A is for Alabama: meaning jazz, gospel, soul, hillbilly, blues, garage rock, r’n’b and a whole lot more. Sure, it's Australia Day in a week, but for now, let's explore another place whose name kicks off the alphabet. We're stretching ourselves across the reach of a complex, diverse and contradictory catalogue of music.
Ain't no record-store categories here – try Dinah Washington doin' Hank Williams, or think sequin-totin’ hillbillies Maddox Bros & Rose. We quoted excerpts of some fine writin’ in the Oxford American mag – one feature per track plus opening pieces such as the editorial by editor Marc Smirnoff, who spent the last year listening to ’Bama music. And we managed to sneak in one extra track at the end: the cult figure Rev Fred Lane, who is neither a rev, a Fred nor a Lane. Read more on these and other artists at OA's website.
Alabama’s hall of fame includes Nat King Cole, WC Handy, Louvin Brothers, Chuck Leavell, Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section, Dan Penn, Sam Phillips, Martha Reeves, Jimmie Rodgers, Percy Sledge, Dinah Washington, Jerry Wexler, Hank Williams and Tammy Wynette. Then there are the likes of Hank Ballard, Blind Boys of Alabama, Jimmy Buffett, Clarence Carter, Drive-By Truckers, Eddie Floyd, Lionel Hampton, Emmylou Harris, Merle Kilgore, Nicolette Larson, Shelby Lynne, Maddox Brothers & Rose, Jim Nabors, Spooner Oldham, Wilson Pickett, Lionel Richie, the Skeeters, Sun Ra, Toni Tennille of Captain & Tennille, Big Mama Thornton, Will Kimbrough, Allison Moorer – whew! – and a disproportionate number of American Idol finalists.
The show takes its cue from the theme of the Oxford American's 12th annual Southern music issue, which excludes most of these names. But there’s Nat King Cole’s brother, and we added a lovely jazz-infused Jimmie Rodgers classic better known in the Maria Muldaur incarnation, and the Muscle Shoals Rhythm Section with Dan Penn.
All we could offer is a taster – this show could go on for years!
Tracks:
Jimmie Rodgers, ‘Any old time’, A country legacy (Pair Records)
Dan Penn, ‘It tears me up’, Do right man (Sire/Warner Bros/Blue Horizon)
From Oxford American's Southern music CD no 12 :
Dan Pickett, ‘99½ won’t do’, 1949 Country Blues (Collectables Records, 1990), originally recorded for Gotham (1949)
Eddie Cole & his Gang, ‘Abalabip’, That’s Right! (Collectables Records, 1991), originally released as Gotham single (1950)
Dinah Washington, ‘Cold, cold heart’, Dinah Washington’s finest hour (Verve, 2000), originally released on Blazing Ballads (Mercury, 1951)
Hardrock Gunter & the Pebbles, ‘Gonna dance all night’, Gonna rock 'n' roll, gonna dance all night (Rollercoaster Records, 1995), originally released as Bama Records single (1950)
Maddox Bros & Rose, ‘Muleskinner blues’, America’s most colorful hillbilly band: their original recordings 1946–1951, Vol I (Arhoolie, 1995), originally released as 4-Star Records single (ca. 1948)
Rev Fred Lane with Ron ’Pate’s Debonairs, ‘Rubber room’, From the one that cut you (Shimmy Disc, 1998), originally released on Say Bay-Dew Records (1983)
Next show: Wednesday, 16 February, 9:30 am
Listen in online.
