We'll start the week with some snap, crackle and soul courtesy of the late Roscoe Shelton, who left us twenty years ago last month.
Roscoe started his career with the Fairfield Four in the mid to late 1950s before releasing his first solo record in 1960. He packed it in at the end of that decade before making a bit of a comeback in the mid 1990s, one that was sadly cut short by his death from cancer at the age of 70.
"Mastermind" - Roscoe Shelton
"I Want To Keep You (If You Want To Stay)" - Roscoe Shelton
Here is Roscoe in a 1966 edition of The !!!! Beat singing "Money" and his minor hit "Easy Going Fellow". He arrives 13 minutes in but if you show a bit of patience you can enjoy the likes of Esther Phillips, Etta James and Clarence 'Gatemouth' Brown while you wait.
How did they pronounce that show????
ReplyDeleteAssuming Bill 'Hoss' Allen's introduction at 0:47 is definitive both the "The" and the exclamation marks are silent
DeleteGreat stuff, Ernie. I enjoyed the Roscoe Shelton songs a lot but The !!!! Beat was a real treat.
ReplyDeleteI ended up watching from start to finish and the free-for-all "family style" version of What'd I Say at the end is great, although Hoss calling Etta James a hog should have earned a kick in the arse.
And I assume the guitar player's cut out during his line wasn't because he was threatening to do something unspeakable in Arkansas...?
Its a great show isn't it? You can find loads more episodes at https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCsKMPJ5z32R80ruJopRERDg. I am slowly working my way through them.
DeleteIn Hoss's defence I think he was only accusing Etta of hogging the microphone.
DeleteThe surprising thing for me was how tiny Esther Phillips was. I knew she was known as Little Esther at the start of her career but I had always assumed that was because of her age - maybe not.
The guitar player is the great Gatemouth Brown. I was lucky enough to see him headline a show in Knoxville back in the late 1990s. He's a great performer and perfectly capable of doing unspeakable things in Arkansas.
I'm glad Etta got the two verses in though, she was fabulous!
DeleteI know what you mean about Esther Phillips. I think the "Little" prefix was age-related. No question that it didn't refer to her voice, which is HUGE.
I missed the intro to Gatemouth Brown so I didn't realise that was him. That must have been some gig.
Thanks for the link, I will be checking out more of The !!!! Beat for sure.