Who’da thunk?
Listen/Download Lonnie Mack – Chicken’ Pickin’
Greetings all
I hope the new week finds you well, rested and ready to have your lid flipped.
Though many of us like to refer to ourselves as “collectors’ of records, there are few among us who do not occasionally lapse into the status of “accumulator”.
It was in such a phase that I came into possession of a metal box (maybe purpose-made for records, but just as likely a holder of rusty screws, fish hooks or whatever…) full of 45s.
These records were – for the most part – unsleeved, but when someone hands you a box of records, you just take it.
I mean, even if the records aren’t any good, you can always use the box, right?
Anyhoo, I made a cursory perusal of the discs, pulled a few out that looked interesting, but they were so hashed that I put them aside and forgot all about them.
Recently,whilst moving several piles of stuff to get to another, smaller pile, I happened upon these records, and with a few extra minutes available, decided to give them a spin.
Though a couple of them were all static and skips, there were indeed a few keepers in the stack, one of which just about got up off the turntable and kicked me in the ass.
That record – Lonnie Mack’s ‘Chicken’ Pickin’’ (extraneous apostrophe following ‘chicken’ and all) – was nothing short of a revelation.
I have come to my understanding of Lonnie Mack slowly, having been put off by his presence on hundreds of old timey instrumental lists/comps. I always (incorrectly, natch…) assumed that he was little more than ‘Wham’ and ‘Memphis’, which, truth be told, wasn’t little at all, but more on that later.
What I discovered was that in addition to his prodigious talents as a plucker of strings, Lonnie Mack was also something of a blue-eyed soul man and in the end a much more complex and satisfying artist that I would have imagined.
So, moving back to the record as hand, while the topside of the disc, ‘Honky Tonk ‘65’ was a groovy but fairly unremarkable retread of the Bill Doggett classic (and a minor hit), the flip told another story entirely.
‘Chicken’ Pickin’’ is the kind of record that in a just world would have inspired a cult of some kind.
It is, without exaggeration, just over two minutes of balls out, guitar driven savagery with a big fat bottom, and enough wailing organ to send a thousand go go girls into outer space.
Taken as a whole, the record is as badass a slab of wax as has ever scorched a dance floor.
The guitar playing taken alone illustrates why Lonnie Mack was held in such high esteem by the embryonic axe slingers of the 1960s and beyond.*
He is on fire from the git-go, sounding like Albert Collins got belted by gamma rays and turned into some kind of string-bending Hulk.
The sound is that perfect intersection of rock, R&B, and soul and is positively explosive.
‘Chicken’ Pickin’’ is the kind of record, that were it rare, would be worth a shitstack (assload, truckpile, stinkheap..) of money, but since it ain’t, you can have a copy for yourself for less than five bucks, and if you know what’s good for you you’ll grab the nearest sawbuck and set out in search of a copy right now.
Take that and stuff it in your record player.
See you on Wednesday.
Keep the faith
Larry
*For a very specific example, see the Stevie Ray Vaughan (who covered Mack’s ‘Wham’ on his first LP) song ‘Scuttle Buttin’, heavily influenced by ‘Chicken’ Pickin’
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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).
PS Head over to Iron Leg too.
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Funk, Funk 45, Instrumental, Soul
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Funk, Funky16Corners, Soul 
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