blues of singers like Ma Rainey and Bessie Smith. They sang about love gone wrong, the joys of Saturday nights with a pig foot and a bottle of beer, and when they ran out of words, just as the folks did in the churches back home, when the spirit took hold, they would moan; Dorsey was fascinated by the piano players that accompanied the movies and the singers, and became determined to learn how to “tickle the ivories.”

He began to hang around the theaters, watching the players and pestering them to show him how to play. One man who took an interest in him was Ed Butler. Butler showed him the basics of barrelhouse-style piano, along with the trills, improvisations, and “trickerations” that went along with it.

Thomas would go home and practice for hours on his family’s pump organ and his brother-in-law’s piano. It was all by rote—nothing was written down, just basic chord patterns over which the musician would play improvised figures.

According to Dorsey, within 16 months he had become “an accomplished pianist,” playing well enough to perform in public. Although he played well, this rough, barrelhouse style limited the places he could play. Most of the time, his gigs were at rent parties and bordellos. His description of those places: “You got all the food you could eat, and all the liquor you could drink, and a good-looking woman to fan you. If you left with 75 cents or a dollar in your pocket, you had a good night, and yet you done played for about two or three hours.”

Being unable to read music, that’s where it ended. Even though he worked a lot, the more experienced, musically literate musicians even began to make fun of him, calling him “Barrelhouse Tom.” Once again, his determination led him to send away for home-study courses and he taught himself how to read music.

He began to get some respect, even play some better gigs, but as he looked down the road, he saw himself stuck in a Jim Crow town with limited opportunities. He made up his mind: “I wanted to go where the lights were brighter, and you didn’t have to run to catch the last street car at midnight.” In July 1916, he left for Philadelphia, but first decided to visit some family in Chicago.

Chicago, Take One

When Dorsey hit the Windy City, it was undergoing a great migration of blacks from the South. The promise of better jobs and a new life brought new arrivals by the thousands. Between 1910 and 1920, the black population of Chicago increased by 150 percent. Among them was a host of the finest musicians from the South. Louis Armstrong, Jelly Roll Morton, Scott Joplin, and W.C. Handy were only a few of those peddling their musical wares in the new Promised Land.

Once again, Dorsey found work playing the rent parties and backroom bars, but he couldn’t cope with the brutal winter, so he returned to Atlanta in less than a year. He would repeat this cycle for the next two years, until in 1918, when he tired of going back and forth, and finally settled for good in Chi-town.

Chicago, Take Two

Although there were plenty of gigs in Chicago, Dorsey still found himself in the back of the bus. Once again, he was mainly playing rent parties and low-class dives. Blues were not being played in the high-class bars and clubs. Instead, a new kind of music, known as “Jass,” played by the New Orleans musicians and combining elements of blues, ragtime, gospel, marches, and even bits of classical, was tearing up the town.

Although Dorsey didn’t play it, he was able to exploit it. He found out that most of these jass (jazz) musicians could read music, but not arrange it. He enrolled in the Chicago School of Composition and Arranging in 1920 and registered his first composition, “If You Don’t Believe I’m Leaving, You Can Count The Days I’m Gone.” That same year, another event occurred that would, again, change his life.

In New York, musician Perry Bradford convinced General [aka Okeh] Records to release a song by “a colored girl named Mamie Smith.” Her recording of “Crazy Blues” was a smash. Overnight the music industry began to reassess its contempt for the blues. It was not, however, the “lowdown, gutbucket blues” that Dorsey knew. It was smoother, adulterated and watered down for the general public. Dorsey adapted his style, and the work got a little better.

However, his frantic schedule of gigs at night, odd jobs during the day and trying to study arranging finally caught up to the sensitive country boy from Georgia. In October of 1920, he crashed, suffering a complete nervous breakdown. His mother brought him home to Atlanta to recover, and talked to him gently about his dwindling spiritual life.

