Cut of the Week: The Grips-Tennessee Strut B/w Fancy Roll

How do you start a label in this day and age?  With two guys and a whole lotta soul.  G.E.D. Soul Records is the Soul child of Drummer/Engineer Nick DeVan and Bassist/Drummer Dave Singleton, two of the funkiest mothers you've ever met.

Back in tha day, (tha day being 2007) Both Nick and Dave where needing to put out some harder soul than what they had been playing in other bands. Both musicians have played in the soulful Sky Hi outfit, Dave taking over drumming duties from Nick, but felt that what they were writing needed to be put out elsewhere.  Thus came the formation of G.E.D. Soul

Their first release under the label was under the name The Grips, a band formed specifically for the 45, consisting of Nick on drums, Dave on bass, the amazing DeRobert Adams on Vocals, and a collection of friends and acquaintances from around the Murfreesboro and Nashville area backing them up, much as the case is for the DeRobert and the Half Truth's and the upcoming Magic and Threes release.  The soul hits hard and runs strong in a vein that could only have come from the Mid-South.

The smooth bass rolls you into the wah guitar and so-grooved-it-won't-let-go drum beat.  Just as you're feeling it hit the FAT horn section (to everyone with a sax section, you need more baritones) and gang vocals come in and come in to let you know its time to get up.  Everything fades out to just drums before they overstay their welcome.

Side B is even smoother, showing that its time to get down to a syrupy beat that takes you back to 60s and 70s dance floors.

But don't take my word for it, get it for yourselves, and feel that soul is still alive in the 21st century:

G.E.D. Soul Records
The GED Myspace

Blog Post Scheduel

Okay, for my benefit and yours, I'm Going to set a schedule for posts.  Starting next Monday, I will post the Cut of the week (formerly the 45 of the week, to keep things rolling when I run out of 45s) on Monday, Wednesday will be Soul Gear, which will note the gear of Funk and Soul players and recordists, and Friday will be a variety of information, of which I am not totally sure yet (yeah, I'm still formulating plans as I do research)

Hopefully, this will keep me on task, and you entertained, enjoy!

Watching A Master of Music

So last night I had the pleasure of being in the studio with the amazing Don Adams( Check him out Warning, Loud) A Producer, Arranger and Bassist who has worked with such luminaries as Miles Davis and Chaka Khan.  Last night he laid out a demo for a new tune that just knocked me on my ass.  It always amazes me to watch someone like him methodically lay down a new track from beat to dressing.

Live Cut: The Coolin' System-Sweet Honey Bee

Time for a group of a more recent vintage.  The Coolin' System is a collective of some of Nashville's most prolific indy players, and here they are jammin' on a Duke Pearson classic, "Sweet Honey Bee"  Dig"

45rpm of the Week: Curly Moore and the Kool Ones-Shelly's Rubber Band

Side OneSide Two
Kicking things off, we have a little joint that has a bit of a story behind it.  A solid bit of guitar funk called "Shelly's Rubber Band", this comes not from Nashville (although on a Nashvegas label, more on that in a moment), but from New Orleans Funk master Eddie Bo.

As it turns out, our friend Eddie seemed to avoid his name in the band and instead settled for arranger credits, but the music is all his.  Several other joints featuring Mr. Bo are also of the same nature, such as the Explosions 45rpm "Hip Drop".  More info on this funky individual are available Here: Funky 16 Corners

The Real story is in the label.  House of the Fox is one of several labels connected to the company Lelan Rogers Enterprises, Inc.  Now the question for me when I first got this 45 was "who is Lelan Rogers?" It seems that this was a stupid question.  Garage Rock Heads will know Lelan's work with the famed International Artists label in Texas, most notably the 13th Floor Elevators and the classic Epitaph for a Legend compilation.

Sometime after the dissolution of International (for the first time) Lelan, the brother of Psychedelic country Legend Kenny Rogers, made the move from Texas to Tennessee, and launched the House of the Fox label. The label also had the pleasure of releasing Maceo Parker's  Doing Their Own Thing. Recorded after Maceo and many of the other James Brown band members left in 1970.

Sadly, this is as far as I have been able to dig this week on the label and Lelan, but I should return with more in the coming weeks, as well as with info on the somehow related Blue Fox and Silver Fox labels. Stay Tuned!

Sorces:
Discogs
heavyweightcrates
home of the groove
Wikipedia
(Sorry, concrete info on the label and the man are hard to come by, and any help is appreciated!)

Its Not Just Country!

Lets look back a few years for this intro.  The year is 2008, and I had just had my will broken by the Nashville recording machine.  Quick and soulless (even the Christan music) I had given up on being a recording engineer and moved on to live sound for a little band out of the boro called Sky Hi.  For two years and as many jobs I had thought that this was the only bastion of soul in the mid state.

But, little by little (and mostly through my job at a record store) I got to know that soul was alive and well, and in fact has been here all along, just overshadowed (much like the independent scene) by the much larger and quicker Country music machine.  Labels and bands have been springing up, old stalwarts have been coming to the front, and the music has even been coming off the MTA.  The time is right.

Now, while this blog may focus on Nashville, I will widen my gaze a bit to see all of the soul that I come across.  And I hope you'll look with me.