Willie Headen - Blame It On The Blues (2012)

Tracklist
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01. When I Am Gone
02. Stop Drinking
03. I Caught You Tippin' In
04. Cool Cat
05. I Wanna Know (Authentic 703 Version)
06. The Skinny Woman Story
07. Blame It on the Blues (Previously Unissued Alt Take)
08. Everybody Has a Fool (Previously Unissued Alt Take)
09. I Woke Up Screaming
10. Peace of Mind
11. I'm a Real Fine Daddy
12. Blame It on the Blues
13. Sunset & Vine
14. I Love You Bobby Sox
15. You Can Be Replaced
16. Fun on Saturday Night Aka Everything's All Right
17. Back Home Again
18. Let Me Cry
19. I Wanna Know (Dootone LP Version)
20. Peace of Mind (Alt Version)
21. Turn the Hi-Fi Down
22. Everybody Has a Fool
23. You Can't Fool the People
24. Down With the Blues
25. The Blues
26. She Loves Another
27. The Skinny Woman Story (Previously Unissued)
28. You Can Be Replaced (Previously Unissued Alt Take)

Dootone and its affiliated labels were most known for recording doo wop groups, but it also made quite a few records with Willie Headen, who usually sang in a much bluesier small combo R&B style. A lot of the tracks from his mid- to late-'50s singles are on this 28-track compilation, which also has songs that appeared on his 1960 Blame It on the Blues LP and a few outtakes and alternate takes. Headen was something of a journeyman singer, but as journeymen go, he was near the top of that niche, and this is a commendably consistent collection of '50s R&B, though not one that marks him as an unfairly neglected or underrated performer. Writing much of his material himself, Headen had a pleasingly smooth, slightly-higher-than-average-register vocal delivery. He handled both up-tempo and slower-shufflin', piano-grounded blues/R&B crossover music with aplomb, and sometimes let his gospel roots show more than most such discs by singers of the time did. Fans of the early Charles Brown-influenced recordings of Ray Charles, for instance, will likely enjoy this, though it's not unduly imitative of either Brown or Charles, and in a slightly more updated style than Charles' early work.

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