Willie “Little Beaver” Hale

Listen/Download Little Beaver – Party Down Pt1

Greetings all

The end of the week has arrived, and so has the Funky16Corners Radio Show, which comes to you this and every Friday night at 9PM on Viva Radio. If you can’tbe there to hear it, you can always subscribe to the show as a podcast in iTunes, or grab an MP3 here at the blog.

The tune I bring you today is just about three and a quarter minutes of perfection, custom made for a weekend night in the summertime.

Willie ‘Little Beaver’ Hale was an Arkansas-born singer/guitarist who laid down some of the finest grooves of the Miami scene in the 1970s.

In addition to his own records, he also played guitar for other TK/Glades/Cat artists like Betty Wright (that’s him on ‘Clean Up Woman’) and George McCrae.

He had recorded 45s for labels like Saadia and Phil-La of Soul before having his first hit (‘Joey’) with Cat in 1972.

‘Party Down’ was a #2 R&B hit in the summer of 1974. It features Little Beaver working it out on the guitar, laying down a mellow, late night, cognac groove, working in a little scat here and there while his friends make a little noise in the background.

Little Beaver waxed more than a dozen 45s and four albums for Cat in the 70s before going into retirement for years, only to reemerge in 2003 to play on Joss Stone’s ‘Soul Sessions’ album.

It is a very groovy tune indeed, and I hope you dig it.

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.
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.

One Response to “Little Beaver – Party Down Pt1”

1. ears for eyes says:

   June 14, 2013 at 10:03 am

   Great song! And, “mellow, late night, cognac groove” is a great description! Thanks Larry!