Why Don't You Try Me

Are you familiar with the work of Ry Cooder? If not, here's your introduction to a man worth knowing.

Ry Cooder

Ry Cooder is one of those names I first noticed on one of those double-album promotional samplers that Warner Brothers used to sell for a whopping 2 bucks, back in the early 1970's. Known then and today as the "Loss Leaders" series, these records are now very popular with collectors. They were made back when Warners was quickly evolving from being the home of Petula Clark, Peter Paul & Mary, and The Everly Brothers, along with comedians like Allan Sherman and Bill Cosby during the 1960's to being darn near the hippest label in town by 1972. This was due to Warners having the vision and faith to sign talents in the rough with long term potential like Randy Newman, Alice Cooper, Frank Zappa, Van Morrison, Fleetwood Mac, and many others. In case you hadn't noticed, big record companies no longer operate this way. The days of career-building are long gone.

Although his records were usually enjoyable enough and Ry's slide guitar playing on the 1970 Mick Jagger single, "Memo From Turner" was great, I didn't pick up any of Ry's albums until 1979, when "Bop Til You Drop" was released. The album was mostly covers and a fairly safe introduction to Cooder's funkified, multi-genre collision of musical stylings. Plus, it sounded fantastic, as it was recorded beautifully. But the followup album, 1980's "Borderline" is the most essential Ry Cooder album. If you're gonna get just one, "Borderline" is the one to get. While I was in Germany during the mid-80's, Cooder released a best-of collection called "Why Don't You Try Me". The title track, which also appeared on "Borderline", is a Cooder classic. Ry Cooder has always had a knack for choosing great songs to cover that may have been underappreciated at the time of their original release. That is absolutely the case here. Dig Ry Cooder's reggae-fied take on what was a perfectly fine Soul single that should have been a huge national hit.

If you get a spare 2 hours in your busy life, you should watch the amazing documentary "Muscle Shoals", which is the story of Rick Hall, Fame Recording Studios, the numerous classic songs of Southern Soul music, and the musicians who played on those recordings. After watching that film, I was researching more of the music that came out of there, and found an import CD collection called "The Fame Studios Story". One of the tracks on the album was the original recording of "Why Don't You Try Me" by a duo known as Maurice & Mac.

Maurice McAllister and McLauren Green had both been members of Chicago-based vocal group The Radiants, who recorded for Chess Records from 1962 to 1969. The Radiants had a big hit with one of my all-time favorite Northern Soul shouters, "Hold On". McAllister had been the group's lead vocalist and songwriter, and Green had been with them briefly in 1962 before being drafted into the military. McAllister left the group in 1965, and after releasing a non-charting single as a solo artist, teamed up with Green again in 1967, this time as the duo Maurice & Mac, taking their cue from the great duo of Sam & Dave. Due to their history in The Radiants, they were signed to Chess Records subsidiary, Checker. The first Maurice & Mac single, "Why Don't You Try Me" b/w "So Much Love" went unnoticed by seemingly everyone except the parties involved with the recording! This was mostly due to an inexplicable lack of support from Chess. Their next single, "You Left The Water Running", was the closest thing they had to a hit, but it too, fell short of the Top 40, denying them their best shot at any real commercial success. Maurice & Mac released 3 more failed singles, but stuck with the music biz anyway until 1972, when they finally called it quits.

"Why Don't You Try Me" is available on the aforementioned album, "The Fame Studios Story 1961-1973". It's an excellent import anthology on the Ace/Kent label from the UK, who are well known for high quality reissues. Between Ace Records and the great German label, Bear Family, you could assemble a world class collection of early Rock 'n Roll, Blues, Country, and Soul music that would be better than anything that's available from any American record labels. There's something kinda wrong about that, but I'm glad the music is in print and available in high quality, even though import CD's are often not cheap. But I suppose you get what you pay for.

