CMF Records 024
Before hearing this set, I might not have thought it
possible to assemble two hours of Nashville R&B. As
it happens, the producers do rely on a broad
definition of both terms to pull things together, but
that's not a reason for complaint. Listening to Night
Train to Nashville is like tuning into an uncommonly
enlightened oldies station, and it's a good place to
grab some useful information about the evolution of
the pop music industry in the 1950s and '60s
.
Each of these 35 cuts is enjoyable, ranging from
early doo-wop to primitive blues and pop crossover
smashes. The '60s-themed second disc, in particular,
racks up one winner after another, including a few
tracks I knew (such as "Sunny"), some I'm glad to know
now (one offs from the likes of Clifford Curry or the
Valentines) and one I knew without realizing it
("Everlasting Love"). The first disc, concentrating
on the '50s, shows the give and take between the
cutesy ("Let's Trade a Little"), the dirty ("Baby
Let's Play House"), the churchy ("You Can Make It If
You Try"), and the rowdy (the Little Richard-esque
Esquerita's "Rockin' the Joint") as modern pop and R&B
began to come together. Because of the low-profile
status of R&B in this city, this set comes off a bit
more like a collection of musical side-trips than a
unified tale, but that's fitting enough given the
delightful chaos of this musical stage before the
industry gained control.
There are lessons for the rock historian throughout —
songs appear that drifted into the early repertoires
of Elvis Presley and the Beatles and musicians appear
who backed up some of Bob Dylan and Neil Young's
greatest work, and Etta James, in a live cut from
1963, gives a small but rowdy crowd the same blues
shouting that Janis Joplin would take to the hippie
audience a few years later. However, these artists
are equally endearing on their own terms — the cast of
characters includes the impresarios with their fingers
in multiple pies (writers/producers Ted Jarrett and
Bob Holmes), the one-hit wonders with little
remuneration but plentiful gratitude for their turn in
the spotlight (such as the penitentiary-based
Prisonaires), and those who went all the way to
stardom.
Night Train to Nashville is the companion piece to a
museum exhibit, but the two-CD set is no dry history
lesson. Instead, it captures the days when listeners
stayed up late searching the dial for hidden musical
pleasures, which can now finally escape from hiding.
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