R&B – Page 12 – Tacky Raccoons

Saturday Matinee – Big Boy Crudup, Pee Wee King, The Duprees & The Tedeschi Trucks Band

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.

Saturday Matinee – The Lost Thing, The Undisputed Truth & The Melbourne Ska Orchestra

“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.

Saturday Matinee – Postmodern Jukebox, Oh!Sharels & Molly Sue Gonzalez

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.

Saturday Matinee – Oorutachi, Pokey LaFarge, The Crows & Elwood Blues

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.

Saturday Matinee – Bustin’ Off The Ice, Japanese Graduation Ceremony, The Third Degree & The Heavy

“Ostra zima na Papieskiej w Nowym Sączu!”
One Rubber Mallet in Poland. [via]

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.

Saturday Matinee – Monkey Business, Blood Sweat & Tears, & Brenda Holloway

Monkey vs. vending machine. [Found here.]

Blood Sweat & Tears had a long string of hits in the 60s and 70s that included this one. “You’ve Made Me So Very Happy” was a cover of a song co-written by Brenda Holloway at Motown Records.

Here’s Brenda Holloway lip-synching “When I’m Gone” on the TV show Shivaree in 1965.

That should do it for this week’s video presentation. Have a great weekend, folks.

Saturday Matinee – Richard Thompson, Charles Ray Wiggins & Black Joe Louis

Richard Thompson snarks. If you’ve never heard of him, I pity you.

Charles Ray Wiggins (aka Raphael Saadiq) with “Heart Attack.” This is some nice retro soul with cool camera angles.

Black Joe Louis is in so heavy with Howlin’ Wolf influence that there’s nothing left to say. This is one of the best killer jams I’ve heard in years. Crank it.

Dang, so much stuff goin’ down in so little time. Have a great weekend folks, and see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – Séamus & Séamus, Séamus, Séamus; Shameless & It’s A Shame

Séamus Conolly & Séamus Begley.

Séamus Ennis, God of uilleann pipes.

Pink Floyd sucks at the blues, and there’s proof. Even I can play harp better than that, but Séamus The Dog makes it all worthwhile. But here’s the part that’s bizarre. (According to Wikipedia “Séamus the dog“ does not exist. Paging Mr. Schrödinger…)

Those should have been posted last weekend for St. Patrick’s Day, but they weren’t. Gotta go with something somewhat unrelated.

That’s a vid based on “The Luck You Got” by The High Strung which was a themesong to a cable TV show I’ve never seen called “Shameless.”

There you go. The Spinners‘ “It’s a Shame,” and that’s how we’re going to wrap up this edition of The Saturday Matinee. Have a great Séam-free weekend, folks, see you back here tomorrow.

Saturday Matinee – The Channels, Little Isidore, The Hooters, Aswad & SRV

Earl Lewis & The Channels in 1997. “The Closer You Are” was a regional hit in New York in 1956. (It was covered by Frank Zappa in 1984 who made it sound kinda creepy.)

Little Isadore & The Inquistors’ early R&B style is spot on. Can’t find much about LI, and maybe that’s a good thing. A googoyle search provides little, except that it lead me to Rob Hyman and a band I’d forgotten about.

Hyman was a founding member of The Hooters. I have one of their CDs, but I don’t remember what caught my ear aside from the eclectic sound. “Karla With a K” would have fit my playlist in the late 80’s.

Lessee, what else was I listening to back then? A wide variety, including these guys: