R.B. Hudmon

Listen/Download – RB Hudmon – Yo Yo MP3

Greetings all.

The end of the week is here so I will remind you once again that the Funky16Corners Radio Show podcast drops each and every Friday with the best in funk, soul, jazz and rare groove, all on original vinyl. You can subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTune, listen on your mobile device via the TuneIn app, check it out on Mixcloud, or grab an MP3 right here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is another chapter in the fascinating world of Joe South.

South, who had a stellar recording career of his own is probably best known as a songwriter, penning hits for artists like Billy Joe Royal, the Tams, Deep Purple, Lynne Anderson and many others.

Today’s selection is a song that South wrote (it was first recorded by Billy Joe Royal the previous year) and produced for teenage singer R.B. Hudmon (his name is misspelled on the label) in 1968.

Hudmon was a Georgia-based singer who was part of Bill Lowery’s (who Joe South worked with extensively) talent stable in Atlanta. He was only 14 when he recorded South’s ‘Yo Yo’.

His version of the song (arranged by South and probably featuring him on guitar as well) is great, upbeat soul, featuring Hudmon’s high tenor and a great horn chart.

South would go on (as he would with many of the songs he wrote for others) to record the song himself in 1971, as would none other than the Osmonds, who would have one of their biggest hits with a version of the song (quite good, actually) in the late summer of that year.

Hudmon would go on to have a number of minor R&B hits for Atlantic between 1976 and 1978.

I hope you dig the record, and I’ll see you all on Monday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived! The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock. They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US). Click here to go to the ordering page.

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The Tams

Dobie Gray

Listen/Download The Tams – Untie Me

Listen/Download Dobie Gray – Rose Garden

Greetings all

The day of the hump is upon us, and so I feel that it behooves me to provide a soundtrack to push us all up and over the top.

Since his passing back in the beginning of September, I have been deeply involved in a rediscovery of the music of Joe South, through his own recordings and via other artists versions of his songs.

Though he is best known to most as a writer other people’s hits – folks like Billy Joe Royal, Lynn Anderson and the Tams – South was an incredibly solid artist in his own right. The records he made between 1968 and 1972 for Capitol are a remarkable mixture of soul, country, rock and even psychedelia that deserve a much bigger audience.

It was during the process of digging into those albums that I was amazed not only by South’s own versions of his most famous songs (I’d say without hesitation that his is the definitive version of the oft-recorded ‘Hush’) but also pleasantly surprised to discover that he had written a couple of songs that I already loved in versions by other artists (like the Tams ‘Shelter’ and Billy Harner’s ‘She’s Almost You’).

The two songs I bring you today are two more excellent, soulful covers of great Joe South songs.

The first, the Tams ‘Untie Me’ represents both that group’s first hit, as well as South’s initial success as a songwriter.

‘Untie Me’ scraped the edge of the R&B Top 10 in the Fall of 1962, and it’s not only a great song but a great record as well. Produced (and with piano) by Ray Stevens, ‘Untie Me’ struck me the first time I heard it as a perfect tune to be turned into a beat ballad. Once I did a little digging I discovered that it had indeed been covered by Manfred Mann in 1964.

The tune is a great showcase for a restrained vocal by the mighty Joe Pope, and the arrangement is fantastic.

The second cut today is something  previously unknown to me that I happened upon while digging.

I’ma huge fan of Dobie Gray’s mid-60s Charger sides, and certainly knew of his later hits, but had no idea that he had recorded three singles for the White Whale label in 1969 and 1970.

Among these was an excellent take on South’s ‘Rose Garden’, two full years before it would be turned into a mega-hit by Lynn Anderson.

Gray’s version is subtly funky – a little more so than South’s original – and sounds to me like the kind of record that should have been a pop hit (it does seem to have gotten some play in a few regional markets in the East and the South).

Given enough time, it wouldn’t be hard to put together a mix or two of Joe South covers, but these two will have to suffice for now.

I hope you dig them, and I’ll see you all on Friday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

* Simtec and Wylie were having their hits for the Mr Chand label at the same time as the Krystal Generation, and Simtec Simmons very own T-Box’s band provides the backing on this 45
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Also, the brand new Funky16Corners ‘Keep Calm and Stay Funky’ stickers have arrived!

The stickers are 4″ x 3″ and printed on high quality, glossy stock.

They are $2.00 each, with free shipping in the US ($2.00 per order shipping outside of the US).

Click here to go to the ordering page.

 

Also, make sure that you check out the links below to the Be The Match Foundation and POAC (click on the logos for more info).

 

If you want one of the new Funky16Corners stickers (free, of course) click here for info.

Check out the Funky16Corners Store at Cafe Press

PS Head over to Iron Leg too.