“Sinful Woman” — Bill Browning & His Echo Valley Boys (1960) When the steel guitar hits at the 0:27 mark... it kicks into another gear. Would love to have heard Joe Ely’s late ’70s band tackle this one. Island IR-11, 1960
No doubt. Although I just realized that Bill Browning sounds more like Jimmie Dale Gilmore than Joe Ely, so maybe the Flatlanders, with Maines and the rest of the crew backing?
Just saw the posts on the Duchesses and am wondering myself if it was Jackie DeShannon who wrote the songs in question. I'm a big fan of Chicago soul and haven't heard of the group before, I'll try to check my copy of Robert Pruter's Chicago Soul book for info. Here's an old online discussion on these songs on 45cat.com: https://www.45cat.com/record/c7019
I've already looked in Robert Pruter's book and elsewhere without being able to discover any information on the Duchesses to date, although I've not given up yet. Jackie DeShannon had been resident in Illinois during the mid 1950s and appeared on radio and TV there as Sherry Lee Myers when a young teenager. Perhaps she was visiting her parents in the Chicago area in 1960 and then placed the three songs with the Duchesses (who she might possibly have known from before) ... but I remain puzzled. This is an extensive list of the songs Jackie was known at the time (compiled in 1996 and updated in 2000) to have written. The Songs Of Jackie DeShannon
'Boogie Woogie Country Girl' by Jo Ann Campbell In the notes with the Bear Family Records compilation on which it was the title track it is said that at the time she was battling with her producer (Sid Feller who had "absolutely no tolerance" for rock'n'roll) over the material she wanted to record. She later said when talking to Stuart Colman "I told (Sid Feller) there was one more song I wanted to do, but I didn't have an arrangement on it. Of course he showed little interest, but I told him the session players - guys like Ernie Hayes and Al Caiola - would pick it up real easy ... so literally in the last ten minutes of the session he reluctantly said it was okay. 'Tell the guys what you want to do' he said. I guess we managed it in about two maybe three takes, and I never heard it again"
'Crazy Moon' by Jimmie Raney and Sally Bennett (1960) b/w 'You Drink Too Much Booze' by Jimmie Raney and Slim Slaughter https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UWm1VUZJPJk&ab_channel=cadlagh1BillKealy Jimmie Raney & Sally Bennett / Jimmie Raney & Slim Slaughter - Crazy Moon / You Drink Too Much Booze Jimmie Raney was a drummer and singer (and not the jazz guitarist Jimmy Raney), possibly aka "Joe DeHorney" taking his stage name from Ma Rainey (who he had performed with as a teenager). The above appears to have been the only release with someone calling himself Slim Slaughter. Sally Bennett may have been the same person who had an earlier moon related release in 1959 Sally Bennett - Wanna Man From The Moon / Checkin' My Chick
'Bad Mouthin' by Willie B. (1961) aka Darrell McCall - he recorded two songs as demos intended for Jimmy Reed to record, but Jimmy never got to hear them and they were released on a single instead. Willie B. - Bad Mouthin' / This I Gotta See Wayne Moss - guitar; Charlie McCoy - harmonica; Jim Isbell - drums Later reissued on a 7" single by Bear Family Records in 2017 Willie B. - Bad Mouthin'
“Cheat On Me, Baby” — Rockin’ Saints (1960) I guess I like my rockabilly with a hot guitar break followed by saxophone embellishment. Sax man Billy Crandall is from Fort Lee, New Jersey and was in the Royal Teens (“Short Shorts”) where he played alongside pianist Bob Gaudio, who went on to form the Four Seasons. Not much else is known about these guys besides their names: Red Brown — keyboards; Will Moyers — drums; Bill Mohrhoff — bass; Frank Triolo — guitar, vocals; Billy Crandall — sax, vocals. Decca 9-31144, 1960
Maybe post rebel Elvis but he was still the biggest act in the world until The Beatles in the early 60s
(I Believe) Something Funny is Going On' by Bertha Tillman (1962) aka '(I Believe) Something Funny is Going Down'; the follow-up to 'Oh My Angel', it was the second of her (only) three releases Bertha Tillman - (I Believe) Something Funny Is Going On / I Wish
“Human” — Tommy Hunt (1961) Oh Lord, why did you make me human? After Hunt left the Flamingos, this was his first release as a solo act, and the B-side was the hit – R&B #5, Pop #48. A year later, another one of his B-sides was the first recording of Bacharach-David's “I Just Don't Know What To Do With Myself.” Scepter 1219, Jun 1961
Recently listening to a cd of The Playmates and saying - that song is very familiar sounding. But I can only think that either I heard it once on radio when I was kid, and noticed it because my name is John, or someone else made a hit of it . . , Otherwise I did not know this song at all ... But I like it and am glad I stumbled across it now WAIT FOR ME
I suspect it sounds familiar because it has so many of the cliche elements of that time. It sounds like it was written to be a hit based on pieces of other hits.
Glad to see this thread still going strong after almost two years. 1960-62 was obviously not as dead a music zone as some believe. "Cool Breeze" was recorded and issued on the obscure Tip Top label in 1962, then picked up for wider distribution by Chicago's Okeh label in '63. So even though you might see a 1963 date attached to this tune, it's actually from '62. Also, it's by Gerald Sims & the Daylighters. (Okeh dropped the Daylighters name and just listed the artist as Gerald Sims.) Gerald Sims & the Daylighters - Cool Breeze (1962)
A few years before the Yardbirds tackled it, the tune "Good Morning Little Schoolgirl" was a minor hit for Don Level and Bob Love. The recording was issued on the Chicago-based Argo label, a subsidiary of Chess Records. Don & Bob changed the lyrics a bit, making it a little less inappropriate (by today's standards) than the original blues version by Sonny Boy Williamson. Don and Bob - Good Morning Little Schoolgirl (1961)
