Country Funk?

(begin countdown for chuck eddy to show up and ruin this thread with a Big n Rich rant)

yanc3y is a little bit country, a little bit funky.

Yes, but he is very tired right now, so he will say only Jerry Reed and Black Oak Arkansas and Charlie Daniels Band and Molly Hatchet (and maybe Dixie Dregs and John Anderson?) and leave it at that.

Earlier someone asked about Sir Douglas Quintet. "Mendocino" LP from '69, recently (finally) reissued on CD, is pretty funky. "I Wanna Be Your Mama Again" gives you an idea of the funkiness within.

Some of the Everly Brothers' mid-'60s stuff is surprisingly funky.

Lee Dorsey doing "Games People Play" on his "Yes We Can" LP is great.

Billy Swan is pretty funky at times, too.

Charlie Rich's "Memphis and Arkansas Bridge" is a funky track, one of Rich's definitive moments. He did cool Jimmy Reed covers too.

And actually, Jim Dickinson's "Dixie Fried" falls into this category too. His version of Carl Perkins title track is fantastic.

Gary Stewart did some nice things you might like too.

Wow, not on the albums I heard (one of which I liked okay). For country funk, I'd recommend Montgomery Gentry or Beck or just about anything recorded by white blues guys in 1929 over them anyday...(But even those seem kinda marginal where funkiness per se is concerned)

Doesn't James Brown have a couple country-leaning tracks, though? And what about Ray Charles? He must've bridged the gap once or twice...

And shit, Commander Cody and his Lost Planet Airmen, fr crissakes!

John Fred and his Playboy Band? The Hombres?? I forget....

Roger Miller, "My Uncle Used to Love Me But She Died," maybe.

And maybe Rednex.

And Kid Rock, duh.....

If being one of funkiest bands in human history = "kinda," I agree.

Even a couple Primus tracks (their only good ones, I think, though I forget what they were called) belong on here, probably.

(So yeah, I guess whoever said I had a ton of suggestions was right.)

jerry was a racecar driver off the first album definitely has a fingerpickin feel to it... would the live Gram Parsons stuff with James Burton on guitar qualify for this thread?

'Funk City' by Bad Bascombe has some crazy country fiddle playing.

Try also The Dependables' album 'Klatu Berrada Niktu' wherein the former Blues Magoos hitch up with Carl Radle, Jim Gordon et al to cover Hayes/Porter songs among others. It's got horns, it's got pedal steel - it's pure country-funk bliss.

Christ! Larry Jon Wilson! I have that weirdass album he did on Monument, one of the great strange '70s new-south concept records.

http://www.dustygroove.com/images/products/z/zzdirtylaundrythesoul_101b.jpg

Various -- Dirty Laundry -- The Soul Of Black Country . . . CD . . . $16.99 (Item: 375231)
Trikont (Germany), 1960s/1970s Condition: New Copy View Cart
An excellent collection of one of our favorite sides of southern soul -- the sub-stream of music that's clearly influenced by country music -- and which reflects the double-sided world of the southern recording scene! The tracks on the set provide a wonderful introduction to the genre -- and they mix together some well-known numbers with a wide variety of lesser-known tracks pulled from the indie side of the spectrum -- including some key numbers from the Nashville recording scene of the late 60s, clearly a key point of focus for this work. As with other Trikont sets, the notes alone are worth the price of admission -- and document the artists and tunes extremely well, both in German and in English. Titles include "Your Cheating Heart" by Bobby Powell, "He Called Me Baby" by Ella Washington, "What Condition My Condition Was In" by Betty Lavette, "There's A Heartbreak Somewhere" by Roscoe Shelton, "Almost Persuaded" by Etta James, "Bouquet Of Roses" by Bobby Womack, "Don't Take Her She's All I Got" by Freddie North, "In A Moment Of Weakness" by Johnny Adams, "Sixteen Tons" by James & Bobby Purify, "Dirty Laundry" by Curtis Mayfield, and "Till I Get It Right" by Willie Hobbs. 24 tracks in all!

(Honestly, I'm not sure what more I could--or would need to--say of it.)

too many jerry reed hits to mention

"Amos Moses"
"When You're Hot, You're Hot"
"Alabama Wild Man"
"Ko-Ko Joe"
"Tupelo, Mississippi Flash"

...but you gotta watch it with Jerry, because he wasn't doing country-funk all the time. When he wasn't doing the Tony Joe White thing, he was going the cornball Glen Campbell route.

