Sue Thompson RIP + others

I was sorry to hear of the death of Sue Thompson, who had several catchy girl group flavoured pop hits in the sixties. She was 96 when she died and was a good 15 to 20 years older than many of her female contemporaries in the pop charts, but a string of songs written by John D Loudermilk gave her a strong run of success. Her first hit 'Sad Movies (Make Me Cry)' reached number five in the US in 1961 and follow ups such as 'Norman', 'James (Hold The Ladder Steady)' and 'Paper Tiger' were equally successful in the US and Australia. In the UK her songs faced inevitable competition from cover versions, in particular Carol Deene, who recorded no fewer than three of the above. When her pop success came to an end Sue moved into the country field, including several records with Don Gibson.

Another artist who has died is sax man Pee Wee Ellis, aged 80, who played on and co-wrote a number of James Brown hits including 'Cold Sweat' and 'Say It Loud I'm Black And I'm Proud'. In the seventies he was musical director for Kudu records, working with artists such as George Benson and Esther Phillips, and later played with Van Morrison's band for several years. Pee Wee appeared at Porretta in 2019 playing with Australia's Sweethearts group and also bringing some credibility to the act by Swiss group Re:Funk.

Another recent death, at the age of 77, is that of George Frayne IV, better known as Commander Cody, whose band the Lost Planet Airmen played an exciting mix of Western swing, rockabilly and country rock. The band got a record contract with Paramount on moving to California in 1969 and produced a series of excellent albums with eye catching comic strip covers, including 'Lost In the Ozone', 'Hot Licks, Cold Steel and Truckers Favorites' and 'Live From Deep In The Heart of Texas.'

It's farewell too to Sarah Dash, who was a member of the Blue Belles which became Patti LaBelle and the Blue Belles and eventually LaBelle. The groups' first hit 'I Sold My Heart To The Junkman' in 1962 was followed by others such as 'Danny Boy', 'All Or Nothing'. 'Over The Rainbow' and 'Take Me For A Little While' and Labelle had a huge hit with 'Lady Marmalade'. After the group broke up Sarah had considerable solo success and also toured with the Rolling Stones and developed her own one woman show. The Vinyl Word raises a glass to them all.

20 years of Tales From The Woods

It's hard to believe that the varied and slightly eccentric group of music obsessives known as Tales From The Woods is now 20 years old, but it is. And to mark this landmark the group's unelected leader Keith Woods put on yet another show at the 100 Club - his first such venture since the beginning of lockdown. The show featured several acts who have performed at previous shows, plus some who haven't, and once again featured the excellent Tales From The Woods house band led by guitarist John Spencely and featuring Claire Hamlin on keyboards and Jeff Tuck on drums. Attendance was rather thin (and somewhat on the senior side) but those who were there enjoyed a varied show with a number of first rate performances. I arrived slightly late, but in time to see Richie Milton and friends, who played a mixture of Cajun numbers and skiffle, including 'Rock Island Line', 'Deep Down In My Shoes' and 'Freight Train'. which was well performed by singer Linda Hall. Richie himself was active in the UK blues scene for many years and his current band included an accordian player, who brought the Cajun numbers to life.

Next up was another singer who has been around the UK blues scene for many years, and one I hadn't seen before, Honey B Mama. Known as Hackney's 'Queen of the Blues' Honey's alter ego is Cleo Sylvestre and she was an actress and a friend of Brian Jones of the Rolling Stones back in the sixties. He asked her to be the singer in the band he was planning to form when he left the Stones, only for his death to stop that idea in its tracks. Honey's band, which included an excellent piano player, began with a slow Bessie Smith song, 'Jailhouse Blues' and her set included 'Sweet Home Chicago', 'Midnight Special' and 'Let's Work Together'.

The pace hotted up with the arrival on stage of the Tales From The Woods band and the appearance of several artists who were making return appearances to a Keith Woods show. Allan Bailey performed a couple of Elvis numbers - 'Mess Of Blues' and 'That's When Your Heartaches Begin' - plus one of his own.

He was followed by Garry Mills, who had a number of minor hits in the early sixties plus one fairly big hit with 'Look For A Star' which was the theme for the UK film 'Circus Of Horrors'. Garry, who hails from my home town of West Wickham in Kent, began with his 1960 45 'Comin' Down With Love' and continued with his first record, 'Hey Baby', the tuneful and rather cute 'Top Teen Baby', 'Look For A Star' and his later Decca single 'I'll Step Down'. Garry revealed that his son Garry Junior died very recently and this made his rendition of Buddy Holly's 'Raining In My Heart', dedicated to his late son and his grand daughters who were in the audience, especially poignant and was much appreciated by the audience. He ended with a good version of 'Teddy Bear'. An enjoyable set and his bravery in doing the show was fantastic.

Possible the liveliest set of the night followed with the arrival of Liverpool singer Beryl Marsden who put loads of energy into her performance. She kicked off with 'Everything's Gonna be Alright' and her cover of Barbara George's 'I Know' which was a Decca release for her in 1963. There followed three Shirelles numbers - 'Baby It's You, 'Boys' and 'Everybody Loves A Lover' - and a bluesy version of 'Hi Heel Sneakers'. She rounded off an exciting set with 'Whole Lotta Shakin' Going On' and 'Let's Have a Party' which got many of the audience bopping away.

Swamp pop king Warren Storm RIP

It's been a terrible week for the world of Louisiana swamp pop and blues. First it was the death of Carol Fran. And now we hear of the death, at the age of 84 from COVID, of possibly the best known swamp pop artist of them all, Warren Storm. Warren was a vocalist and a drummer and enjoyed a long career both as a solo artist and as a member of the Shondells, the Cajun super group Lil Band of Gold and his later band Cypress. He was born in Abbeville and had success aged 21 when he recorded at Jay Miller's Crowley studio. His recording of 'The Prisoner's Song' was released at the Nashville based Nasco label backed by 'Mama Mama Mama' and made it into the Billboard top 100. He recorded for various labels including Rocko, Zynn, American Pla-Boy, Top Rank, and Dot, and joined up with Rod Bernard and Skip Stewart to form the Shondells, who had great local success. I remember seeing Warren at the Grant Street Dancehall in Lafayette in 1998 when he was playing alongside several other South Louisiana artists, including C C Adcock, Steve Riley and David Egan, in a group which a year or two later became the Lil Band of Gold. They were a must see band whenever I was in Louisiana and I saw them, and was mightily impressed, on various occasions in New Orleans and Lafayette. In 2011 they played at the Shepherds Bush Empire when they were invited to the UK to play at Lily Allen's wedding and Warren was superb on his ration of numbers, which included 'Seven Letters', 'Blue Monday' and 'These Lonely Lonely Nights'. Warren left the band in what seemed to be a dispute with C C and played with his own band Cypress, but I saw him several times after that, the last occasion being the Ponderosa Stomp in 2017 (see photo above). The photos below show Warren at Grant Street in 1998 and one with me (eyes closed) and John Howard on the same day. There's also a photo from a single issued in 1983 and one from a Shondells LP recorded for La Louiaianne.

By coincidence, I went to my first live gig in over 18 months on Sunday and it featured two of the great swamp pop artists still performing - guitarist and singer C C Adcock and 81 year old singer Tommy McLain. The evening was a delight, with Tommy on good form despite having played a couple of festivals and other gigs in the preceeding few days. Nick Lowe's son played drums behind them, as he did when I saw them in 2019 when he was just 14. Tommy included favourites such as 'Sweet Dreams', 'Before I Grow Too Old' and 'Baby Doll', as well as several new songs.This was their third show at the tiny Laylow bar in Ladbroke Grove in the last couple of years - the last one was just before lockdown (I wasn't there) and apparently led to several cases of COVID emerging. C C described Tommy and himself as 'spreadnecks'. This time, hopefully, there will be no repeat. It's good to see Tommy, and C C, still doing their thing, but sad news about Warren. RIP.

Finally, here's a photo of Tommy McLain at the Shepherds Bush Empire with Warren Storm on the drums.

Farewell to Carol Fran

Another great Louisiana artist has died - this time soul and blues singer Carol Fran, at the age of 87. Born in Lafayette, she first recorded 'Emmitt Lee' for Excello in 1957. She played alongside many New Orleans artists including Guitar Slim, Nappy Brown and Lee Dorsey. Revivals of 'The Great Pretender' and 'Crying In The Chapel' brought her some success, but the latter was overshadowed by Elvis's version. Carol took part in one of the conference sessions, alongside Lavelle White, at the Ponderosa Stomp in 2014 and said that Elvis had given her $10,000 to make up for her loss of sales. In the same session she joked about the many stars she had performed with, and the 'nights of fun' they shared. I saw Carol perform many times in New Orleans alongside her husband Clarence Hollimon, who she met at the Dewdrop Inn in New Orleans and who died in 2000, and several times after that. The photo above shows Carol at a swamp blues show at the Rice Theater in Crowley, La, in 2011.

The photo below shows Carol with Clarence at the Black Top show in New Orleans in 1993. She and Clarence recorded two albums for Black Top in the early nineties.