Chicago, Take Three

In 1921, Dorsey returned to Chicago. One night, at his uncle’s urging, he went to a religious convention and heard the legendary Rev. W.M. Nix preach. Nix was as close to a blues singer as he was preacher; he punctuated his spoken words with improvised singing, much like a blues player might accent his words with an improvised guitar riff, and of course, he moaned. Dorsey was electrified, and his faith was restored.

He joined New Hope Baptist Church, and wrote his first sacred song, “If I Don’t Get There.” He did notice that much of the music sung in the established black churches had become very staid; the Anglican hymns, even the old-time spirituals were being sung in a reserved and dignified way. The parishioners, many of them freshly arrived from the South, were being admonished to behave in a “civilized manner.” They did so publicly, but in private often complained, “They don’t ever sing now like they did then.”

Although he became active in the church, Dorsey had not given up on secular music. As a matter of fact, for the first time, he was beginning to have a degree of success with his own style of the blues. Thanks to Columbia Record Company’s recordings of Bessie Smith, the style of blues that he loved had indeed begun to catch on. Along with Smith, others like Ma Rainey were selling thousands of records that had “that lowdown feeling, and that good old lowdown moan.”

Dorsey became Rainey’s bandleader, and toured with her from 1924 to 1926. In 1925, he met, and married Nettie Harper. She became Rainey’s wardrobe mistress. They traveled together and enjoyed “one long honeymoon.” The schedule was a grind, but the money was good, and although he struggled inwardly with his faith, he didn’t let it interfere with his current success.

He was also beginning to notice that the audience reactions to Ma Rainey were much like those of the congregations’ reaction to W.M. Nix. Instead of merely listening, they would cry back to her, they would jump and shout when it touched them, and when it hit something deep inside, it brought out the moan. He became convinced that church folks needed songs that expressed feelings, and songs that gave the vocalist a chance to improvise and bring out the spirit within them.

He wanted to write gospel blues. Meanwhile, he continued to pay the rent by touring with Rainey. Then in 1926, it happened again.

One night on stage, he began to feel shaky. It stretched into weeks, and then months, and finally two years later, he suffered another nervous breakdown. He was broke, confused, and even contemplated suicide.

In 1928, at the urging of another family member, he went back to a church service and the minister whispered to him: “Brother Dorsey, there is no need for you to be looking so poorly. The Lord has too much work for you to die.”

Dorsey told the Lord: “I am ready to do your work.”

Shortly thereafter, he wrote his first gospel blues, “If You See My Savior.” For the next two years, he struggled to bring his music to the churches, even while continuing his blues career on the side (to pay the rent), and under the name of “Georgia Tom,” recording numerous sides with Tampa Red.

Meanwhile, he went from church to church, pitching his new style of music. To many, his new gospel blues music was scandalous. “I was thrown out of some of the best churches in Chicago,” he recalled. But the old ways were beginning to crumble, and within two years, Georgia Tom’s life and the music of the black church would be changed forever.

Next week:

Saturday Night, Sunday Morning: Precious Lord, From Georgia Tom to Rev. Thomas A. Dorsey

Georgia Tom Dorsey’s Music: Fortunately, much of Dorsey’s’ early blues were recorded. There are several collections, they range in price, and quality of the liner notes, if you are mainly interested in the music, try:

Georgia Tom Dorsey: The Essential 

Label: Classic Blues

ASIN: B00006JMB2

The new ones are a bit pricey, but they have several used ones at Amazon. There are also numerous MP3 downloads, all of them classic, as he described them, “Gut-bucket blues.”

To be continued…

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about.

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Gospel 101

Part Three

By Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

“I also got to know many of the gospel men and women. Among them were the best singers I had ever heard in my life. And the very cream of the crop, for me at least-were cats like Ira Tucker of the Dixie Hummingbirds, Archie Brownlee of The Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi, and Claude Jeter of the Swan Silvertones. These guys have voices which could shake down your house and smash all the furniture in it. Jesus, could they wail! They sung for real, and I loved their music as much as any music in the world.”

