In the late ‘50s and on through the 1960s, Phoenix, Arizona, was home to a thriving R&B scene. Though no other song catapulted onto the national charts like Dyke and the Blazer’s signature “Funky Broadway,” inspired by the South Phoenix road of the same name, regional soul and funk acts picked up steam in the Valley of the Sun as established artists passed through on the way to the West Coast and performers traveled along the bustling Southern California to Texas black corridor.
Culled from the vaults of Arizona music archivist and legendary Arizona disc jockey John “Johnny D” Dixon, You Gotta Have Soul: Raw Sonoran R&B and Funk (1957-1971), compiles essential desert R&B rarities, from Chuck Womack and the Sweet Souls’ breakbeat heavy “Ham Hocks & Beans” to the raw snap of Jimmie “Playboy” McKnight’s “Little Anne” to the brown-eyed Latin soul of Eddie Dimas & the Upsets.
Listen
- Chuck Womack & the Sweet Souls, “Ham Hocks & Beans, Pt. 1” (1970)
- Lon Rogers and the Soul Blenders, “Too Good to Be True” (1968)
- The Tads, “Wolf Call” (1957)
- Jimmie “Playboy” McKnight with Henry “Mojo” Thompson, “Little Ann” (1962)
- Eddie Dimas & the Upsets, “Cry, Cry, Cry” (1966)
- Butch McGee, “Stacked” (1958)
- The Four Dimensions, “You Gotta Have Soul” (1966)
- Brother Zee & the Decades w/M.M. combo, “Smokey the Bear” (1963)
- The Soulsations, “Funky Night Club (1967)
- Little Worley & the Drops, “Who Stole My Girl” (1961)
- Chuck Womack & the Sweet Souls, “Ham Hocks & Beans, Pt. 2” (1970)
Music | Light In The Attic Records
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- You Gotta Have Soul - Raw Sonoran R&B & Funk (1957-1971)
You Gotta Have Soul:Raw Sonoran R&B & Funk (1957-1971),LP,SOUL/R & B COLLECTIONS
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