• Track Listing

Jasmine's commitment to anthologising 1950s R&B continues unabated! We recently brought you the complete 1950s and early 60s recordings of pioneering Nashville soul man Gene Allison. This month we're lingering a little longer in Music City for a double scoop of two of Gene's fellow Nashvillians, one considerably more famous than the other but both worthy entrants in this short 'series within a series'. The smooth voice of Earl Gaines set the standard for Nashville R&B and soul for almost half a century - when he wasn't busy driving his 18 wheel truck from coast to coast, that is! He hit the jackpot with his first release, the much-recorded (including three times by Earl) '(It's Love Baby) 24 Hours A Day' and although he never had another hit of similar magnitude it gave him the foundation on which to build a career that sustained into the 21st century. Earl's recordings for the Excello label offer a small but perfectly formed body of work, fully representative of what made Nashville such an important centre for black American music in the 1950s. Earl is paired here with his fellow Music City resident, the far less well known Thomas 'Shy Guy' Douglas, whose recording career was coming to it's end about the same time that Earl's was taking off. Earl's discoverer and long-time mentor Ted Jarrett also produced Shy Guy on many of the tracks featured here, but they are of a different, more down home-y nature in comparison with those of his CD companion here (albeit no less essential!). These two great artists have long been overdue an anthology like this, full of tough, uncompromising rhythm & blues that never goes out of style.