Various Artists: Country Funk 1969-1975 (Light in the Attic)

 |   |  <1 min read

Mac David: Lucas Was a Redneck
Various Artists: Country Funk 1969-1975 (Light in the Attic)

Although the promotion of this 16-song collection might make out the notion of "country funk" is somehow a strange and unfamiliar animal, the territory has been well mapped -- from OC Smith's Son of Hickory Holler's Tramp and Bobbie Gentry through Tony Joe White to JJ Grey and Mofro -- that the horn-driven soul-funk country sound connects with relative ease.

Jeez, even Elvis went down this route on Tony Joe's Polk Salad Annie .

Not to say this isn't interesting: Mac Davis' Lucas Was a Redneck is socio-political text with a real sting; Hawg Frog by Gray Fox slithers like a 'gator through the bayou; Cherokee announcing their intentions with Funky Business . . . 

Also here are the late Bobby Charles (the drifter narrative of Street People), Link Wray (the lesser Fire and Brimstone), the late Larry Jon Wilson (Choopee River Bottomland), Tony Joe White (the lascivious Stud Spider); Gentry in a typically sexual and steamy story He Made Out of Me . . .

And Bobby Darin (as Bob Darin) in another reinvention, this time as a Southern funk soulman on the authentic Light Blue.

The steam from the swamp is suffused in this funky, soulful and country-blues sound. If it's new to you then this might be a useful starting point, but -- aside from a few rare although hardly essential grooves -- many might have traveled down this muddy, humid and sometimes rewardingly raunchy path previously.

Like the idea of this? Then check out this.

Share It

Your Comments

post a comment

More from this section   Music at Elsewhere articles index

Irving: Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers (Rhythmethod)

Irving: Death in the Garden, Blood on the Flowers (Rhythmethod)

Because my record collection has such wayward but much loved albums by bands as diverse as the Unforgiven (spaghetti western rock), the Shoes (power pop), Orchestral Manoeuvres in the Dark (early... > Read more

Aaradhna: Treble and Reverb (Frequency)

Aaradhna: Treble and Reverb (Frequency)

Although critics and commentators will inevitably, and rightly, point out the influence of Amy Winehouse in a couple of place on this, Aaradhna's third album, that doesn't change the fact that this... > Read more

Elsewhere at Elsewhere

Fatboy Slim: You've Come a Long Way Baby

Fatboy Slim: You've Come a Long Way Baby

Slightly funny and true story: Back in the distant past Fatboy Slim -- aka famous DJ Norman Cook -- was coming to New Zealand and at the Herald we arranged for one our feature writers -- who'd... > Read more

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES by EDWARD BURTYNSKY (DVD): Scarred earth policy

MANUFACTURED LANDSCAPES by EDWARD BURTYNSKY (DVD): Scarred earth policy

The breathtaking opening shot in this documentary - a single, walking-pace, almost silent, dolly shot through a seemingly endless, multi-purpose factory in China which runs a full seven and a half... > Read more