Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee – People Get Ready
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee
Listen/Download Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee – People Get Ready
Greetings all
Here’s an odd one.
Many, many moons ago I was out digging and happened upon the 45 you see before you today.
When I saw a version of ‘People Get Ready’ by Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee I had to double check and make sure it was in fact the Curtis Mayfield song.
Indeed it was.
This was a record that cried out for further investigation, and since it was on sale for a shiny United States quarter, I paid the man and brought it home, where it languished for a good long time.
When I first recorded it I wasn’t quite sure what to make of it.
Sonny Terry and Brownie McGhee were known mostly as a folk blues act, having joined forces for the first time in 1942.
McGhee, the singer and guitarist (brother of Stick McGhee of ‘Drinkin’ Wine Spo-dee-o-dee’ fame) had played with the Rabbit Foot Minstrels and followed/studied with Blind Boy Fuller.
Harp player Sonny Terry had been accompanying Fuller until the latter’s death, after which he teamed up with McGhee.
Now, I mentioned that Terry and McGhee were best known (to me, anyway) as folk blues players, but as it turns out, they spent the early part of their career working at a more popular/mainstream success. They recorded jump blues and R&B under a few different names during the 40s and 50s, only really getting firmly into their better known bag riding the wave of the folk/blues revival in the late 50s/early 60s.
When I first listened to this version of ‘People Get Ready’ I was surprised by the arrangement, in which Terry and McGhee change the tempo, moving away from the gospel feel of the original (and many ensuing covers) and settling into a rootsy, ever so slightly funky groove that reminds me of some of Taj Mahal’s ish from around the same time.
As it turns out the single was pulled from the 1973 LP ‘Sonny and Brownie’, which featured an all-star backing group (Arlo Guthrie, Sugarcane Harris, John Mayall, Michael Franks) and a variety of contemporary covers, including Randy Newman’s ‘Sail Away’, a couple of Franks’ songs and some originals.
As I said before, the re-arrangement might see a little jarring at first, but after a listen or two it starts to make complete sense (at least to me, your mileage may vary…).
Something unusual to feed your ears in the middle of the week.
I hope you dig it, and I’ll be back on Friday.
Keep the faith
Larry
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Blues, Chicago Soul, Cover Songs, Funky16Corners, R&B, Soul, Soul 45
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Chicago Soul, Funky16Corners, Soul
Themocracy
Love love LOVE this version and album – a staple of basement hang sessions of my very early 20s, back in 1987-89. Sugarcane’s violin positively smiles throughout, and Terry’s whoops are pure joy. The accent in this one is far more on the “get on board” than the hopeless sinners, and how can you not want to when it’s this much fun?
Of course, Sonny and Brownie and Woody have their own collaborations and stories, going back to wartime if memory serves, well worth investigation by anyone unfamiliar with the duo. The family link with Arlo must’ve helped set the easy tone they hit throughout, a sweetness even in the bitterly ironic Newman cover you mentioned. Desert island disc to me – top 50 if not 25.