Period R&B. Vintage style songs from the late 50's.

3 MP3 Songs
BLUES: Blues Vocals, BLUES: Rockin' Blues

Show all album songs: One More Time For Momma Songs


Details:
One wintry afternoon in NYC in 2005, I received an email from Jean Banks at BMI. Matt Lucas was trying to get in touch with me. It being the practice at BMI not to give out addresses and phone numbers of it's members, she enclosed his address and phone number for me to call him.

Oh, yeah. That Matt Lucas! I got in touch with him. I called him and we exchanged the how-ya-beens and how-ya-feeling chat and got down to the reason he sought me out. Matt told me he was doing cruise ship work as a single out of Miami and wanted to know if I would like to join him on a couple of gigs. I told him I couldnât due to prior commitments and left it at that.

We kept in touch by email for about a year when I called him from Orlando, Fl. Where my wife had gone for a little r&r. He invited us to his home in McAlpin and we accepted and went the next morning to his house there.

Once we arrived, things just started to roll on from that point. Matt led me into his 'work room' and we tossed around some song ideas when, out of nowhere, he told me of his hit record back in 1962 which I had beard of but had never actually heard. .The record was â Iâm Movinââ On and the gimmick was him imitating a train coming to a chugging halt at the end of the record. He followed that a another hit, Roy Orbisonâs âOoby Doobyâ.

In the course of our visit, we bounced song ideas around and one really stood out from the rest. The title " Fat Man From New Orleans" struck me as having real possibilities. We later went on to write the song and I recorded him on it a few weeks later. The original lines were somewhat dated and cliché and so, at his request, I helped improve some lyrics and I think we came up with a solid song. I am particularly proud of coming up with the Fats Domino's record titles in the bridge.

The only difference Matt and I had on the song and what it should say was the context approach. Should it be a literal tribute to Fats Domino or would it be better as a love story using Fats as the background figure who played a part in this couples dating, marrying and suffering the ultimate tragic part of life - the untimely loss of one's soul mate? We compromised and put the two ideas together which is the finished version you hear on this EP.

"Ode To Effie Blues" is the story of the inevitable death of our parents. Matt, in telling his own personal experience with the death of his Mother, delivers an emotionally felt performance. He brings it to your door just that way. Many who have heard advance copies of this cut asked me if he got truly emotional with the sobs and tears in the last verse. I can tell you that his performance was for real. I sat 3 feet away from him recording his performance and saw the tears and felt the sobs he was emoting.

This collection starts off with Mattâs song, â( You Ainât Gettingâ) No Love Tonightâ.
It is a hothouse blues stomper that will have you dancing for sure.

As the arranger and producer of this EP, I really enjoyed getting to "stretch" musically on this brief, but poignant album. We hope when you hear it, you will realize that Mattâs blues is a labor of love.

Bob Halley,
Arranger, Songwriter & Producer
RonJen Records, Inc.