Tommy Ridgley

Listen/Download – Tommy Ridgley – In the Same Old Way MP3

Greetings all.

Long time followers of the Funky16Corners thing will be aware of my deep and abiding love for the music of the mighty Eddie Bo.

In the annals of New Orleans R&B/soul auteurs, Bo resides in the pantheon with giants like Allen Toussaint and Wardell Quezerge.

His career stretched from the 1950s up until his death in 2009, and he was a prolific songwriter, recording artist and producer.

It was in my pursuit of anything and everything Bo-related that I dug up this 45 more than a decade ago.

Though I only knew the name Tommy Ridgley in passing, the presence of an Eddie Bo writing credit made me put the 45 in my keeper pile and bring it home.

The extent of Bo’s career is often difficult to pin down because like many of his contemporaries, he was at the mercy of the whims of the independent record industry, label owners, wrangling over publishing and restrictive contracts (like Toussaint, Bo often wrote pseudonymously).

That said, Bo was a busy man, on his own records, and crafting the records of others as a composer, arranger, producer, musician or any combination of the above.

Tommy Ridgley was a similarly situated, journeyman recording artist (though mainly as a singer), having started his recording career in the early 50s as a vocalist with Dave Bartholemew and then under his own name for a variety of national (Atlantic, Herald) and local (Ric, Cinderella, Hep’Me, Sans, Blue Jay, White Cliffs among others) labels up into the late 80s.

‘In the Same Old Way’ was released in 1969 but has a somewhat earlier sound.

Opening with a solid, basic rhythm section and a wonderful horn arrangement, Ridgely comes in (with female backing singers deep in the mix) with a great vocal.

The record was produced by local New Orleans DJ Bob Robin, aka Robert Echols who produced a wide range of NOLA artists through the 60s, including Gerri Hall, Senator Jones, Robert Parker and Van Broussard, as well as working as a New Orleans distributor/A&R guy for Stax records. Robin also produced Ridgley’s 1966 International City 45 ‘My Love Gets Stronger’.

Ridgley had a smooth tenor, with just a hint of a New Orleans twang to it, and though his chart success was minimal, it’s easy to understand why people kept taking him into the studio.

Ridgley continued to record into the mid-1990s, and kept performing until his death in 1999.

I hope you dig the tune, and I’ll see you on Wednesday.

Keep the faith

Larry

 

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PS Head over to Iron Leg too.