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Description
Extras includce 2 extracts from Rufus on radio WDIA in the 1950s and a rare radio interview with Daddy Cool. And of course, mastered as only Bear Family can do it. A newly researched 68-page booklet by Martin Hawkins largely based on interviews by himself and Dave Booth, plus rare photos and adverts. Rufus Thomas was a one-off: a larger than life character who made as great a contribution to the performance and style of American music as he did to the recording of it. He saw it all from black vaudeville to rap... and played a major role in the evolution of African American music. His earlier R&B recordings have been unjustly obscured by his later role in the development of Stax Records and his string of soul hits. But Rufus was ' though he always played it down ' a damn fine blues and R&B singer in the 1950s. And this is one of the best cross-sections of African American music you'll hear from the period. Rufus sings with the Lionel Hampton band, several Memphis R&B dance bands, and with Sun studio session groups. And, in case we forget, he gave Sun Records its first hit, 'Bear Cat'.