The fine, funky music of Ry Cooder is available at Amazon, as well as your local, well-stocked emporium of musical curiosities. There's even a very cool boxed set that was recently issued. It has 11 discs in it, and covers all of Ry's Warner Brothers releases from 1970 thru 1987. A relative bargain at under $38. Do the per-album math. But if you want just one album to represent Ry in your collection, then get yourself a copy of "Borderline", which is also newly available on 180 gram vinyl. It's a fine addition to your musical world.

In the interest of hipping you to another under-the-radar album that was freakin' great but didn't sell, do yourself a favor and pick up Ry Cooder's 1992 collaboration with Nick Lowe, John Hiatt and Jim Keltner that went by the name of "Little Village". It can had, used, for less than a cup of coffee and the buzz lasts a lot longer. It's also out on 180 gram vinyl for the first time ever. You can thank me later.

Don't forget to check out the fine documentary, "Muscle Shoals" on Netflix. Or, you could just pick up the Blu-Ray disc, which you may as well do, because I know you'll be watching this one more than once.

Betcha By Golly Wow

Famous 56, playing all the Boss hits, all the Boss time!

I am often pleasantly surprised when I discover that someone who I know is a fan of whatever variant of Rock music they enjoy, also happens to really enjoy some old school Soul. I find this happening most often among fans of well constructed Pop songs, which means they appreciate good songwriting; something that the Soul and Pop music of the 60's and 70's had in an almost unfair abundance.

I am also very grateful to have been born and raised near Philadelphia, where I got as diverse a musical education as it was possible to get. The local 'boss hit' AM radio stations of the mid to late 60's played The Turtles right next to Stevie Wonder, followed by Paul Revere & The Raiders and then some Northern Soul on a local indie label. It was all wonderful. Check out this weekly hit singles chart from August of 1967 for a snapshot of the musical times. (Click on the chart to expand.) We haven't seen this sort of variety in radio programming since then.

During the years of the Nixon presidency from 1968 through 1974, we were fortunate to witness the arrival of some of the greatest, and most musically diverse Pop, Soul and Rock music ever made. That was just about all we had going for us then, what with our soldiers still being needlessly killed in Vietnam, and Tricky Dick hunkered down in the White House like a gin-crazed badger. Weird times, indeed.

There should be no argument that Detroit provided us with great Soul music that was 'The Sound Of Young America' during the 60's. But come the 1970's, the muse, feeling maybe a bit more grown up, turned its attention east to Philadelphia. With that move came a resurgence of vocal groups, often featuring a tenor lead. For me, that door was kicked open by The Delfonics' "La-La Means I Love You", whose opening drum break has been sampled as much as anything by James Brown. There was also "Cowboys To Girls" by The Intruders, which I loved for its raw sound, despite the orchestration and vocal harmony. But the best was yet to come.

Their 1971 debut album had 5 Top 10 singles on it!

Some of the sweetest Soul music ever recorded was made by The Stylistics, and that's primarily because their hit records were a high water mark for the songwriting and arranging talents of Thom Bell and Linda Creed. The Stylistics proved to be one of the most successful soul groups of the first half of the 1970's. The group had 12 consecutive Top 10 hits in the US, including "Stop, Look, Listen", "You Are Everything", "You Make Me Feel Brand New", "I'm Stone In Love With You", "Break Up To Make Up", and today's featured song, "Betcha By Golly Wow".

An earlier draft of the song had been recorded in 1970 for the Bell label by actress Connie Stevens, as "Keep Growing Strong". But a slight rewrite and a new arrangement got The Stylistics to #3 in March of 1972. This, my friends, is songwriting at its apex. Dig this 4 minute work of indisputably soulful art.

Many have attempted to cover "Betcha By Golly Wow" since, with wildly mixed results. That roster includes Grant Green, Ramsey Lewis, Freddie Hubbard, Tuck Andress, Dionne Warwick, Johnny Mathis, Phyllis Hyman, Smokey Robinson, Aaron Neville, and Pat Metheny. Parts of the song were sampled for recordings by Mariah Carey and Busta Rhymes. But this tune has proved to be one of those that will not bend to reimagining easily. The definitive rendition was the Stylistics' hit. So the only thing left to do is to let the song be as it is, and ask it to dance. There was no one more suited to that assignment than His Purple Badness himself, Prince.

