Delta Swamp Rock: Sounds from the South
is a new compilation album released this week on Soul Jazz Records. If I’m honest, it’s not normally the sort of album that would catch my eye but I’d stick it in the constantly growing ‘to listen pile’ which grows by the side of my desk. It was only becasue I’ve been reading It Still Moves: Lost Songs, Lost Highways, and the Search for the Next American Music
by Amanda Petrusich that I became inquisitive enough to have a listen to see what I was missing out on and I’m glad I did. Whilst there are some tracks which feel like run of the mill placements for the buying public there are also some great gems which illustrate an important piece of musical history.
Just check Lynrd Skynrd’s The Seasons, a track that I’d never heard before. Equally glowing new discoveries for me was Barefoot Jerry whilst Boz Scaggs caught me by surprise with I’ll Be Long Gone. You can hear the roots of a lot of music we play on FRUK amongst the featured tracks and I’d place it well up the list on albums worth checking out!
Barefoot Jerry – Smokies
[audio:http://groovebat.com/download/t31.mp3|titles=Smokies|artists=Barefoot Jerry]
Cowboy – Please Be With Me
Lynyrd Skynyrd -The Seasons
Leon Russell – Out in the Woods
The album centres around 1968-1975, a period in which country, rock and soul met. The heart of this amalgamation lies in the small town of Muscle Shoals, Alabama (population around 10,000), which was central to the production of Southern soul music produced in the United States in the second half of the1960s. For those wanting a visual and written history there is a 52 page book accompanying the deluxe CD with many exclusive sleevenotes, photographs and biographies.
Tracklisting
Disc 1
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – The Seasons
• Barefoot Jerry – Smokies
• Joe South – Hush
• Bobbie Gentry – Papa, Wont You Let Me Go to Town with You
• Area Code 615 – Stone Fox Chase
• Duane and Gregg Allman – God Rest his Soul
• Cher – I Walk on Guilded Splinters
• Cowboy – Please Be with Me
• The Allman Brothers – Ain’t Wastin Time No More
• Link Wray – Be What You Want To
• Boz Scaggs – I’ll Be Long Gone
• Lynyrd Skynyrd – Comin’ Home
• Bobbie Gentry – Seasons Come, Seasons Go
Disc 2
• Leon Russell – Out in the Woods
• Tony Joe White – Polk Salad Annie
• Barefoot Jerry – Come to me Tonight
• Duane and Gregg Allman – Morning Dew
• Linda Ronstadt – I Won’t Be Hangin Round
• Dan Penn – If Love Was Money
• Waylon Jennings – Big D
• Big Star – Thirteen
• Bobbie Gentry – Mississippi Delta
• Travis Wammack – I Forgot to Remember to Forget
• Billy Vera – I’m Leavin Here Tomorrow, Mama
• Johnny Cash – If I Were A Carpenter
Buy Links:
CD: Delta Swamp Rock: Sounds from the South
Vinyl: Delta Swamp Rock: Soul Jazz Presents Sounds from the South at the Crossroads of Rock, Country & Soul (LP2) [VINYL]