A fan of the Sublime asked if I'd heard the latest from Shinyribs, the side project of Kevin Russell, who also is a frontman for The Gourds — that wonderfully eclectic country-ish band from Austin. When I checked out Shinyribs' "Gulf Coast Museum" on iTunes, what caught my eye was their cover of "If You Don't Know Me By Now," the great soul ballad made famous by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes. The fact that Russell would take this on wasn't a surprise. After all, The Gourds covered Snoop Dogg's "Gin & Juice." (Check out this mashup of The Gourds version cut to Snoop's original video.) I like Russell's approach here, just him and a ukelele, accompanied by Brandy Zdan.
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September 2013
September 15, 2013
September 01, 2013
Diggin' Around "Doggin' Around"
So, my pal, fellow Tex-patriate and music hound Rafe Greenlee, gave me this CD—a compilation of singles released in the '60s by the legendary Swamp Pop producer and label owner Huey P. Meaux. It includes "Doggin' Around" by the New Orleans singer Jean Knight (who would later have a huge hit with "Mr. Big Stuff"). "Doggin' Around" had already been a hit for Jackie Wilson, which got me wondering who had written it. That's where the plot thickens. Knight's version is credited to someone named Lena Agree. Wilson's version is credited to "P. Tarnopol." Hmmm. Well, the guy who ran Wilson's label, Brunswick, was a music biz mover named Nat Tarnopol. And it turns out that he has a son named Paul (P. Tarnopol?), who would eventually take over the label. And, get this, Lena Agree was Nat Tarnopol's aunt. Keepin' it all in the family. God knows who actually wrote that song. As noted in this passage from Wilson's biography, "A common practice was to buy songs and have them published under the buyer's name." Music biz machinations aside, "Doggin' Around" is a great song, and—as far as the lyrics go—better suited for a woman singer.