"Walk A Mile In My Shoes" -- Joe South
"Don't It Make You Wanna Go Home" -- Joe South
"Hush" -- Joe South
"Games People Play" -- Joe South
"Poor Side of Town" -- Johnny Rivers
"I've Got A Thing About You Baby" -- Tony Joe White
"Willie & Laura Mae Jones" -- Tony Joe White
"Hangin' On" -- Joe Simon
"We Held On" -- Joe Tex
"Patches" -- Clarence Carter
"Till I Can't Take It Anymore" -- Clarence Carter
"I Take It On Home" -- Charlie Rich
"Big Boss Man" -- Charlie Rich
"Down In The Boondocks" -- Billy Joe Royal
"Hush" -- Billy Joe Royal

stretching a little:
"Who Is He (And What Is He To You)?" -- Bill Withers
"I Can Understand It" -- Bobby Womack

"Ah, And We Do it Like This," 1990: they even talk about "our country sound that makes ya get down" in it. But Jon Caramanica (who has never heard the song) tells me he suspects this may be an entirely different Onyx than the ones who kinda sorta invented crunk a few years later (even though their song "Throw Ya Gunz" had a line that went "Ha, ha hah hah, AND WE DO IT LIKE THIS.")

And now, sorry, but I must say: Hot Apple Pie, "Hillbilly."

were you not paying attention to the "Dirty Laundry: The Soul of Black Country" cd posted just upthread?

Ronnie Barron's Reverend Ether LP is just generally great if you like some New Orleans in your country funk.

"Freeway Mama," "Duke of Crenshaw" and "Don't Let My Husband Catch You" are all monster tunes.

Supposedly even better, according to xgau---I've never seen it:
Blues Delicacies, Vol. 1 [Vivid Sound, 1980]
The erstwhile Reverend Ether, who worked as Paul Butterfield's sideman after declining Dr. John's shingle, here adds a respectfully raunchy collection of standards to the modest store of first-rate New Orleans rock and roll LPs. This is no Wild Tchoupitoulas or Fats Domino or Crawfish Fiesta, but it sure holds its own against Mac Rebennack's Gumbo or Lee Dorsey's Yes We Can. A minor delight for the aficionado and a revelation for the uninitiated. Problem is, it'll cost you 15 bucks as a Japanese import, if you can find it. Rounder, Alligator, Flying Fish--help! Warners--oh never mind. A-
I found Dr. John's Gumbo a revelation at first, and a not-fail party record ever after; Christgau liked it pretty well too, so that's a pretty encouraging compliment. Still haven't heard Yes We Can, but a friend had a good boot of his Clash tour.

"blue delicacies" is very much throwback '50s NOLA r&b, it's just okay imo and p distinct from the funky gumbo country mélange that is "reverend ether"

dow if you haven't heard lee's "yes we can" LP, you really have to find a way to track it down soon !

Oh yeah. And prob something from this fits (it's on Ace, so hey):

https://images-na.ssl-images-amazon.com/images/I/714AfEMgK5L._SL1200_.jpg

https://www.discogs.com/Various-Sweet-Inspiration-The-Songs-Of-Dan-Penn-Spooner-Oldham/release/3181187

Barbara Mandrell's work with Billy Sherill on her first couple of lps is pretty good r'n'b drenched stuff. Not sure if that equates to totally funky but I do like the 2lps I got together.

Those are great records, they have a lot in common with Diana Track’s best stuff I think.

Trask, that says.

what's a good place to start with diana trask ?

xp can't go wrong with penn / oldham

Reminds me of the time someone said to my friend Mr. Fine Wine “You can’t go wrong with Spooner and Oldham.”

Also true. Though Arthur and Will are more hardcore.

I only know two or three Trask lps but my favourites are “Diana’s Country” and “Miss Country Soul” are my favourites (in that order).

These two are from Diana’s Country: The Chokin’ Kind, Don’t Let It Get Away

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FE0hAdRm8JM

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=hdm4-f-7YXU

Hey now, it’s Vol. III: https://pitchfork.com/reviews/albums/various-artists-country-funk-volume-iii-1975-1982/

(great review, btw)

Oh this is so good!

