Bill Coday - Right On Baby - The Crajon Recordings (2006) P-Vine - Rare Soul/Blues (MP3 102MB)

One of my fave Soul/Blues men who,s rare records on this label & others i,ve been collecting for years....A good pal refered to him as a second tier artist but i totally disagree with that, this man just oozes SOUL (& Blues....like ive always said is there a difference tween the two ?) Born in 1942 in Coldwater, Mississippi & passed in 2008. Bill was the second of twelve children & brought up in rural Arkansas with a strong religious Baptist background. Like many other great R&B singers, Bill was brought up singing gospel in church choirs and local quartets. Soon he crossed over to the Blues and began performing in juke joints around Blytheville, AK, with a band that included blues guitarist Son Seals Jr. He moved to Chicago in 1961 was spotted by Denise LaSalle while he was performing at the Black Orchid club. Denise owned Crajon Records. & signed him to her label, changing his name from "Chicago Willie" to "Bill Coday." LaSalle teamed Coday with Memphis soul icon Willie Mitchell (co-architect of the Al Green/Hi Records sound). Bill,s first singles for Crajon Productions were "Sixty Minute Teaser" and "I Get High on Your Love". They did fairly well, but it was the next record that would launch his career in the R&B field, that next single was "Get Your Lie Straight, that put Bill on the map when he charted at #14 on the R&B charts in 1971. The follow up single was leased to Galaxy Records and "When You Find a Fool, Bump His Head," (a LaSalle composition) reached #48 R&B in summer 1971. Most of the tracks were written by Denise LaSalle on the Superb Collection with legend Willie Mitchell arranging and co-producing with Denise, herself a legend with the Soul fraternity.In 1973 Coday was signed to Epic Records, resulting in the minor hit and a couple other singles including "A Man Ain't A Man" & "I Don't Want To Play The Game". Following this brief alliance Bill's recording days pretty much dried up for the next two decades. He still made a living on the road and may have recorded in Muscle Shoals in the late 70s (Bill doesn't remember). He was also briefly affiliated with Phil Walden, founder of Capricorn Records but they didn't see eye to eye so Bill parted ways and went back on the road. In 1984 it was LaSalle again that jump started Bill's career, hiring him as an opening act which eventually led to a recording contact with Ecko Records. So finally in 1995 Coday's second full length recording (if you count a 1978 collection of Crajon singles on Vivid records Japan LP Only) Five more albums followed for Ecko until he decided to start his own record label, B & J Records, with partner James Wolfe. His first release was "Jump Start". When Bill Passed in 2008 his widow, Anna, renamed the label Coday Records. I will get round to reviewing the rest of his output as again these CD,s have been re-discovered..But this collection is very highly recommended including a few rare Northern dancers!

AMM

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