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Programa #130 – R&B


So, I am compelled to bring up the topic of nicknames within the world of R&B and blues music (T-Bone and Gatemouth?). Guitar Slim must have cut a trim figure – unlike Fats Domino or Two-Ton Baker – and I say more power to the man. Though what might be conjectured as a healthy lifestyle didn’t stop him from dying of pneumonia at age 32. In this playlist we also get a chance to hear what Li’l Bob was putting down, regardless of his physical stature. There’s lots of “Littles” out there, no? Walter, Milton, Brother Montgomery, etc., along with Big Mama,

Barbecue Bob, Bumblebee Slim, Cripple Clarence, Speckled Red. We’ve also got Dyke (& the Blazers) but I’m not going there. Did I mention their song title of “Stuff” wins the post-modernist critics’ award for fulsome ambiguity? Most of these tags were terms of endearment, I imagine, but I have to wonder just how short Willie Walker needed to be to warrant the “Wee”? 5’ 2” according to the historic record, though Wikipedia doesn’t offer whether or not he chafed under the imposition. Still, the fact that he’s even in this conversation means he surpassed any potential limitations and went on to a modicum of fame as a singer over the course of many years (while working a second job as a machinist or healthcare worker). You’d think that by starting off with James Brown this program was delivering all the hits from all the stars, but you’d be wrong. Sure, we’ve got Etta James, Irma Thomas, Don Covay and a handful of other better-knowns, but obscurity was my guide this time, whether in selecting artists or the song choices. Hopefully this will prompt my faithful listeners to go forth and seek out the Wee Willies, L’il Bobs and Fugis of the R&B pantheon and their musical legacies.

Runlist - Al compás del mundo - programa #130, R&B
First broadcast 5-30-24 

 01 James Brown - Let Yourself Go

02 Li'l Bob and the Lollipops – Stop

03 Junior Gordon - Call the Doctor

04 Lee Dorsey - Everything I Do Gon’ Be Funky (From Now On)

05 Wee Willie Walker - Read Between the Lines

06 Irma Thomas - Somewhere Crying

07 Spencer Wiggins - Lonely Man

08 The Experts - Wake Me When It’s Over

09 Dyke & The Blazers – Stuff

10 Ann Sexton - It's All Over but the Shouting

11 Scott Brothers Orchestra - A Hunk o' Funk

12 Guitar Slim - Sufferin' Mind

13 O. V. Wright - Henpecked Man

14 Thelma Jones - The House that Jack Built

15 Etta James - I Worship the Ground You Walk On

16 Don and Dee Dee - I Can't Stand It

17 Don Covay - Sookie, Sookie

18 Veniece – Stepchild

19 Clarence Reid - I Refuse to Give Up

20 Fugi - Mary, Don´t Take Me on No Bad Trip



 


 

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