No Don Williams?!?

just heard the first volume...excellent!! everything on here reminds me of Parliament's first album

Speaking of the xpost self-titled Bobby Charles album, I posted about the deeluxe edition on The Band's thread, def a relevant feel for this thread too:
Yall I just listened to the xpost Bobby Charles Rhino Handmade 3-CD expansion digital ghost on Spotify (also available as downloads, like maybe all the Handmades; I've noticed Fugs, Beefheart, Television): two more LPs-worth of good-to excellent tracks, which hopefully he still had the rights to put (w/o re-recording) on yon self-released albums, when he reportedly fled Woodstock Babylon for Sweet Home Louisiana(nuthin weird goin' on down there, nuh-uh). Listening this way, I don't have the CD booklet, but who specifically played what on what has always been conjectural, according to my not-very-extensive research, and a lot of this sounds as Bandy as the original s/t; also, several cuts sound like they might incl. Garth *and* Dr. John, ideally enough. Anybody looking for cover material should def. check this out, "You Were There" def. rec. to Willie (Geoff Muldaur and the aforementioned Ronnie Barron are among other likely contributors to those sessions.)

My take on xpost Country Funk 3---this goes on a while, but doesn't tell about nearly all of it [17 tracks]:

Country Funk 3 1975-1982: Judging by round-ups on this site, I seem not to have heard 2012's Country Funk 1969-1975, but did peg 2014's Country Funk 2 1967-1974: (often very stoned, mainly too consistently happy (& sometimes self-congratz 4 bing funkee) to be more country than countryoid---Isn't Western Swing often damn happy? Yes, but it's Western) Well picky picky. So they're countryoid, so what. Self-congratz was more of a problem, but here the funkiness per se is more relaxed, more of a given, with suggestion of NOLA (and Memphis, thinking of early 70s Hi Rhythm): such as Dr. John discretion of the strut, chick-chick-chicken butt and peck of the clavinet and organ, even a savoir d' Allan Toussaint to the horns sometimes; somebody's been studying all that. Disco is a given too, but meant to sound eager–-so LIght In The Attic's catalog page puts it: As the 1970s began to wane and the 1980s approached, the Country Funk pallet expanded to include disco beats, heavy Moog synth bass lines and more clavinet than you could shake a stick at. Volume III shows artists continuing to buck traditional country tropes and production while embracing modern soul, disco, and coked-up 80s synth-pop. This is the true soundtrack of the Urban Cowboy. Saddle up, partners.

Welp, we might need a little help with that, hoss, cause the more disco this sounds, sometimes the more generic, the kind of disco that waned with the aforementioned 70s, 'til the whole per se genre hit a wall in early 80s, at the latest—sure, country tends to run a little behind with mainstream crossovers from the urban clubs etc., and deliberately so, after Saturday Night Fever was re-edited and spread through fly-over suburbs, and my friend's country-to-metro parents snuck downtown to take disco lessons at an Arthur Murray studio (busted by their kids, who suspected them of having joined a cult or somethin)---then and only then, with Revolta trading the white suit and chains of SAF for Urban Cowboy duds (though the actual soundtrack of that was not country funk-disco, cause aimed at the now post-disco mainstream, more like the New Traditionalism of 70s-80s cusp country, only softer-edged), could the country artists' embracing really begin, as they run to catch up with the disco train, now leaving the station. So they can sound excited, still happy, not too stoned now, professional, and certainly sem-romantically horny to a newly overt degree(a little anxious about that sometimes, but part of the excitement).

LITA mentions country tropes: Cousin Conway Twitty reports back, maybe sends us a postcard, about how if you go to the city, up high and look down, you can see folks setting "NIght Fires" on the ground, and those rhyme with "sweet desires," making the moon shine all night long, and he sounds like he loves to see people getting together, in the city and back home, people everywhere need it, just come on in, hallelujah!

Larry Jon Wilson's country trope trophy doesn't mention dancing or fire or desire or any fresh excitement, though he is guardedly hopeful, despite working down in Deatsville, which I know people from, and how it's got him down, and a preacher notices, says, "Come on along to my big church, and bring some money." Larry Jon, remembering his father taking him to a little country church, declines the invitation, says he's still looking for "Heaven on a dirt road." Music pulses under there like distant cousins of sandworms. A fairly dark atmosphere, but maybe just because he's tired with no streetlights; that's my hope.

