Monday, October 17, 2005

Joe Haywood - Sadie Mae

Example
It’s Monday again. I’m lucky I made it out of the weekend with enough unscarred brain to type, let alone string together some meaningful thoughts. Much like the magician in Frosty the Snowman I’ve been “BUSY BUSY BUSY!!!”. Busy...sleep deprived...You know the drill. Aaaaanyway.... I’m going to start out by being honest, in that I know almost nothing about Joe Haywood. I’ve been a-Googling, and checking all of my standard references, and the end result is that I’ve been able to dig up a bunch of “standard” (or sub-standard as the case may be) facts. Among this throbbing chunk of history are the facts that Haywood recorded for a number of labels in the 1960’s, including New Orleans based outfits like White Cliffs and Deesu, nationally distributed indies like Enjoy and Kent, and one other label I’ve never heard of (Front Page) that may or may not be NOLA-based. That’s about it (that and the fact that Haywood does not appear to have hit the R&B charts). I’ve seen a bunch of his records show up on sale lists, and decided to grab ‘Sadie Mae’ after hearing a soundclip on a friend’s website. That the price was also agreeable is beside the point, though after spinning it a few times I can safely say I would have (and could have) paid more. This record is a burner. A slice of 66-67-ish funky soul, ‘Sadie Mae’ doesn’t have what I would call a typical “New Orleans” sound. The production is a little on the muddy side, with the bass turned way up, aided by combo organ, powerful horns and loud drums. Haywood is a solid soul shouter who reminds me more than a little of someone like Oscar Toney Jr. In fact, that comparison should go even further. If I had to guess (without knowing what little I do about Haywood’s recording history, or that this 45 was released on Deesu) I would have thought ‘Sadie Mae’ was a product of a label like Fame or Goldwax. It really has that “Southern” soul sound, without any of the trademark style, or filigree that one might expect to hear on a New Orleans based session of that era. Though the 45 label lists Marsaint publishing and Tou-Sea productions, the producer (Larry Lucie) is unfamiliar to me. That info along with the Deesu release would suggest to me that it was a New Orleans session, but I may be wrong. Either way, I dig the tune (maybe you will too) and I’ll be on the lookout for more Joe Haywood sides. As they say on CNN, updates as they become available.... That said, my inaccurate calculations what they are, I believe that this is the 100th record blogged in this space. A small milestone, but a milestone nonetheless. This blogging thing has turned out to be a lot of fun. The Funky16Corners blog hasn’t really taken on much of the “personal journal” aspects of many blogs, but I think I manage to make my feelings pretty clear, and hopefully exposed some of you to some cool music you hadn’t already heard. I started out writing about music over 20 years ago, first in a succession of fanzines, then later in local newspapers and then a few years ago with the Funky16Corners web zine. After my son was born, it became increasingly difficult to find the free time necessary to pull together new “full” issues of the web zine. I figured then that I would try out blogging as a way to keep writing about the kind of stuff I was covering in the web zine, but to do shorter form pieces, more often than not concentrating on individual records. In the 11 months since I started the Funky16Corners blog, I’ve gotten a lot of cool feedback from readers, and made some new friends. Hopefully that’ll continue.

UPDATE: Dan Phillips from the mighty Home of the Groove blog sent along some more info on Joe Haywood: Hi, Larry. Let me add my congrats on your 100th! I like this track, having never heard it. But I am pretty sure it is not a New Orleans record, except for its label. As far as I know, Joe Haywood was from Spartanburg, SC and was a drummeras well as a vocalist. At one time he either played or sang (or both)with guitarist Larry Lucie's band. Lucie and the other co-writer on "Sadie Mae", Lucky Dixon, worked out of New York, I believe. Since some of Haywood's other sides were done for Bobby Robinson's Enjoy and Fury labels, based in NYC, and since Marshall Sehorn, who started Deesu with Toussaint, was previously a rep and talent scout for Robinson, I am going hazard a guess that "Sadie Mae" was recorded in New York with Lucie producing and that Sehorn agreed to release on Deesu. It is possible that they came to NO to do it; but you are quite right that it doesn't have that NO sound. While there is somewhat of a Memphis/Muscle Shoals feel to it, my money is on a NYC session for this one. Let me know if you find out more, as I just pieced this theory together from some available sources around here."

11 Comments:

Blogger Todd Lucas said...

Another winner, great song. Congrats on the 100th record milestone. As always, keep up the stellar work.

10/17/2005 05:23:00 PM  
Blogger Mike said...

Funky16Corners and Little Hits are easily my favorite MP3 blogs these days. Yours introduces me to a whole genre of music that I like in theory but haven't explored in much depth. (Meanwhile, Little Hits unearths great '80s twee, jangle and power pop obscurities - more in line with what I already like and collect, but still lots of deep cuts I've never heard.) Keep it up.

10/17/2005 11:10:00 PM  
Blogger Dan Phillips said...

Hi, Larry. Let me add my congrats on your 100th! I like this track, having never heard it. But I am pretty sure it is not a New Orleans record, except for its label. As far as I know, Joe Haywood was from Spartanburg, SC and was a drummeras well as a vocalist. At one time he either played or sang (or both)with guitarist Larry Lucie's band. Lucie and the other co-writer on "Sadie Mae", Lucky Dixon, worked out of New York, I believe. Since some of Haywood's other sides were done for Bobby Robinson's Enjoy and Fury labels, based in NYC, and since Marshall Sehorn, who started Deesu with Toussaint, was previously a rep and talent scout for Robinson, I am going hazard a guess that "Sadie Mae" was recorded in New York with Lucie producing and that Sehorn agreed to release on Deesu. It is possible that they came to NO to do it; but you are quite right that it doesn't have that NO sound. While there is somewhat of a Memphis/Muscle Shoals feel to it, my money is on a NYC session for this one. Let me know if you find out more, as I just pieced this theory together from some available sources around here.

10/18/2005 02:41:00 AM  
Blogger Reverend Frost said...

Keep up the fantastic work, your site's a bible !

10/18/2005 03:47:00 AM  
Blogger Larry Grogan said...

Thanks for the kind words everyone!
Dan
I moved your info to the front page. Thanks for the legwork!
Larry

10/18/2005 09:14:00 AM  
Blogger Red Kelly said...

Well, congratz to the busiest man in blog-town!

100 rekkids! You go bra!

The only other tune I ever heard by Joe Haywood was on a Charly LP from 1982 called "Sehorn's Soul Farm", and was originally released as WHITE CLIFF 248...."Let's Make It". IT IS THE BEST TRACK ON THE ALBUM!!!

Unfortunately, the John Broven liner notes offer no further clues to Haywood's history, saying only that he was "...quickly consigned to oblivion." (!)

Thanks for keeping the music alive!

10/18/2005 09:24:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Congrats on the milestone! Blogging can sometimes be as much a grind as assembling a webzine, but you've really done a good job and continue to entertain and educate in tremendous ways. Keep up the good work!

10/18/2005 12:59:00 PM  
Blogger guapo said...

it`s always good, Larry!

10/18/2005 02:13:00 PM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

yer mp3 done busted mang.



Keep up the good work. ;)

10/24/2005 03:32:00 PM  
Blogger Larry Grogan said...

The MP3 file has been repairted/replaced. Sorry for the inconvenience.

10/25/2005 08:33:00 AM  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

Just a little bit of info..the Front Page 45 was also produced by Bobby Robinson.Isn't front Page the label Lee Moses had a release on?

4/08/2007 03:37:00 AM  

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