Little Buster – I’m So Lonely

By , October 8, 2017 11:28 am

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Eddie ‘Little Buster’ Forehand

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Listen/Download – Little Buster – I’m So Lonely MP3

Greetings all.

The record I bring you today is without any dispute one of my all time favorites, holding a secure spot in my Top 10.

I have to start by sending out a big thanks to Red Kelly of the B-Side (and many other blogs) who turned me on to the sounds of Little Buster many years ago.

Eddie ‘Little Buster’ Forehand (note the name, because his records feature about four or five different iterations of his name/nickname) was born in North Carolina in 1942 but relocated to Long Island (where he spent the rest of his life) in the late 50s.

He was blind, and recorded a string of absolutely brilliant singles for Jubilee, Josie and Minit between 1964 and 1969.

Today’s selection, ‘I’m So Lonely’ was his second 45, recorded in 1965.

To say that it is a special/unique record is to understate its power.

Featuring Little Buster’s voice and guitar, and precious little else (very spare bass and drum backing), ‘I’m So Lonely’ is a masterpiece of atmosphere and emotion. Though it is ostensibly a ‘soul’ record, it reaches back into the earliest days of recorded blues, borrowing Pop Staples wide open tremelo, is it less as an ‘effect’ and more as an essential character in the story of the song, acting as an aural backdrop.

Like many of the Delta bluesmen, Buster establishes a loose relation to the tempo, dancing in and out of the beat (as it is), yet never losing connection.

The recording – produced by Jubilee house producers Mickey Eichner and Steve Blaine – is unusually spare yet dripping in atmosphere, which comes exclusively from Little Busters voice and guitar.

His first two 45s (which seem to have come from the same session) have the same sound, and even later on, when he was working with other producers, and fuller arrangements, that rawness/bareness was still there in the background.

In a just world, Little Buster would be considered in the first rank of southern soul singers (even though he largely recorded in the North). His work is remarkably consistent, deep and emotionally powerful.

There are a number of records in his catalog (especially his upbeat, Horace Ott-arranged cover of ‘Cry Me a River’ from 1969) that are lost classics.

Little Buster went on to record in the modern era with his band the Soul Brothers, but aside from a mid-90s UK collection on Sequel, his amazing Jubilee/Josie and Minit sides are currently unavailable, which is a crime.

I hope you dig the sounds.

Also, make sure to follow Funky16Corners on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook.

Keep the faith

Larry

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