Christine Kittrell - Call Her Name - The Complete Recordings 1951 - 1965 (2014)

Tracklist

01. Call His Name
02. Leave My Man Alone
03. Don't Do It
04. Old Man You're Slipping
05. Sittin' Here Drinking
06. I Ain't Nothin' but a Fool
07. Heartache Blues
08. You Ain't Nothin' but Trouble
09. Slave to Love
10. Gotta Stop Loving You
11. I'll Help You Baby
12. L & N Special
13. Every Night in the Week
14. Evil-Eyed Woman
15. The Price You Pay for Love
16. Snake in the Grass
17. Snake in the Grass (Alternative Version)
18. Lord Have Mercy (I'm so Lonely)
19. Sittin' Here Drinking Again
20. Black Cat Crossed My Trail
21. If You Ain't Sure
22. I'm Just What You're Looking For
23. I Thank Him
24. Mr. Big Wheel
25. Sittin' and Drinkin'
26. I'm a Woman
27. It's Nobody's Fault
28. Next Door to the Blues
29. Love Letters (Straight from My Heart)
30. Ain't Never Seen so Much Rain Before
31. Call His Name (Alternate Version)

Christine Kittrell made some of the best R&B of the 1950s and '60s without ever becoming a household name. She was the leading nightclub vocalist on the rocking Nashville scene in the late 1940s and '50s. A marvelous singer - far more versatile than most of her contemporaries - Christine worked with Joe Turner, Fats Domino, Memphis Slim, Little Walter, Johnny Otis and even Count Basie. Her relatively few recordings, mainly on unfashionable labels, possessed rare expressiveness that could elevate a mundane song into something exceptional. She sang late night mood songs like Heartache Blues and Don't Do It, and pounding rockers like Call His Name and Lord Have Mercy - where she is backed by Little Richard on piano and vocals. Her rerecording of Call His Name in the 60s, became a northern soul classic. She also recorded the original version of the anthemic I'm A Woman. Her biggest hit, Sittin' Here Drinking, featured one of her trademark spoken intros.

Nashville-born Kittrell settled in Columbus, Ohio where she became a matriarch of her local blues scene. She suffered a number of falls and illnesses, starting with mortar bomb injuries received on a singing tour during the war in Vietnam - she liked to say that she was the only blues singer wounded in action! She died in 2001. This 31-track CD collects together all 29 different songs Christine recorded in the 1950s and 1960s for the Tennessee, Republic, Champion, Vee-Jay, Hit/Spar and Federal labels.

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