Little Willie John

Usha stirs up a select crowd

Hindu (Free subscription) | 07/20/2008

She is as youthful as she used to be

(She Gave Us) Fever

Power Line (Free subscription) | 05/27/2008

Today is the anniversary of the birth of Peggy Lee . Born Norma Deloris Egstrom, Lee had an improbably winding path to success from her hometown of Jamestown, North Dakota, to Fargo (where WDAY's Ken Kennedy gave her the name that stuck), to Minneapolis, St. Louis, and Chicago, where she was discovered by Benny Goodman at the moment he needed a replacement for Helen Forrest. In between St....

Little Willie John - You Hurt Me (King 5428)

the "B" side (Free subscription) | 05/23/2008

You Hurt Me LITTLE WILLIE JOHN 1937-1968 Memorial day will mark the fortieth anniversary of Little Willie John 's death. One of the true progenitors of Soul, I don't think he gets nearly enough recognition. Born in Arkansas, he was raised in Detroit, where he and his brothers and sisters grew up singing spirituals accompanied by their mother Lillie on the guitar. The family formed a group called the...

iVoryTowerz Radio: Nu & Neo

iVoryTowerz (Free subscription) | 04/18/2008

What's the distance between nu metal and neo-soul? Not as far as you might think, and this edition of the underground podcast travels that ground in just over an hour, with plenty of stops in between. As usual, this program reaches into the vault: this time to cover more than 50 years of soul, blues, new wave, plus a heavy dose of new music. There's plenty of passionate music here, so please enjoy!...

3 QUEENS

Soul Sides (Free subscription) | 01/16/2008

Candi Staton: Too Hurt To Cry From Stand By Your Man (Fame, 1971). Also on Candi Staton: The Fame Years . Holly Golightly: My Love Is From Slowly But Surely (Damaged Goods/Revolver, 2004) Amy Winehouse: Love Is A Losing Game (Truth and Soul Remix) From 12" (Universal, 2007) I talked about Candi Staton's Fame output the other month and that got me back into listening more of her songs and came upon...

Piano Bar Playlist, One for My Baby

Lynn Sweet (Free subscription) | 01/10/2008

12:30 p.m. Jan. 10, 2008---- After our last union meeting I ran into my friend Tony at the Matchbox. I had to go to the Matchbox. Tony told me about his drummer who was stuck for nine hours in...

Give Wah Diddy Some

Diddy Wah (Free subscription) | 12/06/2007

No tune is too big and no tune is too small, for the Diddy Wahcast. There are some real heavy weights featured this episode, it's hard to believe it clocks in under 40 minutes. A more appropriate length of time to fit in all these massive records would be 15 weeks but even Steve Jobs' iPod wouldn't hold that. Perhaps it has something to do with the way the files are compressed that I managed to squeeze...

by brujo #9

Time Has Told Me (Free subscription) | 11/16/2007

Tom Russell " Hotwalker " 2005 brujo said... Hi here is one from Tom Russell you may enjoy (Hot Walker) Songwriter Tom Russell has long been possessed by the ghosts and places of history, big and small, from William Faulkner and outlaw Claude Dallas to Jack Johnson, Little Willie John and Bill Haley , from Manzanar to Begenfield. There are also dozens of nameless, faceless denizens barely hanging...

The Institute for Truth, Justice, America, Sunshine, and Puppies Presents Michigan vs. Ohio, Round 1: Music

iLounge (Free subscription) | 11/15/2007

Music uplifts, inspires, commiserates, and comforts. In fact, the ability to create -- and enjoy -- music is one of the supreme marks of our humanity, setting us firmly in a special place above the rest of the animal kingdom. Music has charms to soothe a savage breast. If music be the food of love, play on. Let's face the music and dance. Blah blah blah high-toned introduction blah blah blah.Anyway,...

1937 - Little Willie John, the expressive R&B vocalist...

VH1 (Free subscription) | 11/15/2007

Johnny with the Gentle Hands

Crud Crud (Free subscription) | 10/27/2007

Wini Brown Johnny with the Gentle Hands 45 (Jaro International, 1959) Another short entry here. Wini Brown was a singer who bridged the gap between R&B and jazz. Her recording debut was with National Records in 1949. After that she record for a variety labels, toured with The Ravens and other vocal groups, and fronted the bands of Earl Bostic, Cootie Williams, and Lionel Hampton. Though she had a...

As Ernie would say, let's play two

AM, Then FM (Free subscription) | 09/29/2007

Somewhere, The Skip is happy. His beloved Chicago Cubs have backed into won the National League Central title. We have watched the Cubs and our once-beloved Milwaukee Brewers stagger down the stretch, neither seemingly capable of clinching in a timely manner. However, the Cubs took care of business on Friday night, while the probably-a-year-too-young Brewers — as [...]

DRIPPING HONEY

Metro Times Music Blahg (Free subscription) | 09/19/2007

John Sayles has long been one of America’s greatest film directors and screenwriters – we’ve believed this ever since he made the wonderful Baby, It's You in the early ‘80s – and his latest, Honeydripper, which debuts this week at the Toronto Film Festival , has a small Detroit connection via one of its cast members. Set in 1950 rural Alabama, the new film celebrates the region's juke joint culture...

Canadian Idol Welcomes Paul Anka for Top Four

andPOP.com News (Free subscription) | 08/28/2007

"Canada's original Idol," as host Ben Mulroney called guest mentor Paul Anka coached the top four this week in the standards week.

Hard Head

Crud Crud (Free subscription) | 05/25/2007

Jon Thomas Hard Head Pt 1 & 2 45 (Mercury, 1957) Here is an absolute stunner of a single: Jon Thomas's Head Head. My info on Thomas is sketchy. He played a Hammond B3 organ, I know that. He might or might not have been from St Louis. Is he the same Jon Thomas who sang the soul classic Heartbreat (It's Hurtin' Me), a 1960 song made into a hit by the unfathomably great singer Little Willie John? I don't...