Many circumstances have raised questions about how wide the divide actually was between the soul music of Muscle Shoals and the country music of Nashville. Backing musicians such as Norbert Putnam and Barry Beckett belonged to both camps, as have songwriters such as Dan Penn. Ray Charles certainly broke down barriers with his forays into country, but even he readily admitted that the differences between soul and country were unnatural distinctions from the beginning.
These two collections feature artists of differing notoriety. Soul aficionados have long recognized Solomon Burke as one of the greats. On the other hand, Mighty Sam (McClain) is better-known for his recent series of contemporary blues releases, never quite breaking through in his early career as a soul singer. These recordings also represent different moments in each artist’s legacy. Burke had left behind his glory days with Atlantic, and Mighty Sam was just at the beginning of his career.
Mighty Sam’s recordings precede Burke’s by only a few years, and they veer toward more of a classic soul mode. Nonetheless, country music influences stand squarely out front. Mighty Sam’s first and only real hit was Don Gibson’s classic “Sweet Dreams”, also made famous by Patsy Cline and Faron Young. The CD also includes another Gibson-penned cut (“A Stranger To Me”), as well as the country flavorings of “Georgia Pines” and “I Just Came To Get My Baby (Out Of Jail)”.
The Solomon Burke set begins with a rousing rendition of John Fogerty’s “Proud Mary” and later delivers an incredible backwoods version of Marvin Gaye’s Motown classic “I’ll Be Doggone”. Chestnuts such as “Lucky Old Sun” are made new by his passionate singing. A plethora of bonus cuts further demonstrate the breadth of Burke’s vision, notably a heartfelt arrangement the country standard “She Thinks I Still Care”, which starts with a lone acoustic guitar before building into a soul power ballad. Other highlights include Burke outdoing Elvis on “In The Ghetto” and gospelized covers of songs by Sam Cooke, Delaney Bramlett and Bob Dylan.