Ray Charles, from his autobiography Brother Ray.

I hope my little mini-series has helped you to get some great new music at a decent price. I found the above quote by Ray Charles completely by accident as I was re-reading his autobiography. I thought it might be nice to end this series focusing on two of the quartets he understandably praises.

Note: All of the groups I have mentioned in the last three columns are exponents of the “quartet” style. There are other configurations of gospel group singing, among them-jubilee style, congregational, and traditional a capella. Quartet singing was initially frowned upon, but soon became the style favored by the public. Incidentally, you’ll notice many a “quartet” with five and even six members. No worries. I doubt anyone ever stayed away because Jet Bledsoe’s group wasn’t correctly identified as “The Spirit Of Memphis Octet.”

Quartet Gospel Music

Quartet style began with R.H. Harris and the Soul Stirrers. It featured alternating lead vocals, unique harmonies, often the use of drums and electric instruments, front-men with distinct personalities (Sam Cooke, Lou Rawls, June Cheeks), and, in their heyday, a devoted following rivaling that of secular R&B groups.

Two more of the greatest groups were The Swan Silvertones and The Original Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi.

Rev. Claude Jeter and The Swan Silvertones

Al Green‘s distinctive falsetto came from one source: Rev. Claude Jeter. Anytime, anywhere you hear a soul or R&B singer swoop into a falsetto for dramatic effect, it came from Claude Jeter. However, he was only one of five equally talented vocalists that comprised the group known as The Swan Silvertones. One important characteristic separating the quartets from their secular brethren was an underlying current of fierce competition that existed on the gospel circuit. Very rarely would a gospel program feature only one group and, having been to several dozen of these programs myself, I can assure you that even though they are singing for Jesus, each group does everything it can to demolish the acts proceeding and following them. There is a reason for this. Aside from sheer pride, gospel shows usually work off what’s known as a “split.” The headline act usually gets a flat fee, but the other groups have to divide what’s left, and pay is often determined by one’s position on the program and/or the crowd’s reaction to a group’s performance.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YVQuZJkHZL0

The Swans were certainly aware of this; legend has it that they practiced eight to ten hours a day and used a broomstick rather than a real microphone to get their harmonies perfect. They succeeded.

They went through various stylistic and personnel changes, but the music they recorded for Vee Jay Records between 1956 and 1967 is some of the best music ever recorded by any group anywhere.

A quick back-story:

They are Al Kooper‘s all-time favorite group.

Not only that, but when I interviewed him several years ago in Nashville, he verified a certain rumor about them, that I had been hearing for years.

Apparently, one night, back in the mid ’60s, he was listening to them in his apartment in New York City. Paul Simon called him up in a somewhat agitated state. He told Kooper that he had the beginning of a great song, but it needed a hook, or a phrase to tie it all together. Kooper invited him over.

One of the Swan’s greatest songs is their rendition of “Mary Don’t You Weep.” It starts smooth and melodic, but then proceeds to reach an almost impossible intensity. By the last verse the band is on the edge of becoming unhinged, the music is relentless and Paul Owens, assuming the role of Jesus, hollers out to Mary, “I’ll be your bridge over deep water if you just trust in me.”

According to Kooper, when “Mary” ended, Paul was smiling. He thanked Al for the great music, and mentioned something about that bridge over deep water, went home, and finished his song.

The Original Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi featuring Archie Brownlee

“Oh, man, the first time I saw him, he was trying to claw his way over the first pew, the band was pulling him back, and he was screaming so loud the people were scared of him.” - Nappy Brown describing Archie Brownlee.

One of the reasons that the quartet style caught on was that it gave the singers and groups the freedom to add choreography, fashion, and vocal pyrotechnics to music that for years had been restricted to smooth, polished harmonies and safe, inoffensive “Negro spirituals.”

