Browse by Artist: HIGHTOWER, WILLIE

Artist:	HIGHTOWER, WILLIE
Title:	Willie Hightower
Label:	ASTRALWERKS
Format:	CD
Price:	$16.00
Catalog #:	ASW 77136CD

"Willie Hightower is soul music's forgotten man. Possessing a raspy gospel-reared voice with a delivery echoing Sam Cooke, Willie Hightower only released three singles for Fame and one album for Capitol in the late '60s, but they're among the greatest soul records ever made. These songs contain all that's magical about Southern Soul. Fuelled by funky guitars and a bold brass section they stand alongside anything to come out of Rick Hall's Muscle Shoals' Fame Studios, which is saying something when you count in the classics by Etta James, Otis Redding, and Aretha Franklin recorded there. But just as Willie was on the road to success with two Billboard R&B charting singles under his belt he seemingly disappeared -- a casualty of the rapidly changing musical styles ushered in by the '70s. Willie Hightower recorded these songs during the height of the civil rights period and although they were not explicitly concerned with politics they were undoubtedly touched by what was going on. While Willie brings to his songs the experience of a man who played to segregated audiences and was forced to enter and leave by the club's back door, there's something about the way Willie sings them that makes them universal in theme."

Artist:	HIGHTOWER, WILLIE
Title:	Walk A Mile In My Shoes
Label:	HONEST JON'S RECORDS (UK)
Format:	12"
Price:	$11.00
Catalog #:	HJP 022EP

Originally from Gadsden, Alabama, Willie Hightower only released three singles whilst contracted to Fame in the early seventies, but they're three of the greatest soul records ever made, six simple songs that contain all that's magical about southern soul. They stand alongside anything to come out of Rick Hall's small studio, which is saying something when you count in classics like Etta James' "I'd Rather Go Blind," Otis Redding's "You Left The Water Running," Aretha Franklin's "Do Right Woman, Do Right Man." That's not even getting into the records that Rick released on his own Fame imprint by artists like Candi Staton, Spencer Wiggins and George Jackson. This EP from Honest Jon's comprises all six sides Willie Hightower cut at Fame Studios.

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