Inspired by such great compilation like Country Got Soul, Delta Swamp Rock and Country Funk!
Comin’ right up, a steaming gumbo of down home, honey drippin’ Voodoo-Soul and rough-fried funky Blues with a large side order of countrified brain salad and gritty Southern Rock. These compilations encompass the elation of gospel with the sexual thrust of the blues, country hoedown harmony with inner city grit. It is alternately playful and melancholic, slow jammin’ and booty shakin’. It is both studio slick and barroom raw. And while these all may seem unlikely combinations at first glance, upon close listen, it all makes sweet sense.
Follow the Love Rustler train through the landscape of blues and country with stops in Jackson, Mississippi. Memphis, Tennessee. New Orleans, Louisiana. Big Rock, Arkansas. Muscle Shoals, Alabama. Old Funk, Georgia. The legendary south of country preachers, forgotten jailhouses, rowdy juke joints and jaded dreams of salvation.
The tunes are from the glorious era between 1970 and 1975 with some years plus and few minus. We found the best tunes on albums you thought you knew and searched a lot of relatively unknown bands and releases for exceptional tunage. If sonically imperfect we had the tracks mastered and listened to the bunch endlessly to achieve the perfect flow.
The Love Rustler recommends: “Pour yourself a drink and keep on chooglin’!”
However, this is a special one. A while ago I bought a wonderful double album by Primal Scream frontman Bobby Gillespie called “I Still Can’t Believe You’re Gone”. That album basically was a mixtape done by him to wind down while on tour.
In Bobby’s own words: ‘These songs are soul savers to soothe frayed and battered nerves and to ease and settle the heart. They work on me like medicine every time. I would like to share this wonderful music that has given me strength, joy and inspiration over the years with you the listener, so that you too might get the same feelings of protection and inspiration that I do whenever I listen to these songs. We're all travellers on some kind of road through this life, and we all need respite from time to time - the music on this compilation is soul food of the highest order - I hope you enjoy it.’
Well, here is my version of it. Inspired by Bobby’s mixtape.
1. The Band - Whispering Pines (alt.) (1969)
2. Gregg Allman - These Days (1973)
3. J.J. Cale - Call The Doctor (1971)
4. James Carr - The Dark End Of The Street (1967)
5. Dillard & Clark - Polly (1969)
6. O.V. Wright - Let s Straighten It Out (1978)
7. Mark Lanegan - I ll Take Care Of You (1999)
8. Madrugada - Riverbed (1999)
9. Arthur Alexander - Rainbow Road (1972)
10. Johnny Adams - Georgia Morning Dew (1970)
11. Cowboy - Please Be With Me (1971)
12. Guy Clark - Desperados Waiting For A Train (1975)
13. Clarence Carter - I d Rather Go Blind (1969)
14. Jorma Kaukonen - Genesis (1974)
15. Syl Johnson - I Hear The Love Chimes (1974)
16. Tim Hardin - How Can We Hang On To A Dream (1966)
17. Tony Joe White - Wichita Lineman (1969)
18. Otis Clay - You Don t Miss Your Water (1968)
19. Townes Van Zandt - Kathleen (1969)
20. Charlie Rich - Motherless Child (1976)
21. Percy Sledge - True Love Travels On A Gravel Road (1969)
22. Leon Russell - Stranger In A Strange Land (1971)
23. James Gang - Ashes, The Rain & I (1970)