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

The Way It Was (Mega)

The Way It Was (Zippy)

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 -

Eddie Kirkland: Detroit Blues Masters

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.

Gum Shoe - Sonny Thompson

This post is by way of a preview of the latest updated post - the Sonny Thompson LP "Cat on the Keys" which was originally posted back in September 2007. I have included new scans of the LP artwork, plus a folder of Joan's scans of Sonny Thompson EPs and singles. There has also been an extensive rewrite of the post which you can find here.

The featured track on this post, "Gum Shoe," was recorded in 1956 and features blistering sax work by King Curtis. For a resume of Sonny's career swing on over to "Cat on the Keys."

My thanks to Joan for the label scan of the original 45rpm release of  "Gum Shoe."

Listen to Sonny Thompson's "Gum Shoe" here: