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Blues meets soul
By
John Holmes
What is the difference between blues and soul? To me, it all comes from the same
source, and there are plenty of ‘soul’ singers who can certainly sing a mean blues
(Aretha Franklyn springs to mind, amongst many others), and blues singers who
could be equally at home in the soul genre (eg Bobby Bland). Most of these great
performers were brought up in the church, and also heard blues music, as well as
the myriad other styles played by the roaming black musicians of the day.
As well as being an avid blues fan for in excess of 60 years, I have always enjoyed
other black music, especially Stax/Atlantic soul and the more ‘pop’ oriented Tamla
Motown. I also love the ‘southern soul’ of Muscle Shoals. We all know the names of
many of these great artistes, but there are plenty of others who, in my opinion, are
equally talented, but just never had the same breaks, so have tended to be forgotten.
This month, in a slight change to my usual programme, I would like to take a brief
look at three terrific ‘bluesy’ vocalists in the ‘southern soul’ style. If you don’t know
their names, I would suggest you check them out, perhaps via your Alexa, because
I think you will be very pleasantly surprised - perhaps enough to seek out what
material they still have available.
My three chosen ‘forgotten’ singers were all born within a 3 year period, from 1939
to 1942, and all in the Deep South. Let’s have a look at them, for want of a better
way, in birth date order:
O. V. Wright -
Robert Cray notes O. V. as a big vocal influence, and
it’s not difficult to see why.
Overton Vertis Wright was born in Leno, Tennessee,
about 30 miles outside Memphis, on October 9th
1939, and lived in that area throughout his life. His
family were churchgoing folk, and encouraged
young OV to join the choir as a six year old. “My
Mother used to give me a quarter every time I’d get
up and sing a solo”, he later said, so it was hardly
surprising that he was keen to do so as often as
possible.