Prince, in the 90's

The work of The Stylistics, along with the Philly Sound in general, proved to be very influential to the generations of singers and songwriters that followed, and Prince is a major example of that. Despite his eccentricities, he is an unmatched talent as a composer, arranger, producer, vocalist, and multi-faceted musician. The term 'musical genius' is insultingly insufficient when discussing Prince. He's in his own league.

The 90's proved to be a prolific time for Prince. We got to hear a lot of what many fans still consider to be some of his very best work. Up until 1996, Prince's album releases had been tightly controlled by a constipating contract with Warner Brothers, which severely limited what he could put out at any one time. This created an enormous backlog of material, which Prince began releasing as soon as he was freed from that contract. His celebration of this release, the monumental 1996 album, "Emancipation", was a bursting dam of new music in a 3 CD set that also contained no less than 6 cover versions. These tracks not only fit right in with the album, but were also songs that Prince had been wanting to record, but was contractually prohibited from doing so. Prince said at the time that the Warner contract stipulated that they would only release Prince's original material.

Prince's version of "Betcha By Golly Wow" was released as a single on November 19th; the 23rd birthday of his then-wife, Mayte Garcia. The next day, Prince performed the song on The Oprah Winfrey Show. The single charted fairly well in the US, getting to #31, and just missed the Top 10 on the UK Singles chart, peaking at #11. Again, I have a feeling that the song was one of those that would not easily yield to just anyone. But what song could resist being seduced by Prince? It obvious that he loved the song, as he writes in the album's booklet, "Maybe, the prettiest melody ever written... manyacherryburst...". Somehow, I don't think he's referring to a Les Paul paint job there.

About 90% of the recorded output of Prince is currently available at a reasonable price. There are some out of print titles from the 90's that are now commanding collectors' premiums. Avid Prince collectors certainly have plenty to look for to jeopardize their wallets. But some titles, like "Emancipation", are now more affordable new than used. However, that could soon change.

This past April, Prince and Warner Brothers decided to kiss and make friends again, ending a long and often bitter feud. A deluxe reissue of "Purple Rain" has already been announced, with others likely to follow. Prince will also secure the return of ownership of all of his Warner master recordings, which a huge bone of contention in the 90's. But, he would soon have the ability to get them back under the Copyright Revision Act of 1976, which states that any master recording copyright can be terminated 35 years after it was granted. The law went into effect in 1978, which happens to be the same year that Prince's first album came out. Since all of his albums are due to come back to him fairly soon anyway, that means there must be a better reason than that to do the deal.

I think it's because the years haven't been that great to Prince financially. For a major artist, Prince hasn't sold all that well since he went indie. According to Soundscan numbers posted by Billboard, he has sold 18.5 million albums in the United States since 1991, but 14.3 million of those were with Warners. These days, much of an artist's income comes from touring and merchandise sales, and the fact remains that he hasn't had a really huge blockbuster tour in a long time. Touring has become incredibly expensive to do, and that's reflected in the horrific ticket pricing of recent years. There’s nothing like a large cash infusion from a deal with a major label, even if it is an old nemesis, which was probably a good enough reason in itself to make peace with the past. They can make a lot more money working together than they can apart. If that doesn't justify burying the hatchet, nothing will.

Regarding The Stylistics, their hits can be found on any number of Philly Soul box sets and Best-Of's under their own name. I will recommend this fine reissue of their debut album from 1971, and also this excellent import anthology, if you want a more thorough overview. Both are great choices.

Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood

I recall this single being played a lot, like non-stop.

One of my earliest memories of British Invasion music came from the rare visits my parents would make to see friends of theirs that they knew from their military days of the 1940's. This would have been late 1965 or thereabouts, so I would have been about 7 or 8 years old. These folks had a large home near Wilmington, Delaware and had one boy who was my age, but also a couple of other kids in their teens. There was music in the house constantly, mostly due to the teen kids playing their records nearly all day and well into the evenings.

