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Wednesday 15 August 2018

Eddie Kirkland - The Way It Was























Side 1:
01. Down On My Knees
02. Don't Take My Heart
03. Daddy Please Don't Cry
04. Have Mercy On Me
05. Saturday Night Stomp
06. I'm Gonna Forget You

Side 2:
01. I Tried
02. Man Of Stone
03. I'm Going To Keep Loving You
04. Train Done Gone
05. Something's Wrong In My Life
06. Baby You Know It's True






This 1983 Red Lightnin' LP is a reissue of the 1962 Tru-Sound LP "It's The Blues Man!" Tru-Sound was a subsidiary of Prestige so perhaps unusually for a Detroit bluesman of the time, Eddie's LP was recorded in true stereo in a first class studio. The backing band was led by King Curtis and included the great R&B guitarist Billy Butler (of Bill Doggett Combo fame). Eddie's style had developed in Detroit as a member of John Lee Hooker's band with which he recorded for Chess and Modern in the early 1950s.

 True-Sound 15010

Eddie had singles under his own name issued on RPM, King, Cobra and Fortune during the '50s, all in a basic electric blues style, so the coming together of Eddie with the King Curtis led outfit could have led to a clash of styles, but the results proved to be very good indeed.

Recording Details

I Tried; Man Of Stone; Train Done Gone; I'm Going To Keep Loving You; Something's Gone Wrong In My Life; Baby You Know It's True - recorded in Englefield, New Jersey, December 8th, 1961.

Personnel: Eddie Kirkland (vocal, harmonica, guitar) with - King Curtis, Oliver Nelson (tenor saxes); Herman Foster (piano); Billy Butler (guitar); Jimmy Lewis (bass guitar); Ray Lucas (drums).

Saturday Night Stomp; I'm Gonna Forget You; Down On My Knees; Don't Take My Heart; Daddy Please Don't Cry; Have Mercy On Me - recorded in Englefield, New Jersey, March 9th, 1962.

Personnel: as above but George Stubbs replaces Herman Foster on piano. Elise Shoulder second vocal on "Daddy Please Don't Cry."

Hines Farm Blues Club, Toledo, Ohio

The above photo is from the book "I'll Take You There ... an oral and photographic history of the Hines Farm Blues Club" by Matthew A. Donahue, Jive Bomb Press, 1999.

For much more info and the complete 1950s and 1960s Eddie Kirkland output see Gerard Herzhaft's blog Blue Eye here -


The links are now dead, alas, but perhaps if we all ask nicely, Uncle Gerard may be able to provide new links.

Update - there are now 2 links in the comments on Gerard's Eddie Kirkland post.

4 comments:

george said...

Very nice post!
Many thanks, boogiewoody.

The Jackal said...

Thanks Woodie,

Very informative, What a session, the calibre of the personnel is very high and I never knew how interwoven these musicians were, or how wide their footprints were.

Gerard Herzhaft said...

This is certainly the very best Eddie Kirkland album although his Trixs' are also quite good. Too bad this great artist didn't record anymore during the 60's when he was at the peak of his considerable talents

boogiewoody said...

Thanks for commenting, folks. Gerard - I should have had a look at your blog while writing this post. Eddie is just the kind of artist you feature on Blue Eye. I've now linked to your post on Eddie Kirkland. Any chance of a re-up?

BW