Another country trope, though it was certainly and prob mainly a movie one too, for quite a while, had , still, in the years these tracks were made, to do with singles running around and around, while their friends and neighbors get married, or already are: the former become something of a vicarious thrill and/or point of concerned speculation for the latter —thus Brian Hyland's "Hale The Man"---maybe sic, or maybe ironic salute–-Hail Hale, you the man and the gang's all here, but you live alone, so why you try to hard to get into that party, while runnin' runnin', and livin' to regret it (spoiler). So maybe there's a tension, a nervous energy to some of the eagerness here. But Travis Wammack doesn't feel it, he's grinning in the shadows, prob best he lets the music do most of the talking, walking up with a rhythm guitar that sounds like a rusty farm implement well-repurposed—then it gets psychedelisized, as the Chambers Brothers would say, and then the whole track does, maybe with synths for horns and the LITA-mentioned Moog bass line, some more voices.

Dolly Parton doesn't seem to feel the tension either, or if she does, she successfully pushes back, with a regal step, ready to chose the man "who will dance me home,"(home is another country trope) if and only if such a one proves qualified: no last call desperation here. For she is a lady who has it all together, a modern one too, and now it can be told, even in a country-aimed song (quite a few country years after Loretta Lynn's "The Pill," but that was not a trendsetter). So too with, sounds like, whichever of Gary & Sandy is singing,"Come on and take it like a man," with a reassurance, or at least warmth, in the smiler's message, "I won't bite, too hard anyway, but ready." Take me home and make me like it! Ronnie Milsap sounds truly ready to "Get it up, get down, giveitallyagot, and get out": that's the chorus, with his lover's even more specific instructions quoted in verse:, lessons learned, says he could go on all night—gets faded out while he's saying it, ha ha, but he's already done 5:21, by far the longest here!

Which can be frustrating—"always leave them wanting more," sure, but how about some club mixes, LITA? If you can't find any for these, find some others, or make some. As written, some of these don't get very far: premise verse, chorus clincher, placeholder verse, gimme that chorus again, the end. Or just verse, chorus, chorus, the end. The usual country approach is to make the stasis more appealing, at least. But sometimes it works here as a statement, not quite standing pat (Dolly and Gary & Sandi and Ronnie make their positions clear, while still in motion, like holograms flying sideways). Terri Gibbs spells it out a little at the end, for us, but maybe also for herself, note to self, in case you're wavering: remembers looking nice in a new dress, while Mama's warning her not to get stuck, like Mama did, with "a no-good gambler for 27 years, get yourself a rich man." Later, she also recalls Mama "in a raggedy old dress, down on her knees scrubbin' the floor—ain't gonna let no destitute fool put a ring on me, gonna get myself a rich man." Cut, print, that's all we need, the way she does it.

In a way it's a story song, and so is Billy Swan's "Oliver Swan," who was laughed at, country and homeless, but with something stashed somewhere, his little hoard–-drunk and shambling, "Oliver Swan had no one." But one night, he stumbles across a flying saucerful of women, "looking for a guy." (Close as this song gets to dance club tropes, verbally, though got a nice beat.) He asks them to excuse him, he'll be back in just a minute.

(Also there's one previously unreleased, amazingly so: "Alone at Last," by Tony Joe White, steady as ever, more poignant than sometimes, even before he suddenly climbs a staircase line, like I didn't know he could do: whole thing is spare and intimate and mobile as a Silk Degrees demo might be.)(Come to think of it, why isn't Boz Scaggs on here? Too expensive? Not available?)

17 tracks, I'd say 11, 12, anyway an LP's worth of keepers, so far.
http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLGwQpcKyjIcuwefRF7rUz1BLEwe8mJ__1