I was already familiar with The Beatles by then, but this was my first exposure to other British bands like The Rolling Stones, Herman's Hermits, The Dave Clark Five, The Yardbirds, The Hollies and The Animals. There were also records by American groups like The Byrds, Peter Paul & Mary, and others. I don't recall hearing Dylan then, but I'm sure they had at least one of his records. Nonetheless, the electrifying sound of The Beatles was made even more potent when mixed with the other new music that was out then. To my young ears, the blend was nothing short of intoxicating.

I did get yelled at one night when I was discovered sitting on the stairs, well after my bedtime, listening to the records playing while the older kids were hanging out with their friends! They likely thought I was eavesdropping on them, but I was just sitting there, soaking all that music in, because all of it was amazing to me. I didn't care what those teens were doing in the least. I was completely hooked on the music and there was no turning back. Some time later, when my Dad said to me one day, "Can't you listen to anything besides those damn Beatles?", I had some idea of where to turn, thanks to those Delaware teenagers. My music collection has grown ever since that day.

The US edition of "Animal Tracks".

There's a perceptible difference between bands like The Beatles and The Hollies, who had a lighter, more resonant vocal quality, and the likes of The Rolling Stones and The Animals, who were informed by a deeper, more blues-based sound. It was no less powerful, mind you, just different. As we know now, both camps were actively selling our own American music back to us. It was just filtered through youth, caucasian faces, and the novelty of being English. Not that we minded or were even aware of any of that back then.

The Animals in particular, were a favorite of the boys of that house in Delaware, perhaps indirectly due to the girls liking The Beatles and Herman's Hermits so much. I liked The Animals myself, although I found their repeated playings of the "House Of The Rising Sun" single to be a downer. Too much of anything, I suppose. But their other singles like "We Gotta Get Out Of This Place", and today's featured song, "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood", were fine by me. The Animals certainly had developed their own identifiable style rather early on, which became an essential element for success, considering that the crowd of new British bands was growing thicker by the month.

This is a bold and personal song of heartfelt emotion with a notedly darker shading; not at all your standard 'I love you love me' tripe. Eric Burdon was sort of the anti-Herman, wasn't he?

What we didn't know was that the song was right in line with The Animals' established habit of recording cover songs. Although most of their album tracks were primarily R&B and traditional Blues, their singles were often Brill Building songs, written to order at the behest of their producer, Mickie Most, who also had Herman's Hermits under his wing. What I didn't know until very recently was that The Animals' version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was a rearranged cover of a song originally recorded by legendary Jazz/Blues chanteuse, Nina Simone.

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" first appeared on Nina's 1964 album, "Broadway - Blues - Ballads".  The song was written by Bennie Benjamin and Sol Marcus. Arranger and Conductor Horace Ott co-wrote this song, but had his work credited to his wife's name, Gloria Caldwell, due to his being a BMI songwriter. Benjamin and Marcus were contracted to ASCAP and were not permitted to collaborate with BMI writers, so Ott gave his credit away to get around that rule. (I do hope that Ott and his wife were close.) The song was written specifically for Nina, and her performance carried a subtext that subtly referenced the Civil Rights movement, which was a prominent subject for Simone at the time. The lyric is also a plea that the singer not be judged on who or what they are, which would prove most relevant to another version done some 40 years later. "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" was released as a single in 1964, but remarkably, it failed to even make the charts! How The Animals got into Nina Simone's music, I don't know, but I'm glad they did.

As a digression, I find it both interesting and coincidental that Nina Simone had also recorded the most recent version of "House Of The Rising Sun" before The Animals got to it. The song appeared on her 1962 album, "Nina At The Village Gate". But Simone was by no means the first to record that song, as it had been performed numerous times prior by the likes of Bob Dylan, Woody Guthrie, Glenn Yarbrough, Josh White, Frankie Laine, Joan Baez, Miriam Makeba, and even Andy Griffith. The psychedelic grunge of Frijid Pink's recording simply expanded on The Animals' version, although it did so in a mighty fashion. And all that's just in the modern era. The origin of "House Of The Rising Sun" is traceable back to 18th century tavern songs! But that's another lengthy conversation.