Quartet gospel was black music for black audiences, with apologies to no one. Most of the great groups came out of Holiness churches where spirit possession, talking in tongues, and gut-wrenching displays of emotion, be they happy or pain-filled, were par for the course.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Mr5FmYvWNhc

Needless to say, it caused a storm of controversy and bitter infighting among the more “dignified” church folk. There were churches virtually torn apart by the struggle between those who were tired of the old hymns and dirge-like spirituals in minor keys, and those who saw the new style, with its histrionics and unrestrained behavior, as sheer blasphemy. One of the most controversial figures to emerge from this struggle was Archie Brownlee.

In later years James Brown, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, and even Sam Cooke, among others, would all openly express their debt to Brownlee and acknowledge his tremendous influence on all black music, both secular and sacred.

“Our Father,” as sung by Archie and The Five Blind Boys, was a million-selling crossover hit, and there would be a half dozen others that rocked the gospel world.

By every account, he was indeed a man possessed:

He closed every show with the electrifying “I’m Gonna Leave You In the Hands Of The Lord.” During the last verse, Archie would often leap off the stage and begin to climb across the pews. They would try to restrain him and he would keep breaking loose, until often they simply lifted him up and carried him off as he continued to moan and cry: “Somebody help me now, I don’t want to go, but I got to leave you…” leaving church after church in total bedlam.

Legend has it that one night in Houston, a couple of months before he died, he was on the same show with Cheeks and the ‘Gales. Although no one had said much, they knew his days were numbered. On that particular night, that final song became so intense, that Julius Cheeks, watching from the wings, began to moan along with him, sob uncontrollably, and, finally, unable to bear anymore, fainted in the arms of his road manager. Archie Brownlee died of pneumonia on February 8, 1960, at the age of 35.

The Music:

The Swan Silvertones:

There are several reissues available.

This is why I do these columns. I went to Amazon and didn’t even recognize most of the reissues. My best advice is to look for any collection that has both “Mary Don’t You Weep” and “Cold Day In December.” Chances are that these will be the Vee-Jay recordings. Their King product and Specialty product is great, but nothing comes close to the Vee-Jay material. Feel free to email me c/o of BluesWax or comment below, if you have a question. Prices are all over the place, but the right collection is worth it.

The Five Blind Boys

I went to Amazon, and almost had a heart attack. There is actually an import going for 300 bucks!!

Okay, the group recorded for several labels. Here are a couple of ones I know are decent:

Something To Shout About

Shout

ASIN: B000NVLEYM

1947-1954 The Five Blind Boys Of Mississippi

Acrobat

ASIN: B000JFXTQ8

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I thought the Swans’ catalogue was crazy, but BEWARE!! Some of the CDs, matter of fact most of them, are by later versions of the group. Some have decent liner notes, some have no liner notes at all. The two I have listed here have some great music, but read the write-ups before you get the disc. Personally, I would start with the Acrobat piece, which has fabulous liner notes by Opal Nations. Some of the music is real primitive and really raw, but some of it is Archie at his most over-the–top. Some of the songs actually distort from his vocals redlining the microphones in the studio. There are a couple that are in the same series as the Clouds, and the ‘Gales, but the quality is nowhere near as good. There is one called The Great Lost Album. It has a good version of “Leave You in the Hands” and a couple of other decent cuts. If you like these guys, you should grab it before it goes out of print again and the price jumps to $100.

BTW: You’ll notice a couple of high priced pieces on a Japanese label called P-Vine. In general, if you have the cash to buy anything on that label, do so. They don’t make bad product, period. They are responsible for the legendary O.V. Wright box set that goes for $400 on eBay, but that’s another story for another time.

Make sure and get at least one album by each of these groups, you won’t be sorry. I promise.

One last note-On YouTube there is an incredible version of “Only Believe,” by the Swans, don’t miss it.

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz is a weekly columnist at BluesWax. Each week he finds artists, albums, and music that you should know about.