I guess a record like this is really at the heart of what It's Great Shakes is all about, a song about a new dance called The Hoss. Of course, it helps that it's a real rocker and a terrific tune. "The Hoss" is an upbeat dance number, complete with cool guitar break that clocks in at just a tick over two minutes. Short but sweet, you could say. Throughout the record, Guitar, Jr. keeps explaining how to do the dance or rather, how easy The Hoss is to do. Sounds like my kinda step.
I found this record at a thrift shop in Carbondale, IL a couple of years ago. In fact, I picked up at least three good 45's in there that day at a mere quarter a pop. I don't think that I've found much of anything there since. Didn't take much to bleed the place dry, I suppose.
I had no idea what to expect when I bought this disc. It just looked like it ought to be a good record. But I'd never heard of Guitar, Jr. before spying this. Glad I risked two bits on it. Turns out that Guitar, Jr. was born Lee Baker, Jr. in Louisiana, circa 1933. By the late 50's he'd already recorded several singles for the Goldband label. "The Hoss", apparently his second record for Mercury was released in 1960. Mr. Jr. later changed his name to Lonnie Brooks and found success as a bluesman, recording lots of albums for the well-known Alligator label. Good for him.
3 comments:
Also great by Guitar, Jr. is "The Crawl" on Eddie Shuler's Goldband label out of Lake Charles, LA, around 1958. You found a winner.
Dan, thanks for the tip. So far, I haven't heard any of Guitar, Jr.'s Goldband sides. I'm on the lookout though.
Brian, I glanced through that guy's records on Goldband but don't remember seeing the Guitar, Jr. one. I also looked through some of his stuff on Jin and some Eddie Bo records and remember commenting to him how much I like southern labels. I bought a few things from him but nothing very pricy at all.
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