The 1977 Latin-Disco arrangement of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" by Santa Esmeralda is notable, as it was a #1 hit as a 12" club remix, despite its 16 minute length. A heavily edited version was released as a pop single late in the year, and it did well, reaching #15 on the Billboard Hot 100 by early 1978. NBC Sports would use the song often, especially during their coverage of the World Series. The Santa Esmeralda recording was also featured in Quentin Tarantino's film, "Kill Bill, Vol. 1". It's heard when the instrumental section of the song plays over the duel between The Bride and O-Ren Ishii.

"Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" has since been rendered on record by Elvis Costello, Joe Cocker, The Killers, Cyndi Lauper, The Moody Blues, Lou Rawls, John Legend, and many others. But there's one other version of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" that stands out for me, as it has some honest personal depth to it, as the songwriters intended, and that is the more recent recording by Yusuf Islam, whom you know better as Cat Stevens.

Yusuf Islam, the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens

The Majikat included the song on his 2006 album, "An Other Cup", which was regarded as something of a comeback, although the album was released under his adopted name of Yusuf. Until then, his last recording was "Back To Earth", which was released back when Santa Esmeralda was climbing the Pop charts in 1978.

Yusuf's rendition of "Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood" carries quite a bit of personal resonance. For some years following the events of September 11, 2001, Yusuf found himself the subject of intense scrutiny by US Homeland Security, despite his numerous verbal and written condemnations of terrorist activities and charitable contributions to funds for victims' families. It was terrific fodder for late-night comedians, as the idea of Cat Stevens being considered any sort of threat was widely ridiculed. In December of 2006, Yusuf was finally admitted into the United States for several radio concert performances and interviews to promote his new record. Yusuf said of the incident at the time, "No reason was ever given, but being asked to repeat the spelling of my name again and again, made me think it was a fairly simple mistake of identity. Rumors which circulated after made me imagine otherwise." Having been put through all that, I'm not a bit surprised that Yusuf would be able to personalize this song, while concurrently returning the arrangement to something more akin to Nina Simone's recording.

Nearly everything ever released by Cat Stevens, either before or after his name change, is available at Amazon, most big box stores, and most likely, your local, musically responsible, indie record shop. If you aren't yet familiar, or haven't heard them in years, I will recommend both of the most recent remasters of his classic albums, "Teaser & The Firecat" and "Tea For The Tillerman". The latter has just been issued as an exquisite 200 gram vinyl edition, cut directly from the master reels, which seems to be a textbook example of just how well records can be made nowadays, as illustrated by this video. As Spock would say, "Fascinating..."

While you're shopping, wherever you happen to doing that, you can also find a ton of releases by Nina Simone, and The Animals as well. It's easy to get overwhelmed by the sheer number of releases that are available for each of them, so a good anthology is always the best place to begin. I'd go with this one for Nina, but know that she is an artist well worth exploring further, so consider this an introduction.

As for The Animals, just like with Nina, you can go big or go basic, but this one is far and away the best single disc overview of The Animals that you're gonna find. It goes from the very beginning, through the psychedelia, all the way to "Spill The Wine". Every important single is included, and it's affordable. An essential addition for any British Invasion collection.

Oh, and if you're jonesin' for that Santa Esmeralda track, a 10 minute version is on the soundtrack for "Kill Bill", which has lots of other neat stuff on it that makes it worth having. You may as well pick up the double feature movie on Blu-Ray while you're at it. It's crazy violent, but if you dig well-made martial arts revenge flicks, then it's pretty darn cool!

