The origins of the Moon Walk.
Sugar Chile Robinson was a 7 year old blues & boogie woogie piano prodigy. I wondered what happened to him and found this. Here he is in 2007 at the age of 69:
Let’s move on to something completely different.
I’d heard of neither Ola Belle nor Zane Campbell until today but both were and are awesome.
Have a great weekend, folks. There’s more in the hopper.
Dad sings Chris Stapleton‘s R&B version of David Allen Coe‘s take on Linda Hargrove‘s “Tennessee Whiskey” in a parking lot. Awesome. Yeah, it went viral some time ago, but it’s still a good-un.
The Spunyboys rock.
R.I.P. Antoine Dominique “Fats” Domino Jr. [1928-2017]. He was the greatest Country/Blues/R&B/Rock and Roll crossover recording artist ever, and he influenced generations with his easily recognized voice and rolling piano style.
Have a greats weekend, folks. Be back here tomorrow for stuff.
Wow. I haven’t heard stuff like this since the Blues Brothers promoted it. Okay I have, but not as far as you know.
St. Paul & The Broken Bones does retro soul / R&B, with a sound that is pure Stax/Volt from the Big O days. They’re from Birmingham, not Memphis, and I’d post a direct link to their website, but it froze up my computer twice (you’ve been warned).
Let’s continue our stroll down Soul Street, shall we?
Booker T. & The M.G.’s were about as close to the center of the Soul Circuit as anyone. (Members of San Francisco’s CCR were in the wings during this performance taking notes).
Okay, let’s jam the gears. How many influences can you cover in one song?
Bunkessa volunteers at a local radio station occasionally, and The Knitts showed up to play live in-studio. The band is getting a following, have some tours lined up (and they know she has a Class B license).
Have a great weekend, folks. See you back here tomorrow for more fun stuff.
Gary Lewis & The Playboys‘ “She’s Just My Style” reached #3 on The Billboard Hot 100 in January 1966. The chicks dug it.
Joe Cocker‘s take on “Delta Lady” earned him a hit in 1969, and in 1970 he doubled down by performing it with Tom Jones. The chicks dug it.
George Benson‘s recording of “This Masquerade” was a soft jazz R&B hit in 1976, reaching No. 10 on the Billboard Hot 100 and No. 3 on the Hot Soul Singles charts [Wiki]. The chicks dug it.
What do those songs have in common? They were all written by this guy:
Yeah, another great rock/soul/jazz/country icon passed away this week. R.I.P. Leon Russell (1942-2016).
Have no worries, these things happen all the time, and nobody lasts forever. Let’s have fun while we can. See you back here tomorrow.
I was looking for a live performance of “Brazil” (perhaps by Xavier Cugat) to commemorate the Competitions of the Grecian Gods, but instead we must settle for The Theme Song to Terry Gilliam’s Brazil as performed by Geoffrey Muldaur. He was famous for marrying Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D’Amato who recorded some popular songs in 1973 about putting camels to bed, and another one about feeling her leg.
There’s no live performance for that one, so I looked for some more Olympics-themed stuff.
The Olympics sound a lot like another Lieber & Stoller product to me, but so what.
Yep. There be the Olympians of Eefin’ and Hambone, Jimmy Riddle & Jackie Phelps.
Let’s go back to Maria Grazia Rosa Domenica D’Amato (aka Maria Muldaur) and the leg feeling stuff. What a sultry voice.
This version by Tuba Skinny is a bit closer to Blue Lu Barker’s 1946 original.
Have a great weekend, folks, and we’ll be back tomorrow with more stuff that’s too hot to handle and too cold to hold.
Arthur “Big Boy” Crudup (1905-1974) recorded “That’s All Right” in 1946, and was dubbed “The Father of Rock and Roll.” Crudup spent his life as a farmer and a moonshiner, and although a talented bluesman from Mississippi, he received few if any royalties for his songs that were covered by many, including Elvis Presley, Elton John and Rod Stewart. Crudup got chumped by the recording industry, and eventually went Galt – he decided that if he couldn’t get a piece of the action, why record at all.
1946 was the same year Pee Wee King recorded the classic “Tennessee Waltz.” (I wasn’t anywhere near being born then. The first version I remember was by Spike Jones and His City Slickers, and I wasn’t born then either, but I got a 45rpm copy, and here’s the flip side.)
Here’s The Duprees‘ version of “You Belong To Me,” and the song is not about slavery.
Nice blues rock jam from husband & wife team known as The Tedeschi Trucks Band.
That’s a wrap for this edition of the Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend folks.
“The Lost Thing” is an animated adaption of a picture book illustrated and written by Shaun Tan in 2000.
The Undisputed Truth‘s version of “Smiling Faces” [via].
I never realized it, but “The Theme To Get Smart” is perfect for a ska rendition. Here’s the The Melbourne Ska Orchestra who did just that.
Have a great weekend, folks, and for those of us who are self-employed, it’s time to cough up some b*ks to the IRS f*ks.
Postmodern Jukebox (featuring The Tee-Tones) does Pitbull‘s & Keisha‘s “Timber” in doowop style, and we love it.
Couldn’t make it through the original version. Then we thought we’d look for some recent retro bands and found this.
Japanese girl group Oh!Sharels cover the Chords’ 1954 classic Sh-Boom.
Contrary to popular belief, doowop (aka R&B aka Rhythm & Blues) was not the only form of early rock and roll, so let’s kick it up with some Retrobilly.
Molly Sue Gonzalez (And The Mean Mean Men) “Bad Example” is just the thing to wrap up this edition of The Saturday Matinee. Have a great weekend folks, be back here tomorrow.
Bizarre, and with a great soundtrack. Oorutaichi [via].
Pokey LaFarge performing “La La Blues” at Music City Roots live from the Loveless Cafe on 20 April 2011 [via]. So what should follow that? Maybe something in C Am F & G…
The Crows‘ “Gee” from 1953 may have been the first R&B crossover hit, and it was a B side experiment. Ike Turner earned the prize for the first rock and roll hit “Rocket 88” in 1951, recording as Jackie Brenston and his Delta Cats . Y’all have heard that classic, or should have by now, and James Cotton did a kickass version.
More recently Dan Akroyd took a shot at it and pulled it off.
Have a great weekend, folks.
Incomprehensible Japanese Graduation Ceremony is awesome. [via]
The Third Degree is an Aussie band specializing in retro R&B and does it well. That lead singer’s got the vibe of early James Brown and Smokey Robinson, backed up by the Bar-Kays.
The Heavy has a great mix of funk, soul & swamp rock style (even though they blatently stole from Screamin’ Jay Hawkins).
I heard that the SuperBowl is coming up. Chili by 3, Broncos by 10. Have a great weekend, folks, see you tomorrow.
Tacky Raccoons 