Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970)

Amazon.com
The most startling revelation contained on this two-CD compilation is how rich, varied, and deep Nashville's R&B scene was during a 25-year period in which the city solidified its reputation as the undisputed capital of country music. Arranged chronologically, Night Train to Nashville also traces the steady progression of African-American music beginning with the end of WWII--from jump blues, lusty R&B, and smooth-groove vocal groups to proto rock & roll, Southern soul, and Top 40 pop that drew blacks and whites together even as the Vietnam War nearly ripped the country apart. Although this collection contains well-known hits (Bobby Hebb's "Sunny", Robert Knight's "Everlasting Love") and widely acknowledged stars (Etta James and Ruth Brown, both of whom recorded some of their best work in Nashville), many of its most satisfying pleasures come courtesy of lesser-known artists, such as R&B belter Christine Kittrell, swamp bluesman Shy Guy Douglas, and balladeer Sam Baker. In the midst of many ear-opening discoveries, add one more: When listening to the countrified soul of Arthur Alexander, Joe Simon, and Johnny Adams, it's apparent that Nashville in its '60s heyday wasn't two separate but equal towns but one glorious Southern-music Mecca. --Keith Moerer

Product Description
Coinciding with the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum's 2004-05 exhibit, Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970, this collection illustrates the quality and breadth of R&B that emerged from a city more famous for country music. Nashville’s 50,000-watt clear channel WLAC reached over half the nation with its late night programming. "To young blacks growing up in East Tennessee the city[Nashville] was our version of Harlem, Chicago, Fifty-second Street, Central Avenue and Beale Street combined..." (excerpted from liner notes by Ron Wynn). Culled from more than twenty record labels, these recordings range from the obvious to the obscure, featuring the best songs of the era. Seventeen of these tracks have been unavailable domestically since release, with seven of them making their CD debut here.

Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970)

Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970),Various Artists,Lost Highway,Jump Blues,Modern Electric Blues,Nashville Sound/Countrypolitan,Pop,R&B,Soul,Soul-Blues,Soul/R & B Collections,Swamp Blues,Traditional Country,V/a Compilations

---

Average customer rating: A mixed blessing More than COUNTRY music? The Best Music You Never Heard Amazonic Regression . . . Mixed bag, but overall pretty good

Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues 1945-1970) Various Artists Manufacturer: Lost Highway ProductGroup: Music Binding: Audio CD General | Blues | Styles | Music Traditional Blues | Blues | Styles | Music General | Compilations | Blues | Styles | Music Electric Blues Guitar | Blues | Styles | Music Modern Blues | Blues | Styles | Music Jump Blues | Blues | Styles | Music General | Country | Styles | Music Nashville Sound | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music General | Traditional Country | Country | Styles | Music General | R&B | Styles | Music General | Soul | R&B | Styles | Music Soul | Compilations | R&B | Styles | Music Similar Items: Night Train to Nashville, Vol. 2 Roots of Rock N Roll: 1946-1954 Ollabelle The Black and White Roots of Rock and Roll One Kiss Can Lead to Another: Girl Group Sounds Lost and Found ASIN: B0001DMWFW Release Date: 2004-02-24

Tracks:

1. Nashville Jumps
2. Buzzard Pie
3. Skip's Boogie
4. L & N Special
5. Sittin' Here Drinking
6. Just Walkin In The Rain
7. If You And I Could Be Sweethearts
8. Baby Let's Play House
9. Christene
10. It's Love Baby (24 Hours A Day)
11. Rollin' Stone
12. You Can Make It If You Try
13. Rockin' The Joint
14. Let's Trade A Little
15. Say You Really Care
16. Somebody, Somewhere
17. Pipe Dreams
18. WLAC commercial
19. White Rose

Tracks:

1. WLAC Air Check/Monkey Doin' Woman
2. What'd I Say
3. Really Part 1
4. Just Like Him
5. Anna (Go To Him)
6. Snap Your Fingers
7. Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean
8. Something Tells Me
9. Sunny
10. I Want To Do Everything For You
11. Bigger And Better
12. Since I Met You Baby
13. The Chokin' Kind
14. She Shot A Hole In My Soul
15. Gotta Get Yourself Together
16. Soul Shake
17. Reconsider Me
18. Everlasting Love
19. Everlasting Love - Robert Knight

Amazon.com

The most startling revelation contained on this two-CD compilation is how rich, varied, and deep Nashville's R&B scene was during a 25-year period in which the city solidified its reputation as the undisputed capital of country music. Arranged chronologically, Night Train to Nashville also traces the steady progression of African-American music beginning with the end of WWII--from jump blues, lusty R&B, and smooth-groove vocal groups to proto rock & roll, Southern soul, and Top 40 pop that drew blacks and whites together even as the Vietnam War nearly ripped the country apart. Although this collection contains well-known hits (Bobby Hebb's "Sunny", Robert Knight's "Everlasting Love") and widely acknowledged stars (Etta James and Ruth Brown, both of whom recorded some of their best work in Nashville), many of its most satisfying pleasures come courtesy of lesser-known artists, such as R&B belter Christine Kittrell, swamp bluesman Shy Guy Douglas, and balladeer Sam Baker. In the midst of many ear-opening discoveries, add one more: When listening to the countrified soul of Arthur Alexander, Joe Simon, and Johnny Adams, it's apparent that Nashville in its '60s heyday wasn't two separate but equal towns but one glorious Southern-music Mecca. --Keith Moerer

Album Description

Coinciding with the Country Music Hall of Fame® and Museum's 2004-05 exhibit, Night Train to Nashville: Music City Rhythm & Blues, 1945-1970, this collection illustrates the quality and breadth of R&B that emerged from a city more famous for country music. Nashville's 50,000-watt clear channel WLAC reached over half the nation with its late night programming. "To young blacks growing up in East Tennessee the city[Nashville] was our version of Harlem, Chicago, Fifty-second Street, Central Avenue and Beale Street combined..." (excerpted from liner notes by Ron Wynn). Culled from more than twenty record labels, these recordings range from the obvious to the obscure, featuring the best songs of the era. Seventeen of these tracks have been unavailable domestically since release, with seven of them making their CD debut here.

Customer Reviews:

A mixed blessing.......2006-08-26

I found the first record to be wonderful but the second was not to my taste. Perhaps this is because I am firmly embedded in the 50s when I was 13.

More than COUNTRY music?.......2005-08-23

The Country Music Hall of Fame is behind this collection, but they're hoping to remind folks that Nashville is "MUSIC City U.S.A.", not necessarily "Country Music City U.S.A." What you get is 35 cuts ranging from doo-wop to smooth vocals to gritty R&B shouters. Many of the cuts were taken from original 45 and 78 records but the audio restoration has been done well...they don't SOUND like vinyl transfers. Is the thesis of Nashville as R&B focal point realized here? Fairly well: I'm not about to replace Detroit, Memphis or Chicago in my mind as great locations for R&B but this set is fairly solid.

HIGHLIGHTS:
You'll probably already know Arthur `Hardrock' Gunter's "Baby Let's Play House",Arthur Alexander's "Anna (Go to Him)",Bobby Hebb's "Sunny" and Robert Knight's "Everlasting Love". Outside of those, there are plenty of lesser-knowns that make the grade: The Marigolds' rollicking doo-wop number "Rollin' Stone", Rudy Green's "Buzzard Pie" (reminiscent of `Straighten Up and Fly Right' but edgier, with the buzzard goading his intended victim to just die and get it over with), the call and response of Audrey Bryant's "Let's Trade a Little", and Larry Birdsong's ebullient "Somebody, Somewhere" on disc 1. The latter disc's high points include Joe Henderson's Nat King Cole smooth vocal on "Snap Your Fingers", a sassy "Mama, He Treats Your Daughter Mean" from Ruth Brown, Joe Tex's near Temptations sound on "I Want To", The Avons sound like long lost Shirelles on "Since I Met You Baby", and the Hytones are defiantly moving on to "Bigger and Better" things since baby's been gone.