Just A Little Lovin'

The next time you're out in the stores looking for some new music and you feel you'd like to add something timeless to your CD or vinyl shelf, try the landmark 1969 album by Dusty Springfield, "Dusty In Memphis". Although its current status as a classic of white Soul and possibly, the definitive Dusty Springfield recording is indisputable, the album didn't do well on either side of the Atlantic when it was released, despite a successful single, effectively sticking a fork in Dusty's career. She would not have another hit until well into the 1980's when she joined up with the Pet Shop Boys for their single, "What Have I Done To Deserve This?". It was as if Dusty was asking that question herself.

The introduction of Southern Soul provided a near-total makeover of her well established, heavily orchestrated British Pop sound. Recorded in 1968, just five years after Springfield debuted on the British charts with "I Only Want To Be With You", this album is the sound of a 29 year old star on an early career fade, finding a new voice that was more true to herself. Dusty's appropriately titled previous album, "Where Am I Going?", had not been a hit, and she found herself being edged into the Easy Listening market. So she signed on with Atlantic Records, but with the provision that Jerry Wexler, Atlantic's Vice President and the man who may have coined the term 'Rhythm and Blues', would produce her next album. Dusty's contract named Wexler as a 'key man', meaning that if Wexler declined to produce the album, the deal was off. But Wexler was excited about the project and quickly agreed, unaware of the amount of work he was in for.

Dusty with Jerry Wexler, 1968

Wexler played Springfield nearly 80 acetates he'd compiled. She rejected all but two: "Just A Little Lovin'" and "Son Of A Preacher Man". A few weeks later, Wexler presented Springfield with a fresh batch of 20 songs. She loved every one. Oddly, Dusty didn't seem to catch that each of these 20 songs had been in the lot she'd previously rejected. But in her favor, there is such a thing as having too much to choose from; where everything becomes a blur and it's impossible to make solid decisions.

As it turned out, none of the "Dusty In Memphis" vocals were actually recorded in Memphis. Dusty was used to arriving at a studio to find the backing tracks already recorded. But in Memphis, she found herself recording in Wilson Pickett's vocal booth with Aretha Franklin's musicians right there in the room. An obsessive Soul fan herself, Springfield should have felt like a newly welcomed peer, but she hated it and had difficulty getting good vocal takes. Wexler felt she had a "gigantic inferiority complex". So the production moved to a New York studio with just Wexler, along with Tom Dowd and Arif Mardin present. Dusty would then insist on having so much of the backing track in her headphones that she could not hear her own vocals; a remarkable sign of her own insecurity and lack of self-confidence. But Dusty herself said "I had never recorded with just a rhythm track. I'm a shy singer; perhaps you might say, a reluctant singer, at the best of times. It takes a lot to get it out of me because of my studio nerves. I was treated with the utmost patience, kindness and care by Jerry, Tom and Arif through it all, even though they must have thought I was some kind of madwoman."

The album eventually limped to #99 on the US album charts, and never broke into the British Top 40. Only one single was issued, but what a great one: "Son Of A Preacher Man", backed with today's featured song, "Just A Little Lovin'" on the B-side. The single became an international hit, reaching #10 in the United States, and #9 in England.

The picture sleeve for the US single.

Jerry Wexler had this to say about "Dusty In Memphis": "The album wasn't totally ignored when it was released, but it certainly never came close to achieving the prominence with which time has imbued it. Of course, we had the good fortune to have a hit single, 'Son Of A Preacher Man', which gave it a little extra life and the chance to percolate over the years. Gradually the album came to the forefront to be regarded as a seminal record. Now, you couldn't kill it with a stick! Does it sound retro? No, not at all, it's very crisp. The rhythm tracks are beyond category or temporal marking. They were the very best of Southern Soul, so just like the original Aretha Franklin and Wilson Pickett tracks, they sound as good now as they did back then. How did Dusty compare with other artists? Oh my God! Read my memoirs!"

One very good thing did develop out of the sessions in Memphis. In November of 1968, Springfield casually suggested to Wexler that he might be interested in a newly formed band from England named Led Zeppelin. She knew their bassist, John Paul Jones, from his session work on her earlier albums. Without ever having seen them and mostly on her advice, Wexler eventually signed Led Zeppelin to a $200,000 deal with Atlantic, which, at the time, was a huge sum for a new band. That's the sort of trust between artist and management that you just don't see anymore.