Sent that to Edd Hurt, and he replied:
The only track here I knew is Dennis Linde's "Down to the Station." Linde is a curious figure, cut his stuff as a one-man band. Christgau reviewed one of his albums, pointing out his lack of vocal character. That's fair enough, I think. Linde's "Trapped in the Suburbs" got airplay in Nashville in the '70s, and none of his albums are on CD. I have the albums, including what some think is his best, Linde Manor, which Jerry Kennedy (a guitarist and producer who worked with Faron Young and many others in the '70s) produced with Billy Swan in 1970. DJ Shadow sampled one of the tracks on Endtroducing.
Looks like the Rob Galbraith single is a lead-up to his 1976 album Throw Me a Bone, which is sort of yacht-rockin', hipster-jazz-R&B stuff akin to what Donnie Fritts was doing around the same time. Better sung than Fritts. I know Rob pretty well, used to see him play with his R&B band--including Genesis-Zappa drummer Chester Thompson--at a now-defunct club in Nashville. Always a good show. Rob has produced Ronnie Milsap since the '80s. I recommend his 1970 Nashville Dirt, which is sparer than Throw Me a Bone and even class-conscious; Numero Group released a bunch of his demos in 2016.
I have a bunch of Travis Wammack records, including two he did in the early '80s, A Man...and a Guitar and Follow Me. But his 1972 self-titled album on Fame may be his best (he's still playing in Muscle Shoals and probably still doing his big instrumental hit "Scratchy"). This is the most psychodynamic of its tracks, "I Don't Really Want You," which has the most interesting structure of anything I've heard him do:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ERCYB3w_g6k

Talking about rednecks, I recommend Joe South's "Redneck," which Swamp Dogg covered.

I love "Oliver Swan," because it's great to hear how Billy Swan condenses prog rock into three minutes. I don't think Nick Lowe could have done much better.

Looking back at the 1969-1975 comp, I notice they picked the best non-hit song off Johnny Adams' Shelby Singleton-produced album Heart & Soul, which was the result of Adams working with New Orleans producer Wardell Quezergue on a remake of "Release Me" that attracted Singleton's attention. Heart & Soul also features "Reconsider Me," Adams' biggest hit.

Also, Dale Hawkins's L.A., Memphis & Tyler, Texas is an OK album that often just seems obvious. But there's one great track he cut with help from Dan Penn at Ardent Studios in Memphis, "Little Rain Cloud" (you can hear Penn singing in the background). Notable for a great guitar sound Big Star fans might recognize, it's a one-chord boogie that's about as psychedelic as soul-country stuff gets:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GHRA52f1g1E

I like Linde's joeky, quirky, processed vocals on the Country Funk 3 track; whether he "has" enough vocal character or not, he is one. Edd sent me Rob Galbraith's Nashville Dirt, which is real good, before he settled into the yacht rock mode Edd mentions, pretty much the CF3 track, which is okay in its way. Great to know Travis Wammack is still at it!

every time I listen to this stuff a cigarette magically appears in my mouth

picked up Vol 3. man, that Dennis Linde track is great.

I'm not sure if it's too obvious a pick but it eludes me why this wasn't a pick

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pFNM7nG2OUQ

This Eli "Paperboy" Reed tribute album to Mearle Haggard, "Down Every Road" is pretty damn funky, like a 60s Soul James Brown kinda funk.

Thanks---and the Parliament post reminds me: looks like YouTube still has a good stash of GrooveGrass Boyz---Doc Watson and B-B-b-Bootsy Collins, with others.

Clover's 1977 album Unavailable

Okay in truth its quite horrid session/muso MOR but it has a great Barney Bubbles sleeve

Oh yeah---this wiki is flagged as unverified, but have seen references along the same lines elsewhere, also most of these guys did get credits, except the ones who backed EC, but several things about his debut have mentioned Clover:

Clover was an American country rock band formed in Mill Valley, California, United States and active from 1967 to 1978.[1] Clover are best known as the backing band for Elvis Costello's 1977 debut album My Aim Is True (recorded in the UK), and for its members going into greater success with Huey Lewis and the News, The Doobie Brothers, Toto, and Lucinda Williams...McFee, Ciambotti, Hopper and Shine (but not Louis or Call) backed Elvis Costello on his debut album My Aim Is True.[1] These musicians were not credited on the release for contractual reasons; some contemporary publicity for the album identified Costello's backing band as "The Shamrocks."

Was not ready for these breaks on Willie's Roadhouse this afternoon...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zWJsFYFMc8

Connie Smith: "If It Ain't Love...", 1972

local shop actually had a used copy of Vol 2 last month which I snapped up for 20 bucks. it hasn't been repressed yet (and might not ever?) so it's selling for significantly more than that, though idk who's buying them exactly

I'm on a Summer Dean kick and she's got a few pretty funky cuts..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znRsnNRh5l0

Today I listened to Bobby Darin's "Commitment" (1969), released credited to Bob Darin, Scott Engel-style. Quite a few tracks there are sorta country funk, not what you'd expect from Darin at all. Any fans here?