The new issue of No Depression arrived in the mail last week. The Solomon Burke cover story, by yours truly, is titled “Pennies from Heaven: 13 Ways of Looking at the King of Rock ‘n’ Soul” (with apologies to Wallace Stevens). One of those ways to look at Burke is as the King of Soul ‘n’ Country.

Lots of other good stuff in there, too. Bill Friskics-Warren on Mindy Smith, Roy Kasten on Joe Pernice, Michael Perry on Greg Brown, Linda Ray on Kasey Chambers, and Kurt Reighley on the Decemberists. Check it out.

Solomon Burke “He’ll Have to Go” from Rock ‘n’ Soul (Atlantic, 1964)

*****

A few addendums to our recent Chuck Berry Week celebration…Patrick “Tater” Irwin pointed us to a discussion of Chuck Berry’s interest in the steel guitar…The Chicago Sun Times did a nice Berry-at-80 piece…Finally, our country soul brother over at Shot of Rhythm, Charles Hughes, who’d already written part 2 of our Berry week with an essay on the documentary Hail! Hail Rock and Roll, wrote recently about Berry’s 1979 Rockit album. I’d always known Berry had been a great influence on Dave Edmunds, but what I didn’t know was that the tinny and hollow vocal effect that Edmunds favors sounds as if it were lifted directly from the way Berry’s voice is mixed on Rockit. 

Dave Edmunds “Dear Dad” from D.E. 7th (Columbia, 1982)

*****

Derreck “Bostworld” Bostrom is now offering the tenth installment in his “Report from the Country” series. This time it’s “Disco Goes the Country,” a collection of mostly little known cuts that, if not exactly disco, are certainly trying to cross over with the help of arrangements that owe quite a bit to sounds found on the pop charts of the late 70s. Great stuff, but what the hey…no Kendalls?….Chris “Locust Street” O’Leary continues his site’s anniversary celebration, “100 Years in Ten Jumps.” He’s up to his sixth jump now, 1956, which was also the year that Elvis launched the Nashville Sound with “Don’t Be Cruel.” It was also a big year for Perry Como, who had a couple of number one hits in ‘56, including the one below that was side by side with Presley’s record in my mother’s 45 collection….Also, Funky 16 Corners offers “Butter Your Popcorn,” a 16-track zip file of “Popcorn” themed R&B, starting with, of course, James Brown’s “Popcorn,” “Mother Popcorn,” and “Let a Man Come in and Do the Popcorn,” but also featuring answer records by Vicki Anderson, Hank Ballard, and ten others, though not a later descendent to the theme, New Edition’s “Popcorn Love.”….Finally, Danny “Take Em As They Come” Alexander has been counting down to Halloween with an excellent essay a day from his Monsters, Marx and Music project. Don’t miss it.

The Kendalls “Sweet Desire” (Ovation, 1978) available on 16 Greatest Hits (Varese Sarabande, 1999)

Perry Como “Hot Diggity (Zig Diggity Boom)” available on Juke Box Baby (Bear Family, 2006)

New Edition “Popcorn Love” available on Greatest Hits, Volume 1 (MCA, 1991)

Bobby “Boris” Pickett “Monster Mash” Happy Halloween!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, October 31st, 2006 at 5:31 pm and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.