Over the years, we've seen quite a few projects that go to the trouble of re-recording an entire classic album as a tribute of sorts. Most recently, there was the collaboration of Norah Jones and Billie Joe Armstrong of Green Day that gave us "Foreverly", a near-perfect recreation of the Everly Brothers album, "Songs Our Daddy Taught Us". But sometimes, the best form of tribute to the repertoire or sound of an artist who influenced your own work is to abandon any attempt to replicate that music and simply filter that influence through yourself. That is the mark of a performer who is an artist in their own right.

Shelby Lynne is one of those artists. Although the album cover of "Just A Little Lovin'" clearly states that the project was 'inspired by Dusty Springfield', this is no overwrought attempt at equaling or duplicating Dusty's recordings. That would be like trying to fake Soul. It can't be done. It's there or it isn't. On this album, Lynne places her own mark on the Dusty Springfield songs she loves in a way that is not only musical, but is also intended to be listened to actively. It asks and deserves your full attention.

It's one thing to throw a CD on while you're doing whatever around the house, just to have some music on. But if you take the time to focus and really listen to this presentation, you will find yourself being rewarded by one of the best sounding albums of the past several years. I mean, this album sounds absolutely terrific! One glance at the CD jacket told me why, in two sentences: Produced by Phil Ramone; Recorded and Mixed by Al Schmitt. These two guys have four of the very best ears in the music business. Never mind the top flight studio cats playing on this recording. They're all great on their own, but Ramone and Schmitt know how to get truly outstanding performances out of everyone involved. Here's one brief review: "She's enough of a talent to serve up nine of Dusty's songs (plus one original) with reverence rather than mimicry, while avoiding the obvious. But the hook is the sound; it ranks with any audiophile LP you can name." Ken Kessler, Hi-Fi News, September 2012.

Listen to Shelby Lynne's seductive take on "Just A Little Lovin'". Those of you with really good speaker systems connected to your computers will be alright, but for those of you on laptops, I will recommend headphones. Just... listen. The space in this arrangement is just as important as the notes. It's so worth the 5 minutes.

"Just A Little Lovin'", or any of the other albums made by Shelby Lynne over the last 20-odd years are available at A-Mart, or your local independent emporium of musical delights. The CD sounds great, but I will give my highest possible recommendation that those of you who enjoy vinyl should avail yourself of the 200 gram pressing from QRP that's out now. Apparently, there were serious distortion issues with the original Lost Highway vinyl release that have now been corrected on the 200 gram edition.

"Dusty In Memphis" will likely never go entirely out of print. There's a perfectly serviceable 11 song edition that's available everywhere for cheap. The Rhino Deluxe edition from 1999 that has a whopping 14 bonus tracks from the Memphis/New York sessions on it that does appear to be out of print and climbing price-wise, but I'd bet you can find it locally, new or used, for a fair fee, like under $15. High quality vinyl is available too. There's also an excellent "Very Best Of..." CD out there that has all of Dusty's earlier hits.

Chaille Percival as Diane Dane

One more thing. Some of you sharp-eared Pop culture junkies who are fans of the movie "That Thing You Do" (like we are) will recognize the character of Play-Tone singer Diane Dane as a sketch of a pre-Memphis Dusty Springfield. Dane appears to be on the downside of her run on the charts and is portrayed as an aging near has-been. Even her featured song in the movie is titled "My World Is Over", which mimics the lush orchestrated sound of Dusty's early hits. So, I find it interesting that on the website of actress Chaille Percival, who played Diane Dane in the movie, it says that the character was modeled on singer-songwriter Jackie DeShannon. I'm not buying that. But if it's true, then my guess is that the production couldn't get clearance from Dusty, or her management, regarding the portrayal, and erring on the side of avoiding legal difficulties, took the official line that DeShannon was the inspiration. But that's just a guess. Only Tom Hanks knows for sure, and I'll bet he's not saying. Does anyone out there know different?