Eddie Floyd (Stax). Lost in the shadows of Otis Redding, Booker T & The MGs, Sam and Dave but his mid-tempo groovers and deep soul hurters are essential. Dig Raise Your Hand, Big Bird and I’ve Just Been Feeling Bad.
Don Covay (Atlantic). A New York-based songwriter par excellence (Aretha Franklin, Solomon Burke) who recorded some heavy stuff himself that Jagger “borrowed” heavily from. Check out Take This Hurt Off Me, Please Do Something and the angsty See About Me.
Nathaniel Mayer (Fortune). The other, grittier side of Detroit soul (from Motown). Dirt-floor studios and bluesy backing on tracks like Love and Affection (Not The House of Correction and low-rent Ray Charles’ like I Had A Dream.
Bettye Swanne (Money). Sweet-voiced Bettye might have been a household name if she’d headed to Memphis, Chicago or Muscle Shoals. Make Me Yours is her best-known but also listen to Don’t Look Back and I Think I’m Falling in Love.
Bobby “Blue” Bland (Duke/Peacock).God-like status in the black (and blues/R&B/soul collective) community for half a century without much mainstream success. His legacy is immeasurable, but some of his best mid-‘60s stuff is Honey Child, These Hands and Turn On Your Love Light.