BOTTOM LINE:
There's nothing really poor here and quite a few of these are outstanding, even outside of the hit charters. Not the best collection for soul novices but if you're already an R&B fan, you'll probably enjoy this.

3 1/2 stars

The Best Music You Never Heard.......2004-07-29

This is a a wonderful compilation. The title of my review is stolen from a NY Times review of the Night Train to Nashville that made me go out and buy it. It isn't totally true since I recognized some of the later songs but it was an eye opener. It is pretty sad that most of the country missed out on some of the greatest music of their time; especially when pap like How Much is that Doggie in the Window was being shoved down people throats.

My husband and I enjoyed listening to the CDs on a 5 hour long road trip and thoroughly enjoyed them. There was enough style changes and diverstity to keep you interested and a lot of solid artistry. The White Rose petroleum jelly ad and the Little Richard commercial are a hoot!

Amazonic Regression . . ........2004-06-29

I read all the other reviews and realized that this album is many things to many people. I was impressed by how many people took the effort to review this great collector's item. For myself, it was a bolt out of the blue thanks to being featured on the SUNDAY MORNING TV show. When I was 14 years old (1954) I built a HEATHKIT short-wave radio. I strung 100' of copper wire from our TV antenna tower to the top of the basketball pole. All I had hoped for was to get the BBC or Radio Free Europe. What I got [instead] was Radio Free Nashville ! WLAC, Bill Allen and music I had only heard rumors of. "That kind of music" was not played on mainstream radio in those days. Word got around school that I was listening to Little Richard, Clarence "Frogman" Henry, and Jimmy Reed. I didn't get any more chicks because of it, but it put me in a very elite group of R&B listeners. Once again, AMAZON DOT COM makes regression to our childhoods possible! Thanks, you guys . . . Harrison T.

Mixed bag, but overall pretty good.......2004-06-06

As to be expected, there is some really good stuff on these discs. Unfortunately, some mediocre tunes that are not that impressive crop up here and there.

While I love sixties soul on a personal note, disc one is overall the better side. The early barrellhouse boogie-woogie tunes are quite appealing and hard to sit still to. (The Louis Jordanesqe "Buzzard Pie," obviously inspired by the King Cole Trio's "Straighten Up and Fly Right" is lots of fun). The Prisonaires track is quite beautiful and Little Richard's mentor Esquirita really rocks the house, as well as the tunes by Larry Birdsong and Jimmy Peck's Orchestra.

On disc 2, Etta James rocks out with her version of "What I Say" and "Shy Guy" Douglas does some fine harmonica work. The Vocal Groups like the Avons, Valentines, Hytones, and Frank Howard are okay (as well as Arthur Alexander's original "Anna Go To Him" remembered well by Beatles fans and the lovely original version of "Everlasting Love"). But the rest of this stuff is nothing special.

Christian Music:

1. Now
2. O [Enhanced]
3. Old School Jams, Vol. 4
4. Pickin' Up the Pieces: The Best of Average White Band (1974-1980)
5. Pleasure & Pain [Explicit Lyrics]
6. Poison
7. Princesses Nubiennes
8. R in R&B Collection 1
9. R. Kelly
10. Rainbow

Christian Music

christian music

Christian Music

Rocket 88: Original Rock N Roll Pioneers [Import]

Schumann: Scenes from Childhood [Import]

Rising Son

Album Review: A-Town Blues

Soma Compilation 2004

Piano Dreams & Nightscapes

Scivola Via [Import]

Some Devil

She Is Beautiful [CD-single] [Enhanced] [Import]

More Than a Feeling

The Best Of James

Para Nuestra Gente

On My Mind Time After Time [CD-single]

Everyday & Everynight

Stirred