I still remember the speed with which we all took a hold of Jnr Walker whilst we at school, the RoadRunner single and this one, bought as singles when they came out and played incessantly at the local youth club in my village . . . . . . . . . here live on French TV!
Roadrunner the single!
Thursday, March 14, 2019
I missed getting this one when it came out over here but 'Road Runner' was huge for me and my preferred Jnr track that I bought from the ex-jukebox bins as a single but this was a stormer and not least for his unique signature style on the saxophone! Check the Willis' guitar! That IS SOUL!
On this day in music history: March 13, 1965 - “Shotgun” by Jr. Walker & The All-Stars hits #1 on the Billboard R&B singles chart for 4 weeks, also peaking at #4 on the Hot 100 on April 3, 1965. Written by Autry DeWalt, Jr. (aka Jr. Walker), it is the biggest hit for the saxophonist from Blytheville, AR. Walker cuts the song in Motown’s Studio A in late 1964 with his own band members Willie Woods and Victor Thomas, along with Funk Brothers bassist James Jamerson, drummer Benny Benjamin, percussionist Jack Ashford, keyboardist Earl Van Dyke and guitarist Eddie Willis. Willis kicks off the song, literally when he kicks the reverb unit on his guitar amplifier, providing the “shotgun” blast sound effect heard during the intro of the record. During the session, Walker records what he thinks is just a scratch vocal, intending to come back and re-record it when he returns home to Detroit from a tour. Berry Gordy likes Jr’s rough vocal so much that he releases it as is on January 14, 1965. Walker only discovers the record is out, when he hears it on the radio one day. Over the years, “Shotgun” is featured in a number of films including “Malcolm X”, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back”, and “Misery”. “Shotgun” is inducted into the Grammy Hall Of Fame in 2002.
Thursday, June 15, 2017
Of course like many I went through a voyage of discovery with much American music different genres and some I have stuck with and some have left me behind (R'n'B anyone?used to sound quite quite different!) and soul was no exception from Ray Charles through to Otis and Aretha to albums like 'This Is Soul' in 1968 (?) I loved that music and we had many dance parties at or around school that celebrated such dance hall classics as these but this included Jimmy Smith, Nina Simone too and 'Cool Jerk' and the Stax and Motown explosions and many many early Mod influenced soul boy musics. An early single release was this on Junior's birthday and 'Road Runner' was a double 'A' over here with 'How Sweet it is (Too Be Loved By You)' on the other side which I preferred, much like Otis' 'Amen' which had 'Hard To Handle' on the other side . . . . . . .
Born on this day: June 14, 1931 - Saxophonist and vocalist Jr. Walker (born Autry DeWalt Mixon, Jr. in Blytheville, AR). Happy Birthday to this Motown legend on what would have been his 86th Birthday.